Ehrlich on Washington column, January 15, 2001

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Lutherville, Maryland 2 1 093 Washington, D.C. 205 1 5 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of January 1 5, 200 1 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Asking for Fair and Open Competition As a Republican in Maryland’s one party regime, I have learned not to ask for much from the power structure that runs this state. While enforcement of gun laws, lower taxes, and some measure of fiscal restraint would all be good for Maryland, I understand the philosophical and political mindset within the Glendening-Townsend Administration prevents these commonsense ideas from becoming reality. Nevertheless, I am dumbfounded by Governor Glendening’s strident opposition to fair and open competition. As you may recall from an earlier column, my colleagues and I on both sides of the aisle worked hard to appropriate $1.5 billion for the reconstruction and improvement of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge. This unprecedented bridge construction project replaces the current 6-lane bridge with a 12-lane bridge and redesigns the four major interchanges that feed into the bridge for the roughly 300,000 cars that travel the bridge every day. While the federal government and the State of Virginia have done their part to move the replacement bridge process forward, Governor Glendening recently threw the entire project into disarray by announcing that any contractor who bids on a Woodrow Wilson Bridge contract will be forced to abide by the requirements in a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). The PLA not only stifles fair and open competition, but threatens to increase the cost and delay the completion of the entire project. In essence, Governor Glendening has hung a sign on Maryland which says "non-union contractors need not apply." More importantly, the PLA unfairly discriminates against minorities since union shops have a significantly smaller base of minority labor than nonunion shops. The National Black Chamber of Commerce recently declared a PLA to be nothing more than "de facto segregation." I agree. Governor Glendening’ s misguided decision to force a PLA down the throats of Maryland contractors will seriously impede the replacement bridge project. The expected cost overruns from a PLA, estimated to be approximately $150 million, will be picked up by you -the