In my column today, I wrote about Melanie Sabelhaus, a former Marylander who was George W. Bush's No. 2 at the Small Business Administration and who was mentioned as a possible running mate for then-Gov. Bob Ehrlich four years ago.
The column notes that Sabelhaus appeared in an infomercial for National Grants Conferences, a company that got in trouble with 24 state attorneys general for making dubious promises to hook people up with federal grants.
The company has been accused of using high-pressure tactics to get people to pay for grant information that is publicly available for free online or in libraries, the Associated Press has reported. The infomercial was made several years ago, but it surfaced recently in the U.S. Senate race in Arizona.
If you want the details, check out the column.
I failed to reach Sabelhaus before the column ran. I tried several numbers and Facebook, but she did not see the Facebook messages and it turns out the phone numbers were old. Sabelhaus moved in July to Naples, Fla.
She called today after seeing the column, and here's what she had to say:
"I did the infomercial in 2005 and 2006," she said. "They were a top-rated small business. What they did is take all the red tape out of government and put it into a course you could understand. They netted it out and put it into a conference."
Which is not to say Sabelhaus would play pitchwoman for the company today.
"I'm not standing by the company," she said. "I am not responsible for what they are doing now and have for the past several years."
Sabelhaus at a charity event in 1996. Sun file photo