The Elkridge Club admits first African American member...

[nickshepDEM]

The Elkridge Club, the exclusive golf venue where Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. held a much-criticized fundraiser this year, has admitted an African-American member for the first time in its 127-year history, a club newsletter shows.

Developer Theo C. Rodgers and his wife, Blanche, are listed as newly elected members in the September newsletter, a copy of which was provided to The Sun yesterday.

But as Rodgers writes a new chapter in Elkridge history, a sister facility - the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, founded in 1892 for fox hunting - awaits its first African-American member, club members say. One member of the Baltimore County club is Jervis S. Finney, the chief legal counsel and ethical adviser to Ehrlich. Members of the two clubs share reciprocal privileges.

Asked yesterday whether it was appropriate for a top aide to the governor to belong to a club that has never admitted a black member, Finney said "certainly." He declined to elaborate.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.elkridge11nov11,1,4830393.story?coll=bal-mdpolitics-headlines