Paul Schurick, campaign manager for former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., received a one-year suspended sentence, 30 days of home detention, and 500 community service hours Thursday after being convicted in connection with a robocall campaign aimed at keeping black voters away from the polls in the 2010 election. The call impliedly made by Democrats told voters now-Gov. Martin O’Malley was assured of victory so they needn’t get out to vote. Schurick could have been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison, the Baltimore Sun said, for violating a 2006 law prohibiting the use of deception to influence voter decisions.
Several political leaders of both political parties appealed for leniency in the case, the Washington Post reported before the sentencing. They casted his action as a mistake that marred an otherwise professional record. Maryland’s robocall scandal follows a political tradition of dirty tricks in the state, typically aimed at minority voters
Full Article: Schurick Sentenced in Robocalling; Md. Vote Suppression History Reviewed – Yahoo! News.