Robert L. Honest

Robert L. Ehrlich (2004)

Robert Leroy "Bob" Ehrlich, Jr. (born November 25, 1957 in Arbutus , Maryland ) is an American lawyer and politician of the Republican Party . He was the 60th governor of the state of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 .

Early years

Born in a small working class suburb southwest of Baltimore, he was the son of paralegal Nancy and Bob Ehrlich, Sr., a former Marine and veteran of the Korean War who worked as a Ford dealership in Arbutus for 37 years. Robert Ehrlich gained his academic and athletic experience first at the Gilman School in Baltimore and later at Princeton University . There he was used in his first year as a senior captain of the football team .

After graduating from Wake Forest University in 1982, he joined the Ober, Kaler, Grimes and Shriver law firm in Baltimore.

Political career

His political career began in November 1986 when he was elected to the Maryland House of Representatives as representative of the 10th District ( Baltimore County ) . After eight successful years in the legislature of his state, Ehrlich announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in 1993 after incumbent Helen Delich Bentley announced her retirement . At this time he was on the federal level, an absolute novice, newlyweds with Kendel Sibiski that as a public defender in Anne Arundel County worked. During the election campaign, he promised lower taxes for working Americans, a strengthening of national defense, and greater support for American seniors and veterans . He also spoke out in favor of improving elementary education . Ehrlich was elected to Congress with a two-thirds majority as a member of the 2nd constituency.

During the next eight years in the House of Representatives, Ehrlich worked to keep his promises, which was easy to do in view of President Bill Clinton's policies , who, contrary to his government program, both inflated the defense budget and did not take effective action against the tax burden . On the other hand, Ehrlich supported all efforts on the way to a balanced federal budget . Because of his share in the Republican supremacy in Congress, Ehrlich soon took up key positions on the Energy and Economic Committee, where he served on the subcommittees on health , telecommunications and the Internet , among other things .

Ehrlich is considered an active supporter of biotechnology and biomedicine , which is booming, especially in Maryland , which meant that he played an outsider role for a long time until George W. Bush changed course within the Republican Party, which always had ethical reservations about genetic engineering . On the other hand, Ehrlich never forgot his roots, which were in a working class suburb, and actively supported the interests of the steelworking communities of Maryland. As a result, he was elected to Congress for the fourth and final time in November 2000 with 70% of the vote.

With the election of George W. Bush as President of the USA in the same year, Ehrlich's career reached a new dimension: As a trusted ally of Bush, especially in matters of the steel industry , small businessmen and youth education, Ehrlich announced his candidacy for governor on March 25, 2002. In his very active election campaign across the state, he emphasized his origins as a Marylander, promised to increase the budgets of all schools in the state, to reduce the towering budget crisis and to put the Chesapeake Bay under nature protection. On November 5, 2002, Robert L. Ehrlich was elected Annapolis' first Republican governor in 36 years.

In the gubernatorial election of November 7, 2006, he was the only incumbent to lose the election against his Democratic challenger Martin O'Malley . In November 2010 he faced O'Malley again, but was subject to this again.

During his tenure, Steven Oken († 42) and 05 Wesley Baker († 47) were executed in 2004 (two of five executions in Maryland since 1976). Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013.

Web links

Commons : Robert Ehrlich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Robert L. Ehrlich in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Robert Ehrlich in the National Governors Association (English)
• Short biography on the Archives of Maryland homepage
• Bob Ehrlich on the Issues (English)