Race Card Played In Maryland?

Ellen Sauerbrey said Thursday that Gov. Parris Glendening is using race-baiting tactics in their fight to become Maryland's next governor.

Glendening, a Democrat, responded that Sauerbrey, a Republican, is out of line in the accusation.

Hoping to increase voter turnout among black voters who make up his strongest base of support, Glendening's latest television ads call Sauerbrey's voting in the Legislature "a civil rights record to be ashamed of."

He criticized her votes in 1989 against a law allowing higher damage awards to victims of job discrimination, in 1990 against a bill guaranteeing minority contractors a share of state projects, and in 1992 against a civil rights law.

At a luncheon attended by about 50 black supports, Sauerbrey said the governor is deliberately distorting her record, which is one of seeking equal rights for all Marylanders.

"I think it is sad that a governor who ought to be bringing people together is playing the race card," said Sauerbrey, seeking to become the first Republican governor since Spiro Agnew 32 years.

Glendening is "afraid of her inroads into the black community," said Michael Steele, the black chairman of the Prince George's County Republican Central Committee. "He figures fear and race baiting is the way to bring black voters back into the fold."

Peter Hamm, Glendening's press spokesman, said the ad is accurate.

"She voted against fair housing laws. She voted against hate crime bills. She should explain what she was thinking," he said. "This is a state that has always been a responsible leader in ensuring equal rights and equal opportunity for all. I think it's a very, very legitimate issue for us to contrast these two opponents' records."

Sauerbrey has tried hard to attract support from blacks, promising that she would have a well-balanced government. Glendening credits black voters with helping him beat Sauerbrey by less than 6,000 votes in 1994.

The two are shown consistently in this year's polls as running even.