The Gazette

Governor cashes in with more Democrats on Eastern Shore

by Thomas Dennison
Staff Writer

Aug. 20, 2004

OCEAN CITY -- Luminaries of Eastern Shore Democratic politics opened their wallets and rolled out the red carpet for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. on Wednesday evening at a $100,000 fund-raiser that served as an unofficial and private kickoff to the weeklong festivities of the annual Maryland Association of Counties convention.

Hosted by Ocean City Democrats Brice and Shirley Phillips of the Phillips seafood empire, the event was headlined by Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (D), Ocean City Mayor James N. Mathias Jr. (D) and a cadre of prominent Eastern Shore donors, many of whom are Democrats. About 150 guests paid $1,000 a head to sample crab balls, shrimp cocktail and a well-stocked open bar in the Phillips' Mallard Island back yard, which looks out on the picturesque shoreline of the Assawoman Bay.

For Ehrlich (R), the event signified that he is earning across-the-aisle support and gaining accolades here in Ocean City, long known for its reputation as a Democratic bastion on the conservative-leaning Eastern Shore.

"This is a hard town to crack," the governor said after a few brief remarks to the crowd. "It's always been very hard for a Republican to get any attention here. I think what this shows is that people like what we're doing, they like our message, and they realize we're going to be around for a long time."

"The elite of the Democratic Party on the Eastern Shore was there," said Paul E. Schurick, the governor's communications director and a Democrat who served as a top aide to Schaefer when he was governor.

The fund-raiser is yet another sign that Schaefer's political network has found a home with Ehrlich, said Ehrlich aides and others at the party.

Schaefer, a former two-term governor and Baltimore city mayor, has frequented the Phillips home for fund-raisers, and many of the same guests who contributed to his campaigns gave money to Ehrlich on Wednesday.

It has also become apparent that many of Schaefer's Baltimore allies are with Ehrlich now, most prominently Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos.

"The governor has Peter Angelos in Baltimore and Brice and Shirley Phillips on the Eastern Shore," said lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano, a longtime Schaefer ally who escorted the comptroller to the Ehrlich fund-raiser. "Any Democrat would love to have that, but for a Republican to have that is truly remarkable."

"I've seen a lot of the same people, but there are a lot of new people as well," said state Elections Board member Gene M. Raynor, a political insider for five decades and Schaefer's campaign manager. "The thing I notice the most is that a lot of the people here supported Kathleen [Townsend]."

Robert Romadka, a retired attorney and political heavyweight in Baltimore County, was one of those Townsend supporters in 2002, but on Wednesday night he was at the Ehrlich party.

"Even though he's been a Republican throughout his elected career he's tried to work with Democrats and he really cares about the state," said Romadka, a former chairman of the Baltimore County Democratic Party. "At some point, we have to put politics aside and put Maryland first."

The speeches at the fund-raiser devolved into a lovefest between Ehrlich and Schaefer.

Schaefer, who almost always aligns with Ehrlich on the powerful three-member Board of Public Works, said that the governor "has never once asked me for my vote." He lavished praise on first lady Kendel S. Ehrlich and called the governor an "honest" man with a "well-balanced life," mentioning Ehrlich's family, his golf game and attention to his job.

Schaefer got in a few cracks, introducing the first lady as the featured guest and not the governor -- to which Ehrlich quipped, "Thanks, Parris," a reference to the comptroller's archenemy and successor as governor, Parris N. Glendening (D).

Ehrlich said he "inherited Schaefer's mantle" by focusing on "caring, compassion and honesty" in government.

He invited Schaefer to attend the Republican National Convention in New York City at the end of the month, but Schaefer, who has been warring with state Democrats because he said they had not invited him to Democratic National Convention last month in Boston, only looked at the ground and shook his head "no."

Mathias pulled off the best double-agent impersonation of the night: He led the speaking program at Ehrlich's fund-raiser just one day before headlining a Democratic event at Fish Tales Bar and Grill.

Tonight, Mathias will join Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) and his Irish rock band, O'Malley's March, at Shenanigans on the Boardwalk for some more Democratic Party revelry.

"It's all about Ocean City," the mayor explained.