This may be of limited interest outside Maryland, but I thought it was interesting to see how Gov. Bob Ehrlich Jr. (R) has decided to deal with political reporters who’ve been giving him a hard time. He’s throwing them out of the Statehouse building.
Maryland’s Statehouse is the oldest capitol building in the United States still in legislative use. But after July 31 it also may be one of very few that does not provide space for the news media.
In a June 28 letter to media, the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) ordered reporters to clear out of their basement digs in the domed Annapolis landmark, where Gen. George Washington resigned his military commission in 1783. The administration says it plans to use journalists’ space for gubernatorial staff during a three-year project to replace pipes for heating, cooling and drinking water.
Critics counter that Ehrlich, who frequently claims not to read newspapers, is retaliating against the print press that he regularly derides.
“This is another boner by Ehrlich,” said Blair Lee, a longtime political columnist for The Gazette newspapers in Maryland and son of a former Democratic governor. “Republicans never seem to get it right with the media.”
Ehrlich’s office is naturally insisting that the governor’s hatred for the press has nothing to do with the eviction; this has more to do with scheduled maintenance than political payback.
And perhaps that’s true. But I don’t imagine this will help Ehrlich’s relationship with a press corps that has been butting heads with him for years.