Ehrlich

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s chief fundraiser asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the NAACP's tax-exempt status shortly after the 2000 presidential campaign, questioning whether the civil rights organization had inappropriately sought to influence the election. Two months later, Ehrlich - then a Baltimore County congressman - wrote to the agency urging a response to Richard E. Hug's complaint and directing that the answer also be sent to his "special projects coordinator," Joseph F. Steffen Jr. Attorneys for the NAACP said the letters were among 523 pages of documents the IRS accumulated to begin its October 2004 inquiry into the Baltimore-based civil rights organization's tax-exempt status.

"Bumps in the road. " - President Barack Obama on the unrest in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East that included the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, an information officer, and two Navy SEALS. "Crude and disgusting"… "an insult"… "blasphemy"… "[its message] must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. " - President Obama on the infamous anti-Muslim videotape that was originally blamed for the Benghazi terror attacks. Benghazi happened "a long time ago. " - White House spokesman Jay Carney on May 2, 2013.

Sunday mornings are whenRobert L. Ehrlich Jr.gets to share his right-wing political views with the rest of us, but his most recent column was more extreme than usual ("It's not easy being attorney general," July 29). He defends Jim Crow politics in the South and anti-immigrant bigotry in Arizona. But the most outrageous position he takes is to defend the cruel voter suppression measures in a number of states designed to keep minorities and low-income voters from exercising their right to vote.

Richard E. "Dick" Hug, a prominent businessman and prolific fundraiser for Republican candidates, died Saturday. He was 78. Mr. Hug was the finance chairman for three Maryland gubernatorial campaigns - Ellen R. Sauerbrey in 1998 and Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in 2002 and 2006 - becoming known as the $6 million man after he raised that amount for Mrs. Sauerbrey's unsuccessful attempt to unseat Gov. Parris N. Glendening. He belonged to numerous civic boards and associations, including the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, and he served a stint as chairman of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce.

At first blush, my reaction toRobert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s column ("Wondering aloud: thoughts on religion and politics, energy and athletics," March 4) is, how could a seasoned politician have so many unanswered questions? But on closer reading, the object is to promote sharply partisan falsehoods by implication. Let's consider a few of the whoppers. First, there is the notion that President Barack Obama should be regarded as anti-business. Compare the performance of the stock market during the president's term with that during the Bush years and tell me which president should be regarded as anti-business by Wall Street.

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. confirmed Tuesday that he will try to reclaim his former job as governor, hoping to benefit from a national anti-incumbent sentiment that emerged since the last presidential election and has deepened during the health care debate. If victorious, Ehrlich, a Republican, would become the first politician in modern Maryland history to win a rematch after losing as an incumbent governor. Ehrlich was defeated by Democrat Martin O'Malley in 2006, the only sitting governor ousted by voters that year.

Re "Ehrlich pledges no new taxes if he is returned to Annapolis" (Aug. 26): If Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is returned to office, maybe he should reduce the "fees" that he increased. Roger L. Kegley, Abingdon

I have to agree with letter writer Howard Bluth ("Ehrlich's talk of Obama's radicalism strains credulity," July 25). If he wants to be taken seriously as an opinion-maker,Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.needs to do more than just spout the usual right-wing clichés about the "left-wing mindset" and "European Social Democrat economic model. " His columns always make my eyes glaze over. As it is, Mr. Ehrlich just comes off as a hack. He sounds like somebody who aspires to writing slogans for bumper stickers.

Robert Ehrlich Jr.'s recent column ("Obama's foreign policy reset has little to show for it," Oct. 28) could not be further from the truth when it states that Iran is "oh-so-close to acquiring a nuclear weapon. " In fact, our own intelligence agencies have stated that Iran has neither nuclear weapons nor a weapons program and ended its former program in 2003. Mr. Ehrlich has been wrong about his support for a disastrous war in Iraq, his calling for military action in Iran and his willingness to allow Israel to dictate U.S. foreign policy.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele spoke briefly at a state party fundraiser Thursday evening and repeatedly urged audience members to work hard for a victory in November. "My friends, don't screw this up," Steele told a roomful of about 700 at the BWI Airport Marriott. "We've got work to do. Don't take a good night for granted. This is going to be work. Hard work. We've done it before." The night saw the closest public interaction between Steele and Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in recent months.

Remember the 1980s? It was to be the decade of Japanese dominance. A post-Jimmy Carter America would be unable to compete with the efficient Japanese jobs machine. Aging technology, lazy management and high-cost labor would ensure America's rapid demise at the hands of the ascendant Asian economic superpower. History records a very different evolution, however, including a prolonged economic slump that continues to haunt the Japanese economy to this day. At the onset of a new millennium, many pundits predicted it would be the Chinese who would dislodge America from its dominant economic perch.

A dangerous confluence of recent business stories have been attention grabbers. First, the Obama administration announced an initiative to ensure more home loans for those with weak credit. Then, a number of prominent economists issued forecasts reflecting a slowing economy over the next several quarters. For the public, it's déjà vu all over again: an all-knowing federal government again pushing its way into the housing market against the backdrop of a softening economy. Yet again, we hear calls for banks to facilitate more home loans to mortgage seekers with less-than-stellar credit.

As many of you know, I was born and raised in solidly working class Arbutus. My family's Protestantism qualified us as an anomaly; the majority of the neighborhood kids were Catholic. Most attended local Catholic schools such as Ascension, Our Lady of Victory, and St. Mark's. A majority of them went on to graduate high school at Cardinal Gibbons, Mount St. Joe, or Seton. This school experience provided parents an attractive "three-fer": religious instruction, challenging academics and excellent athletics - at a reasonable price, to boot.

I would like to add some points to former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich's column "How the welfare state has grown" (April 7). Mr. Ehrlich fails to mention the fact that every president since Lyndon Johnson, beginning in 1964, has raided the Social Security Trust Fund and transferred the money to the government's general fund to pay for the country's wars and for the campaign promises they made to their constituents in order to get re-elected. He also failed to mention that President Ronald Reagan called upon Congress in the early 1980s to increase Social Security contributions because he claimed the system was going broke.

There is one thing in our political discourse that bothers me greatly, and that is how we so easily denigrate tens to hundreds of millions of our fellow Americans to express our biases ("How the welfare state has grown - and sapped America's economy and culture" April 7). There is no excuse for it. It is so demeaning. It reminds me of one of the Star Wars movies, where the Death Star destroys a whole planet. Just like that. Rid of it, them. Mr. Ehrlich do you even realize that is what your thoughtless rhetoric does?

I teach at Towson University in the College of Liberal Arts, where it is part of our core mission to help students develop their critical thinking abilities - a skills platform essential for career advancement. One key skill is finding the best available evidence and using it to inform one's opinions. Former Governor Ehrlich writes that "under Chávez, life for Venezuela's poor only got worse" and that "public health [in Venezuela] is deplorable. " ("On student loans, Hugo Chavez and Joe Flacco's taxes," Mar 31.)

Is George F. Harrison Jr. the nom de plume of Gov. Martin O'Malley's press secretary, or is it that The Sun only publishes anti-Ehrlich missives ("Ehrlich would be wise not to focus on the past," Readers respond, April 13)? As anybody knows who was involved in the issue during the Ehrlich years, the failure to pass a slots bill lies squarely at the feet of House Speaker Michael E. Busch. Because of Mr. Busch and Mr. Busch alone, Maryland is 10 years behind Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia with respect to this source of revenue and jobs.

The O'Malley campaign ads on radio using Ehrlich sound clips out of context are proof of two things: 1. O'Malley is very worried about Ehrlich's momentum 2. O'Malley prefers gutter politics over substance It is clear that the current Governor has ceded the high road in the current campaign. Anyone who stoops as low as he has in his radio ad campaigns reveals his or her true character. We want substance, not ridiculous sound bites taken out of context from our leaders.

Remember when President Barack Obama stuck a federal takeover of the student loan program into the "Affordable Care Act," AKA "Obamacare"? The dirty deed was accompanied by a promise that federal control would save taxpayer money and cut off all the private sector profiteers anxious to put the screws to student loan applicants. Now comes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with a daunting report on the grand experiment: A startling 35 percent of student loan-borrowers under 30 years of age were 90 days or more late in their payments as of December 31, up from 26 percent in 2008 and 21 percent in 2004.

Typical daily schedule for a member of the United States Congress: •8:30 a.m. - National Wind Energy Association: to discuss wind production tax credit. •10 a.m. - National Association of Manufacturers: to discuss accelerated depreciation schedules and corporate income tax. •11 a.m. - National Association of Realtors: to discuss home mortgage deduction and capital gains exclusion on home sales. •1 p.m. - The Alliance for Charitable Reform, National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, American Cancer Society, Muscular Dystrophy Association: to discuss enhanced funding for National Institutes of Health and federal charitable deduction.