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Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday said the Maryland program that earmarks state work for minority-owned businesses "needs to end," echoing sharp criticism of the program by state Comptroller William Donald Schaefer. "When does MBE end -- E.N.D?" Schaefer asked during a pointed dialogue about the state's Minority Business Enterprise program at yesterday's Board of Public Works meeting. "The law says it is not supposed to be a permanent program." "Do you want the legal answer, or the political answer?" Ehrlich replied, adding that discussing the end of such programs would be politically dangerous. "Race politics is ugly," he said. "It needs to end, we know that," he said of the set-aside program. "But for many years it was a joke, and it exacerbated racial tension." Their statements angered some Annapolis lawmakers and minority business leaders. "We don't need comments like that," said Sen. Joan Carter Conway, a Northeast Baltimore Democrat, who said that -- until yesterday -- she believed the administration was "heading in the right direction." She said minority set-asides would not be necessary if the state "were fair in the allocations of the contracts." Ehrlich's and Schaefer's discussion yesterday came after the board awarded a $671,865 contract to a minority firm, Colossal Contractors Inc. The company's bid tied with that of another firm, but Colossal won because, under a state rule, ties favor minority firms. Schaefer then questioned the rule. "When does discrimination like this end?" Schaefer asked. [more] and [more]