one occasion, the Maryland Court of Appeals sanctioned him for public statements he made about a possible confession and possible plea in a high-profile case involving the beating and murder of a Maryland jogger. He was the first elected State's Attorney to be sanctioned by the court. Maryland Judge Lynne Battaglia wrote at the time, "On numerous occasions, Gansler spoke outside of court about matters that had a substantial likelihood of depriving several criminal defendants of fair trials." In ordering the reprimand, the court concluded, "A reported reprimand satisfactorily communicates to Gansler and other [attorneys] that improper extrajudicial statements dangerously jeopardize the foundational principles of our system of criminal justice." Some legal commentators said that the Court of Appeals’ decision would have a chilling effect on public safety and the public's right to know. They said that the decision failed to account for prosecutors’ responsibility to report to the public on prosecutions they carry. Attorney General of Maryland Gansler was elected as Maryland Attorney General in 2006, taking the oath of office as Attorney General of Maryland on January 2, 2007. While in office, he focused on environmental protection, consumer protection, public safety, and civil rights. He prosecuted polluters of the Chesapeake Bay, protected consumers from various forms of fraud, and safeguarded the public from gangs, violent crime, and the so-called underbelly of the Internet. Gansler was elected to a second term on November 2, 2010, receiving 1.3 million votes. In that election, he was the only statewide candidate in the nation to run unopposed in both the primary and general elections. Environmental protection Gansler protected the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, and Maryland's other natural resources. He secured the largest air quality settlement of its kind in the history of the United States, a Maryland history-making water pollution penalty, the largest civil penalty ever levied for an oil spill in Maryland, and the largest asbestos penalty in Maryland history. He also secured $500,000 for water quality monitoring from an energy company that spilled hydraulic fracturing fluid into a tributary of the Susquehanna River, which feeds the Bay. Gansler conducted an audit of the Bay's tributaries on a quarterly basis to identify polluters and take appropriate action. Gansler also led the successful charge to have phosphates banned from dishwasher detergent and arsenic banned from chicken feed, and helped secure standing for environmental groups to sue polluters in State court. Gansler successfully