Excerpts from the Daily News Clips - April 8, 2005
Maryland Democratic Party (democrat@mddems.org)

Decision Time Baltimore Sun April 8, 2005

BEFORE THE START of the General Assembly session, aides to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. warned that this would not be a year of monumental legislation. Well, mission accomplished. So far there's not much to brag about. And with just days left before the 90-day session concludes Monday night, legislators will have to scramble to get some important measures passed - or else have 2005 remembered as a year of monumental inaction. [Complete article]

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Ehrlich trims goals as session winds down
by Steven T. Dennis and Thomas Dennison
Gazette Staff Writers Apr. 8, 2005

ANNAPOLIS -- With much of his agenda struggling in legislative limbo this week, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has lowered his sights in the face of a hostile legislature. Six weeks after he celebrated the House of Delegates' razor-thin passage of slot machine legislation with a snowball fight outside his mansion, the slots bill, medical malpractice reform and other key initiatives appear dead or dying. [Complete article]

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Medicaid Cuts Would Unfairly Punish Legal Immigrants
Thomas Perez, Special to the Gazette April 8, 2005

Gov. Robert Ehrlich has a plan to reward legal immigrants for their immense contributions to our country and our community. His proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year kicks all legal immigrants off the Medicaid rolls (emphasis added). [Complete article]

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Budget deficit estimated for juvenile agency
By Lynn Anderson Sun Staff April 8, 2005

Still reeling from recent reports of child abuse at two detention centers, Maryland Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Kenneth C. Montague Jr. faces a new round of criticism from legislators and advocates for a fiscal crisis that threatens to further destabilize the juvenile corrections system. [Complete article]

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Hiring, firing probe comes into focus
Ehrlich also wants look into predecessor's moves
by Thomas Dennison Gazette Staff Writer Apr. 8, 2005

ANNAPOLIS -- A legislative probe into the Ehrlich administration's hiring and firing practices is beginning to take shape, with leading Democrats talking about who will be on the commission and the areas the investigation will cover. [Complete article]

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Medmal reform sinks out of sight
by Catherine Dolinski Gazette Staff Writer Apr. 8, 2005

ANNAPOLIS -- On Jan. 10, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. stood next to a giant plaster cast signed by hundreds of doctors and promised to propose a stronger package of tort reforms than the one he was about to veto. [Complete article]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 5, 2005
Contact: Derek Walker | Desk: 410-269-8818 | Cell: 410-980-0939

GOVERNOR'S GOP ATTACK MACHINE STRIKES AGAIN

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Ehrlich's Request for Respect and Civility Now a Distant Memory

In today's Baltimore Sun, John Kane, Governor Ehrlich's hand-picked GOP Party Chair, called Democratic leaders in Maryland "left leaning liberal bastards" and "bozos," and suggested that they "grow up" rather than continue to explore changes to the state's election laws that include expanding voter rights and moving the primary election date.

Chairman Kane is continuing the personal, partisan attacks that have characterized the approach of Governor Ehrlich and his top lieutenants in recent months. Ehrlich, who campaigned for Governor by promising to bring a new measure of civility to Annapolis, has taken a completely opposite tack, from running roughshod over state agencies to accusing whistleblowers in his own administration of conspiring with Democrats.

"Whether it's Bob Ehrlich, Michael Steele, Joe Steffen or John Kane, voters in Maryland have seen and heard enough. Our state's Republican leaders have adopted and endorsed an ineffective, counterproductive approach to governing and campaigning that our Governor learned at the feet of Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay" said Maryland State Democratic Chair Terry Lierman.

"At a time when the state's foster care system is reeling, mental health and Medicaid programs are being depleted, and the juvenile justice system looks unjust, Ehrlich and his top associates should be leading the state forward, not dragging us further into the quagmire of assassin politics," said Lierman.

"Kane's comments reveal a growing realization by the right-wing Republican machine that Ehrlich/Steele priorities and values are well out of touch with mainstream Marylanders," Lierman continued. "Ehrlich and Steele have failed to win the trust of the citizens of Maryland, and we now see they fear they and the Maryland Republican Party are heading for an electoral disaster in 2006."

"Name calling is not a leadership tactic," said Lierman. "The voters of Maryland will get the final word next November."

Excerpts From Daily News Clips -- March 31, 2005
Maryland Democratic Party democrat@mddems.org

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GOVERNOR EHRLICH'S JUVENILE IN-JUSTICE

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DJS sets a bad example
Baltimore Sun Editorial | March 31, 2005

AT THE RELATIVELY new juvenile holding tank at the Baltimore Juvenile Justice Center, where the staff is supposedly freshly trained in best practices and state law, children have been badly, apparently illegally, treated. At the well-established Alfred D. Noyes Children's Center in Rockville, there are new reports of the old, familiar "fight clubs," as well as allegations that a staffer ran a gang -- with shame and physical abuse as hazing -- in one of the units. Apparently, not much has changed as the Ehrlich administration rolls into its third year of juvenile justice "reform." [complete article]

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Abuse of Md. Youths Leads To Firings, Reassignment
David Snyder Katherine Shaver | Washington Post Staff Writers | March 31, 2005

Boys at a state-run juvenile detention facility in Rockville were routinely stripped naked and punched by other residents, sometimes at the direction of staff members, according to allegations in a report released this week. Some of the boys at the Alfred D. Noyes Children's Center allegedly were deprived of full meals, and a staff member read boys' mail aloud "so residents could hear and make fun of the contents," according to the report, released Tuesday by a state monitoring agency that investigates detention facilities. [complete article]

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Md. Democrats chide Ehrlich for problems at juvenile jails
Potential '06 challengers point to pledge of reforms
Lynn Anderson | Baltimore Sun Staff | March 31, 2005

The two Democrats considered most likely to challenge Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in next year's election blasted the administration yesterday for failing to improve conditions in Maryland's troubled juvenile jails, where an independent monitor once again has reported abuse. [complete article]

Highlights from the Daily News Clips -- April 4, 2005
Maryland Democratic Party democrat@mddems.org

"Mr. Ehrlich is the governor now. He's responsible. He can cry smear and accuse people of blackmailing him with unpleasant disclosures, as he has done recently. He can say he doesn't know the whistleblower - as if she were some sort of wild thing sent in by the Democrats. It doesn't matter if he knows her or not. What matters is the quality of service his administration provides." - C. Fraser Smith in the Baltimore Sun, April 3, 2005

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THE EHRLICH FOLLIES

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Ehrlich's legislative priorities sputter as session winds down
By Andrew A. Green | Baltimore Sun Staff | April 4, 2005

With a week to go in the legislative session, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has yet to see a single vote cast against any of his proposals on the floor of the House of Delegates this year. But that's because only his least-contentious ideas have made it through the legislative process, while others have stalled, giving him a mixed record at this point in the last session before attention shifts to next year's election. [complete article]

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Are Democrats responsible for global warming, too?
C. Fraser Smith | Baltimore Sun | April 3, 2005

GOV. ROBERT L. Ehrlich Jr. calls it partisan harassment, but he shouldn't be able to duck some alarming questions about child welfare in Maryland. We'll put them in true-false format.

Abusive conditions in the juvenile justice system have worsened during the Ehrlich administration. The questions are inevitably political because Mr. Ehrlich campaigned on a promise to improve things. True or false? [complete article]