O'Malley Ad Campaign Takes On Foreclosures

Aides Say Pitch Is Public Service, Not Self-Promotion

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley gingerly embraced one of the perks of office yesterday that fellow Democrats had accused his Republican predecessor of shamelessly exploiting: the ability to appear in public service ads.

O'Malley, speaking at a well-attended news conference, kicked off a $400,000 advertising campaign to tell Maryland homeowners at risk of foreclosure about resources available to help them.

During his tenure, former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) starred in state-financed ads that promoted Maryland tourism, the use of E-ZPass and other initiatives. In one television spot, Ehrlich portrayed a beach hotel clerk advising vacationers to leave home early to avoid the heaviest traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

O'Malley, now nearly 16 months into office, is employing a far more subtle approach.

There are no TV ads in the foreclosure campaign. In radio spots, listeners do not hear from O'Malley until the final 10 seconds, when he provides a toll-free number, 877-462-7555, that homeowners may call to learn about loan opportunities, counseling services and fraud intervention programs.

O'Malley's picture accompanies the ads running on buses, trains, billboards and in newspapers, but it is relatively small. On a bus parked at yesterday's news conference in Baltimore, the facade of a home and the campaign slogan -- "Mortgage Late? Don't Wait!" -- were far more prominent than a photo of O'Malley and three other administration officials. The photo was taken at an earlier news conference on foreclosures, aides pointed out.

Still, Republican leaders said Democrats who criticized Ehrlich's media appearances are applying a double standard.

"It's certainly a subtle form of campaigning for reelection," Senate Minority Leader David R. Brinkley (R-Frederick) said of the O'Malley ads. "When a Republican does it, it's problematic. When a Democrat does it, it's public service. That's ludicrous."

O'Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said the Ehrlich and O'Malley ads are nothing alike.

"This is an effort to educate the public," Abbruzzese said. "There's a marked difference in the tone and the substance."

Abbruzzese noted that the O'Malley administration is running ads to promote tourism, as the preceding administration did. But although the Ehrlich ads featured Ehrlich, the O'Malley ad campaign uses images of Maryland tourism destinations.

Asked why O'Malley is heard in the radio ads at all, Abbruzzese said: "It's a recognizable voice. He's been out front on this issue from the beginning. This is about preserving homeownership, not promoting the governor."

Passage of an ambitious package of mortgage-lending changes was among the highlights for O'Malley in the recently concluded legislative session. The bills have given the governor something to trumpet as his job approval numbers sag after a special session last year in which taxes were raised.

Bills signed by O'Malley make the most egregious mortgage schemes subject to criminal prosecution, extend the foreclosure timetable from 15 to 150 days, and prohibit prepayment penalties and transactions in which homeowners are tricked into signing over their houses to third parties.

An O'Malley aide said the $400,000 budgeted for the ad campaign is being redirected from existing funds in the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

"We cannot save every home, but we're going to save as many homes as we can," O'Malley said at the ad campaign kickoff. "Help may be available, but you have to pick up the phone and ask."