Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has blocked a high-level official in the Department of Transportation from taking a second job as a member of the House of Delegates.
James F. Ports Jr., a former Republican delegate, had hoped to return to the House while keeping his $112,000-a-year job as an assistant secretary at the Department of Transportation.
"I just don't think Bobby is comfortable with it," Ports said yesterday. "If he is not comfortable with it, I am not going to do it, and that is where it is going to stand."
FOR THE RECORD - An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun misidentified one of the candidates for a House of Delegates seat in the 8th District. Dennis Robinson is seeking the position, not Mike Robinson.
The Sun regrets the error.
While the attorney general's office ruled Ports could legally serve in both positions, Ehrlich thought it was inappropriate for a high-level administration official to also serve in the House, said spokesman Henry Fawell.
"It may have passed the legal standards, but there was the Bob Ehrlich standard, and the governor did not feel it met that standard," Fawell said.
Earlier in the week, James Browning, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said it would be a "big conflict" if Ports became a delegate without resigning his other job.
Ehrlich wanted Ports to transfer to a lower-profile state job if he also wanted to serve in the House. Ports did not want to leave his current position.
Ports served in the House of Delegates from 1991 to last year, when he launched an unsuccessful bid for the Baltimore County Council.
With Ports out, four candidates are vying to replace Republican Alfred W. Redmer Jr., whom Ehrlich tapped as insurance commissioner.
Donald E. Murphy, chairman of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee, said Mike Cluster appears to be the front-runner. Cluster unsuccessfully challenged state Sen. Katherine A. Klausmeier last year.
Mike Rupp, who ran for the House in the 8th District last year, and Mike Robinson and Bruce Robinson also are running.
The 29-member Baltimore County Republican Central Committee will vote on a replacement June 30. A community forum on the race will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rosedale Federal and Savings Loan Association in the 9600 block of Belair Road in Perry Hall.
