GOP state senators stage protest

ANNAPOLIS, Md., April 1 (UPI) -- Irate over a Democratic push to pass contested legislation, GOP lawmakers in the Maryland Senate left en masse and won praise from Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr.

Four years of "monopoly frustration has come to a head," Ehrlich told The Washington Post of the Friday walkout by Republican senators.

The GOP, which holds 14 of the 47 seats in the Maryland Senate, walked out over an election measure that Democrats then approved in the GOP members' absence.

The bill was one of a number of contested measures that Democrats were trying to get through in time to allow override votes should Ehrlich veto them.

"We know we're outnumbered, vote-wise. We know we have no control. Now they won't even let us participate," said state Sen. Nancy Jacobs. "I'm ready to go home."

"Minority rights have been discarded, overridden and ignored for too long," Ehrlich told senators before they ended their one-hour protest.

Ehrlich is Maryland's first GOP governor since Spiro Agnew left office after he was elected U.S. vice president in 1968.