(8-1-2006) It's that season again. Republican party operatives are busy updating their rolodexes so they can get back in touch with the conservative base. Every four years they dust off an old binder of talking points, call directory assistance for updated phone numbers and go out in search of votes from issue groups they have ignored since the last election.
In political circles it's called ‘stampeding the sheep.' “Hey, we're there for you and your issue. We're in this together. You know we're your best friend. Your endorsement means a lot to us. You'll be sure to let your members know, right?”
In 2002 Bob Ehrlich's whispering campaign among conservative issue groups worked. “Shh! Not too loud, liberals might hear you. Bob is with you. Pass it on!” We were there for the campaign, and the right thing happened. Huzzah! Opportunities to be heard!
Funny thing, though. The Republican brain trust behaved the same way after winning the big game as they did after losing campaigns. They boxed up our issues and filed us under a note saying “Do Not Open Until 2006.”
So here we are, with Republican operatives surfacing anew in most issue groups to rally support for Team Ehrlich's reelection. “My, what a great track record he has! (Such fine clothes the emperor wears!) It's been a tough four years, but Bob is eager to fight for the issues we both believe in. Be sure to tell all your members, right? Just not too loud …”
That might be fine except for one little sticking point: the track record. Most issue groups know the score, but are trying to put on a strained smile when they admire the Governor's finery. “He sure had a hard time with that evil liberal legislature,” they might rationalize.
But the fact of the matter is this: for his own political convenience, Bob Ehrlich abused most conservative issues in this four year term. If the community embraces him in a re-election bid, we will render our issues politically irrelevant for a generation to come. In other words: “Look! The emperor has no clothes!”
The administration broke with its base even before the inauguration.
Let's explore the record. I certainly don't speak for conservatives – no one person could, but I regularly speak to one of the state's largest issue groups, the firearms community, via the newsletter I write. In terms of size, gunowners are outnumbered only by taxpayers but it seems more people are inclined to part with their cash than their guns, so gunowner groups are generally more active than tax groups.
The 2002 election came hard on the heels of Parris Glendening's major thumping to our rights and wallets. His ironically-named ‘Gun Safety Act of 2000' created new, artificial barriers to lawful ownership of firearms, increasing the cost and complexity without any benefit to public safety. We were ready for change.
The message from Ehrlich's campaign to gun groups behind the scenes was simple: Bob won't hurt you and you'll have a place at the table. Give us space to run our campaign as we need to in order to win. We did.
In September 2002, Ehrlich's promise became specific and public. With firearm issues in the headlines, he told the press, “It's time to take a look at what's passed over the last 16 years and see what's worked and what's not.” His campaign managers had to breathe into paper bags once Bob went public on issues they wanted to avoid, but he stuck with it.
Our community was credited with doing exactly the right things to make Ehrlich's win in November possible. But the first problem started even before his January inauguration. It was called Exile.
On conservative issues, the administration flipped early and flipped often.
Team Ehrlich had campaigned on a platform of getting tough on violent criminals, and in stump speeches called it Project Exile, borrowing the name that most people recognize as a program pioneered in Virginia. Through Exile, federal prosecutors were able to make up for Richmond's dysfunctional criminal justice system by channeling violent thugs into a system that imposed much heavier penalties for crimes.
We now know the only thing Ehrlich took from Exile was its name. What his transition team crafted – without accepting input from the firearm community that was at the door begging to help – had nothing to do with the Richmond model. It was a gun control bill.
After the administration realized what it had done, staff circled the wagons to defend bad work product rather than fix the problem. Well-intentioned outreach from firearm groups was rejected, and the GOP caucus – which could read the bill even if staffers could not – rebelled. Many had run on a pro-gun platform, and didn't like Ehrlich saying they had to vote for a bad gun bill just because it came from a fellow Republican. Delegate Carmen Amedori, unabashed Ehrlich apologist and designated administration knee-breaker, was dispatched to bring stragglers from the GOP caucus in line. She misrepresented firearm owner support for the bill and delivered the Governor's threats, but never quite got a full endorsement from even her own party's Delegates, much less Democrats needed to pass the bill. In the end, even the National Rifle Association, which had a major role in the Richmond Exile program, did not back the Ehrlich gun control bill using their name.
We defeated the Ehrlich bill by other means, but this marked the first of a long string of unpleasant flips by the administration, which also gave hard decisions for young GOP legislators: vote with the administration (and flip on your conservative base) or vote the way you campaigned (and risk the wrath of a petulant administration.)
My news operation reported extensively about the problem, trying to paint a clear picture for the administration (direct communication was already impossible – conservative issue groups were by this point unwelcome on the statehouse ‘second floor', housing Governor Ehrlich's offices.) In particular, we agitated about Amedori as a case study, telling our base of her role in promoting gun control. People don't like gun grabbers in Amedori's Carroll County district. She'd run as a pro-gunner but in the end chose to be a Republican shill for the Ehrlich administration instead. Carmen stepped down in June 2004, and later circulated a memo saying “Purtilo is the number one reason I said yes when asked to take the appointment.” (The administration arranged a soft landing in return for her services.)
You'd think (and we'd hoped!) that this would have been a wakeup call to the young administration. ‘What? We put our caucus members in a squeeze with their constituents? We're jeopardizing their re-election chances?' Alarms should have sounded: lock down the base! Get everyone back on the same page! But no. The Ehrlich juggernaut continued stumbling down the road to destruction.
Since the Exile experience, the administration has done far worse to our issue:
- Ehrlich's Department of the Environment has sued and closed private shooting ranges, something that even Parris Glendening, Bob's gun-grabbing predecessor, never succeeded in doing. (Parris did manage to close the state-owned ranges in Guard armories. In their first year in office, Team Ehrlich refused to re-open the facilities, even though demand for police and Guard training opportunities had become a post-9-11 priority.)
- When the legislature cut funds used by MDE to target shooting ranges, Ehrlich's people just created other line items in the budget to continue litigation against the facilities anyway.
- Ehrlich's administration drafted, promulgated and adopted regulations which ban handguns having certain required safeties (called “integrated mechanical safety devices”) even though the law says they should be allowed for sale. When sued by the gun community for enforcing gun bans in excess of what state law allows, Ehrlich's people fought hard – and successfully – to preserve the ban. As a result, many high quality guns which should be lawful for sale are unavailable.
- When the legislature cut funding for the failed ballistic fingerprinting program – perfect political cover if we ever saw it – the administration simply spent state money to maintain the program anyway. This in spite of ballistic fingerprinting being one of the example programs he promised during the election would be reviewed and, if found a failure, cut.
- They appointed people to key gun boards not based on expertise, but based on who in the administration happened to be related to them. (The Handgun Permit Review Board chair has not only never acquired a gun herself, she is not eligible under Maryland law to receive a handgun.) The Boards' lack of qualifications is reflected in their work product.
Nobody in our community expected miracles from Ehrlich. All we wanted was top-cover for issue advocacy – a chance to teach others about our positions and persuade them that we are right. The reward for us doing our part would thus be paid in a more receptive public, more candidates who favor our positions in the General Assembly, and hence real leverage in the next term. At a minimum, though, we expected Ehrlich would keep his word: “Bob won't hurt you and you'll have a seat at the table.”
That didn't happen. And as for the campaign promise he made to all voters, to examine failed gun laws, ask him for yourself: what did you do to make that promise true? There is no good answer.
The worst is yet to come.
Most conservative issue groups have had much the same experience. I leave it for others to speak of specifics, but groups concerned with such issues as taxes, business regulation, charter schools, family values and abortion all have their own horror tales. In each case, policy seems to have been driven by the Governor's political needs – pandering to the left for votes this year – rather than what is good for the community.
Just as bad, by cherry-picking seasoned legislators for jobs in his administration Ehrlich is diminishing our ability to issue advocate in the General Assembly. (On our issue he's taken out more pro-gunners than Sarah Brady ever did.) Some replacements filling empty seats are not particularly pro-gun, none have experience and all have yet to win their first election. Many who are not new are vulnerable too, because of votes cast to suit Ehrlich's needs, in opposition to campaign pledges. They face hard fights from challengers who know how to do opposition research. Voters rarely forgive inconsistency, and we risk losing a whole generation of right-leaning officials in down-ticket races as a result.
So here's the worst part: This November conservatives can vote for Ehrlich's re-election – and validate all that he has done – or Martin O'Malley, who is openly antagonistic to conservative issues. This is where GOP partisans triumphantly sneer, “where you gonna go?” The real answer is not one they will like: O'Malley may work to make our positions unpopular, but Ehrlich has worked hard to make us and our cause irrelevant. That's far worse.
If a conservative base enables Ehrlich's reelection after all he has done to us then we set our issue advocacy back for at least another generation in this state. At that point, we will confirm to the GOP that they can screw us and we'll still vote for them. There will be no reason for any Republican official to make the slightest effort on behalf of conservative issues, since they've already got us for cheap. The only way for them to get more votes is to pander to the left. And hey … they can do that knowing we'll still vote for them!
Pick the bill of your choice next term, and think how much headway you get talking with any committee chairman. If you speak as an honest issue advocate, you might at least get heard. If you speak as someone who embraced Ehrlich after he screwed your issue, you won't get the time of day. The chairman will know you only as a Republican activist.
Neither gunowners nor conservatives have a dog in the gubernatorial fight. More's the pity. But one thing is very important. Conservatives must show up and vote , if not for governor, at least for down-ticket candidates who remain solid on issues of concern to us. For us to be politically relevant, it must be absolutely clear to all that our support means something. We work hard to defend friends, just as we work against those who made false promises of friendship.
More to the point, our steadfast support for friendly delegates and senators will be rewarded with a block in the General Assembly to counter bad legislation before it advances. There is no substitute for having influence in the People's House. We survived Schaefer, Glendening and Ehrlich. Each scarred us but every day our community is more politically relevant. We showed we can elect promising candidates; we can show that we mean it when we say, we don't care for issues just to elect our candidates, we elect candidates to care for our issues. We can survive O'Malley too, if it comes to that, and be politically stronger.
If the conservative base folds its arms and ignores Ehrlich – the way Ehrlich has ignored us for almost four years – the GOP will know the only way to elect more Republicans is by remaining true to the promise of limited government, strong family values and more freedom. And it will do wonders for unit cohesion in the conservative administration we might finally get … in November of 2010.
The Republican Party in MD is disintegrating, and taking issues down with it. Issue advocates need to cut the GOP loose else be pulled under too.
© 2006, James M. Purtilo
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