AAPD-DVP: Voting Issues

Ehrlich Courts Disabled Voters
Record Called Good but Not Flawless

By Matthew Mosk and Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writers
July 16, 2006

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was running late, but the students at the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick didn't seem to mind.

In sign language, they gabbed across the aisles, their hands darting, tapping and punching at the air. When Ehrlich finally entered, trailed by his new running mate, Kristen Cox, all the hands began to applaud.

"The governor has just made a trailblazing choice," said James E. Tucker, the school's superintendent, as he introduced Cox, a blind mother of two who heads the department Ehrlich created to focus on the needs of the disabled. "Wow! We just thank you for believing in us."

The brief visit last week provided a window into one element of the Republican governor's reelection strategy: the courtship of disabled voters. With a blind running mate on board and a first-term record that has largely pleased disabilities advocates, Ehrlich has plans to reach out to this often-overlooked constituency for help.

Records from the 2000 Census show that 13 percent of Marylanders have some disability, and many in Ehrlich's camp think the disabled could become a potent political force.

On the campaign trail, Ehrlich has begun to appeal to disabled voters, saying that "empowering people" is the mission of his tenure as governor. He repeated the phrase to the deaf students as he described why he elevated the state office devoted to disability issues to a Cabinet-level department and put Cox at the helm.

It was not "a feel-good initiative," Ehrlich said, but an effort "to empower someone to empower an agency to empower you."

In more than a dozen interviews over the past week, advocates for the disabled universally praised Ehrlich's decision to elevate the disabilities office and his decision to run with Cox. Both moves, they said, would have symbolic significance.

But many said that as they begin to consider whom to support in the race between Ehrlich and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D), the governor's record on an array of issues will be more crucial to their decision: Has Ehrlich provided enough money to enable the disabled to have access to public health insurance even if they work? Has he secured money to provide non-institutional settings for disabled people to live in, if they're able?

Ehrlich's record in both areas has been strong, most advocates interviewed said, but not without flaw.

The governor included $10 million in this year's budget to reduce by 1,225 the number of people on the state's waiting list for placement in community-based housing. Ed Worff, president of the board for Arc of Maryland, an advocacy group for the mentally disabled, said the governor's contribution was appreciated but not nearly sufficient to address a growing problem. The waiting list, which exceeds 15,000, leaves Maryland among the least effective states in the nation in helping move the disabled out of institutional settings, Worff said.

At the same time, Ehrlich included $10.6 million -- more than advocates sought -- to fully fund the state's Medicaid Buy-In program so that disabled people could keep their health coverage if they returned to work.

"There's no question they've been very friendly to the disabled community," said Josie Thomas, a Democrat who serves as executive director of Parents' Place of Maryland, a center for families of children with disabilities. "It wasn't what anyone necessarily expected. He just right away, from day one, got moving on it and showed a real commitment."

But it was the governor's effort to help deaf people navigate driver education that was most warmly applauded Tuesday in Frederick, especially by teenagers.

Yvonne M. Dunkle, a former faculty member at the Maryland School for the Deaf who heads Maryland's Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, said the state has worked with the Motor Vehicle Administration to improve driver education for the deaf.

"It's not acceptable for deaf and hard-of-hearing students not to be able to take driver's ed," she said, "But it won't be that way for long."

Ehrlich is not alone in his outreach to the disabled. O'Malley attended a forum in May at which he outlined his goals for serving the disabled and his record in improving services for disabled Baltimore residents.

Politically, Ehrlich has the most to gain by reaching out to this constituency, said Keith Haller, president of Potomac Inc., an independent research firm. A Washington Post poll conducted last month showed that most people view Ehrlich as a traditional Republican, believing that large corporations have too much influence with his administration while regular people do not have enough.

"This provides him a progressive social agenda that doesn't run in conflict with being conservative on fiscal matters," Haller said. "It's a smart move."

After his speech, Ehrlich told reporters that working on behalf of the disabled is not just a passing political fancy but has been a major part of his career. He noted it was how he first met Cox.

And Cox has picked up his message. In Charles County last week to speak with GOP activists, she put it this way: "The real mission that the governor and I jointly share is helping those who haven't had a shot in life."