Forget the moderate guise that Ehrlich will assume between now and November. Look instead at his conservative voting record as a member of Congress since 1995.

Education and Children

In his announcement speech for governor, Ehrlich emerged as a champion of education and children. The record says otherwise. In Congress, he voted to eliminate the Department of Education, to cut the school lunch program, and to slash funding for the Head Start program, which prepares disadvantaged children for success in school. He voted to drain funds from the public schools through vouchers to pay for private schools. He opposed increasing the minimum wage and providing child care funding for working families. Today, more than three-quarters of poor children live in working families.

Rep. Ehrlich's votes were so hostile to the goals of improving education and supporting the welfare of children that the Children's Defense Fund gave him a failing grade of 40 percent, tied with ultra-conservative Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Dist. 5) for last in the state.

Choice

In this solidly pro-choice state, Rep. Ehrlich bills himself as a pro-choice Republican. But he hasn't earned the title. Ehrlich has cast some pro-choice votes, but, on balance, his votes undermine the right of women to choose safe and legal abortions.

According to the National Abortion Rights Action League, Ehrlich's pro-choice rating for 2000-2001 is an anemic 41 percent, behind only Bartlett in the state of Maryland. He voted against legislation to protect family planning clinics from attacks. He voted for a so-called "partial birth abortion" bill that failed to include protections for a woman's health and was so vaguely worded that it had the potential to ban virtually all abortions. He voted for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, a stealth attack by the anti-choice movement on Roe v. Wade.

Environmental Protection

Every member of our community who cares about clean air, drinkable water and unspoiled wilderness should look carefully at a record compiled by Ehrlich that has earned him a shameful rating of 21 percent from the League of Conservation Voters. His environmental record places him dead last in the state, 15 points behind Bartlett.

Ehrlich voted for drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife and for weakening standards on levels or arsenic in drinking water. He voted against fuel economy standards for automobiles and a ban on drilling in National Monuments. He voted against efforts to restore funding essential to the enforcement efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Campaign Finance Reform

Ehrlich has stood like a block of granite against demands by the American people to limit the corrupting influence of money on politics. He voted against the landmark Shays-Meehan bill -- the House version of the McCain-Feingold legislation that banned unlimited "soft money" donations and limited advertising by advocacy groups. When reformers, including some Republicans, had sought to introduce an earlier version of the bill, it was Rep. Ehrlich, according to "Congressional Quarterly," who "circulated a petition urging leaders to discipline committee chairmen and vice chairmen who frequently dissented from the party line."

Gun Control and Safety

Maryland has been a leader in sensible gun control, efforts that paid off with a substantial reduction in gun violence during the past several years.

Ehrlich has consistently voted with the NRA and against efforts at gun control and safety. He voted to repeal the ban on assault weapons, which keeps deadly weapons off of our streets. He voted against requiring background checks for purchasers of weapons at all gun shows and voted for crippling a federal program that provides incentives for manufacturers to produce safer guns. These and other pro-NRA votes earned Ehrlich a grade of zero from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Health Care

During his tenure in Congress, Ehrlich has been an obstacle to passing a strong prescription drug law, a real patients' bill of rights, and needed assistance for low-income families. He voted for a weakened version of prescription drug benefits for seniors, which offered huge subsidies to private insurance companies, with benefits for seniors that the National Senior Citizens Law Center called "grossly inadequate." Likewise he voted for a sham version of a patients' bill of rights that, according to Republican Sen. John McCain, "favors the HMO over the patient." He also voted for cuts in the Medicaid program that provides health care services for low income Americans.

Overall, the American Conservative Union has certified that Ehrlich voted with the right on 85 percent of key votes cast in Congress from 1998 to 2001. Even the extremist Family Research Council, a bastion of the religious right, awarded Ehrlich a perfect 100 percent rating in 2000 and a 76 percent rating in 2001.

The right in Maryland will not be fooled by candidate Ehrlich's moderate campaign. They will line up solidly behind a candidate who has voted with them for so many years. Moderates and liberals should equally well heed not the rhetoric of Ehrlich's campaign, but the reality of the record compiled by this last, best hope of the right wing in our state.

Allan J. Lichtman is a Gazette columnist and professor of history at American University. He can be reached at lichtman@american.edu.