No Bids but Lots of Bite at Budget Panel Hearing (NCPAC Mentioned)

Washington Post ^ | 02/13/05 | Matthew Mosk

[conservative in nyc]

---Snip---

During the hearing, Franchot grilled the Republican about the hiring and firing practices that have become the focus of legislative ire in recent days. Was there someone in the department, Franchot asked, who was roaming the agency compiling a list of disloyal Democrats to fire, much as ousted political operative Joseph Steffen was alleged to have done? Were there times when Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) forced him to fire someone for strictly political reasons?

Flanagan lashed back at the Montgomery County delegate, telling him at one point: "This isn't a budget hearing, it's a [expletive] hearing!"

--Snip--

Falsehoods Via Flier

Online postings and cocktail party whispers were not the only means by which false rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's personal life were being spread.

A friend of the mayor last week released copies of a nasty flier that turned up in O'Malley's neighborhood last summer, under the heading: "Enough is enough!"

The flier proclaims: "We are sick of the rumors, we are sick of the innuendo. We are Democrats Working Together. And just like Mayor O'Malley WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!"

But before getting to that point, the flier repeats in a meticulous detail every bit of the gossip -- which O'Malley has strenuously denied -- about a rumored affair.

The piece is signed at the bottom as though it came from the mayor's allies: "Paid for by Democrats Working Together."

[conservative in nyc]

One of the 8 WaPo articles/columns/editorials mentioning NCPAC today. Notice the juxtoposition of the vignettes.

At least the Washington Post is admitting it's just not us wackos on the Internet spreading rumors, even if they are insinuating Republicans circulated the flyers.

[GeronL]

They passed those fliers out LAST SUMMER???