Posted on 02/08/2005 8:34:15 PM PST by crushkerry
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley yesterday accused agents of Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration of spreading false rumors that he had an extramarital affair, and Ehrlich responded hours later by dismissing a longtime employee.
The mayor, a Democrat considering a bid for governor in 2006, said he believes that the widespread and persistent rumors were part of a "concerted and orchestrated and sustained" effort and called on the Republican governor to apologize to his wife and children. "I don't think any of us run for office expecting that this sort of hurt will be heaped on our kids or our spouses," O'Malley said.
Ehrlich said an apology was premature and denied any personal involvement in spreading the rumor. He then asked for and received the resignation of Joseph Steffen, a longtime aide working in state government. Steffen confirmed yesterday that he had discussed the rumor on a popular conservative Web site and in private e-mails, which were given to The Washington Post.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"You can own the MD politcal blog format"
eh..He looks like what he is a f*cking jerk. He is in love with himself.
I think he needs better taste in men.
Your post provoked me thinking again.... I do know how relatively easy it is to gain access to a specifically "not listed" number. I'm wondering, if the internet gets taxed.. and all "lines" are thereby under a public entity jurisdiction.. won't this mean ISP identifiers are more readily "located"?
Bruce Elliott had Ehrlich on his show this eve.
Ehrlich stated that the worker in question was told he had to resign.
A technicality in terminology but I think it's safe to say he was fired.
The Mayor seems to have stepped in it comparing Bush's budget to the destruction of 911 on big cities..(He didn't mean it, ..not like it is being reported..says he.)
LOL!!
Interesting. So he's leading the offense against online conservatives. O'Reilly's surely bitter about some of the things said about him on this site, as powerful as this site is. Thing about it though, is that if there is any semblance of restraint on the internet, it's right here at FR. How many times have you seen Freepers put others in check over unkind comments about our most liberal of politicians and others?
Hints of MSM agendas?
I'm sure the MSM would love to stifle us. I wouldn't be surprised to see our liberal legislators working like beavers to craft a bill concerning this very thing. They have taken a hard hit from our outing of the truth.
I have reread the original post, which is at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1190972/posts
First of all, NCPAC did not start the thread or post the rumor.
Second, he never said, or even implied, that the rumor is true. Not one word of what he posted contributed to spreading this rumor in any way.
Finally, this thread was a minor item on FR which petered out after 10 replies and was probably only seen by a few people. (It has, of course, been frequently re-visited today.) The general reaction to the query about the rumor was that there was no evidence or link for it, so it was hardly worth talking about.
NCPAC fell on his sword and resigned his post to protect the governor. But in fact he did nothing wrong or even questionable.
I think someone ought to pass this information on to Rush and Drudge to see what they make of it. Drudge is not really a conservative, but it might T him off to see the MSM attacking and misrepresenting the internet media yet again.
Not only was a crime probably committed when someone logged his keystrokes or used some similar means to find his identity and read his private emails. It also appears to me that the Washington Post article SERIOUSLY MISREPRESENTS or LIES about what happened and what the thread in question on FR actually said.
Bookmark... for later digestion...
ROFL .... makes the name Spiro Agnew just jump out at you!
So THIS is where all you creeps hang out. BUSSSSTEDDDDDDD!
The only reason for the viscious rumors about O'Malley that Erlich DID spread, is that gay gov. is scared out of his ugly gourd that he will lose the next election to the good mayor.
Why don't you all focus on how gay, as in HOMOsexual, Erlich is. Could it be any more obvious? He's even admitted it! What a bunch of losers.
I smell ozone...
Snap, crackle, pop...
AGNEW lived for over 20 years.
That's right. 'Twas small time rumor. After all this bru-ha-ha, even I, here in the Southern backwater want to know the truth about this whole matter. I just hate it when a subordinate is used as a scapegoat in order to protect the bosses' political aspirations. . . and it should not be allowed to happen if that is, indeed, what happened. Hmm. . mm. . curiosity . . curiosity . . CURIOSITY . . .
Sometimes people do forward or send email to the wrong person, but usually it's someone they regularly correspond with. It seems most unlikely that that happened in this case.
I didn't accuse the Post of committing of crime. The person, if any, who illegally obtained the email committed the crime, not a Post reporter receiving the email and having a First Amendment defense.
About ten years back, a staffer for Senator Chuck Robb (D-VA) received a tape from an illegal intercept of Virginia Governor Doug Wilder (D). He passed the tape onto the Post. He committed the crime, not the Post when they printed a transcript.
And the more I think about, the more I'm convinced that the rumors are another case of Dem-on-Dem dirty tricks. A Dem or Dems backing one of O'Malley's rivals for the Dem Gov nomination (maybe someone backing Montgomery County Exec Douglas Duncan?) probably started the rumor.
A Montgomery County Delegate or State Senator, Peter Franchot (sp?), was just on DC Channel 5 News saying that the Governor must have known and must be involved. It wouldn't surprise me if he knows who is behind the rumors and wants to falsely blame the Governor.
NCPAC, contrary to the report just on channel 5, did not fan the flames of the rumor. He just commented on it and did not give the rumor any credence whatsoever. Indeed, NCPAC praised a post that shredded the rumor, but he has fallen on his sword for his superior.
I'm not saying that I believe the rumors or not - it's just that I heard of this over 2 years ago. O'Malley is not "protecting" his family, he is using it as a political issue to get at Ehrlich. The rumors did not start at the guv's office.
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