Former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) notes his concern about how the Shag Fund scandal might affect Rudy Giuliani's presidential ambitions.

Ehrlich questioned the timing of the story, which hit just weeks before the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. But if it's true Giuliani's then-mistress was ferried around by the NYPD on the taxpayers' tab, "It's clearly inappropriate, clearly wrong, and would certainly hurt the campaign," Ehrlich said on Maryland radio station WBAL-AM.

"If the substance of the story is true, he's got a lot of explaining to do," Ehrlich said of Giuliani. "It would certainly haunt him."

Ehrlich, of course, is a regional chairman of Giuliani's presidential campaign.