The Cordish Cos. has picked a surprising ally in its bid to put slots at Arundel Mills mall: Team Ehrlich.
Bob Ehrlich pushed hard for slots while governor but sharply criticized how Martin O'Malley pulled it off. Yet to help make his case for slots in Anne Arundel, Cordish has tapped Ehrlich communications guru Paul Schurick and others at Womble Carlyle.
"We are helping the Cordish Company with its plan to develop the slots facility near the Arundel Mills Mall," Schurick wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Baltimore Sun's Gadi Dechter. "Specifically, we've been asked to identify and build community support for the plan and for the zoning legislation pending before the Anne Arundel County Council."
Finally, Womble Carlyle has a client other than governor-in-waiting Ehrlich!
"We don't discuss our client relationships with anyone other than our clients," Schurick said.
But Jon Cordish confirmed that Schurick "and his Womble communications team" had been hired to help with community relations - and not lobbying, he noted.
What about Ehrlich's vocal opposition to O'Malley's slots plan?
Ehrlich himself is not involved, Cordish said.
"That's the nebulous world of public relations and lobbying," said County Councilman Jamie Benoit, a vocal slots opponent. "I guess, congratulations to Womble Carlyle. They got a good client."
Nonprofit newspapers - in a good way
Ben Cardin and some mysterious cohorts envision a nonprofit future for newspapers. Nonprofit in a good way.
Maryland's junior senator introduced a bill Tuesday that would allow newspapers to operate along the lines of public TV and radio. Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax-exempt. And readers could make tax-deductible contributions to support coverage.
Such contributions might raise some thorny conflict-of-interest issues. Imagine: "Baltimore City Hall coverage is brought to you by Doracon and contributors like you."
But with newspapers across the country in trouble, Cardin said it is time for some re-invention.
"This legislation is really an effort to save community newspapers," he said in a phone interview from Washington. "I think the old model just doesn't work today for a lot of these papers."
Noting that the Baltimore Examiner recently closed and that The Baltimore Sun's parent company is in bankruptcy court, Cardin said, "We are in danger of losing local focus on news."
