Ehrlich Aide's Computer Seized in O'Malley Probe ( MD4Bush, NCPAC)

The Washington Post ^ | Thursday, March 3, 2005 | Matthew Mosk, David Snyder

[kristinn]

The Maryland attorney general's office has seized the computer hard drive of the aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. who was fired after publicly discussing his efforts to spread rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D).

Maryland Insurance Administrator Al Redmer told a legislative subcommittee that on Feb. 9, the day Joseph Steffen was fired, the attorney general's office took control of the computer assigned to him and is combing through the documents found there. Steffen was working as communications director for the insurance agency.

"It's in the possession of the attorney general's office, literally under lock and key," Redmer said, after being questioned about Steffen by Del. Peter Franchot (D-Montgomery), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the insurance agency's budget.

Redmer said the Ehrlich administration is preparing to release copies of Steffen's electronic mail and other files that might shed light on his activities while at the agency.

Ehrlich has acknowledged that Steffen was trading in gossip on a conservative Web site from the aide's state computer, while on state time.

[kristinn]

The attorney general of Maryland is Mayor O'Malley's father-in-law. No conflict of interest here.....

[dead]

"It's in the possession of the attorney general's office, literally under lock and key,"

Hopefully a force of thousands protect it, with bomb sniffing dogs and tactical nukes.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[The Maryland attorney general's office has seized the computer hard drive of the aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. who was fired after publicly discussing his efforts to spread rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D). ]

I don't believe it has been substantiated that Steffen had engaged in "efforts to spread rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley". What has been substantiated is that MD4Bush had been engaged in efforts to get Steffen (NCPAC) to spread such rumors (which he hardly did at all) and that MD4Bush posted Freepmail from NCPAC and alerted the Compost and others as to where to find them.

[kristinn]

Considering this is the crime of the century, I would expect no less. < /sarcasm >

[kevkrom]

Of course, all these good Democrats doing the investigation will limit themselves solely to looking at files related to the case, and not peek at all into any internal strategy and policy memos, right?

[backhoe]

Crosslinked:

The O'Malley Affair- NCPAC, MD4Bush, Ehrlich, & more
various FR links & stories | 02-13-05 | the heavy equipment guy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1342165/posts

[DBeers]

interesting.

[savedbygrace]

Gee, the non-story of the century. ZZZZZZZZ.

[DBeers]

Gee, the non-story of the century. ZZZZZZZZ.

LOL -yes quite exciting!!!!

[HAL9000]

It will be telling to see if the attorney general's investigation determines the person or persons who used the MD4Bush account, since Jim has the access logs preserved and waiting for a subpoena.

It appears to me that a violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act may have occurred when an unauthorized person accessed the MD4Bush account and illegally transferred the e-mails to the Washington Post.

If the attorney general intends to cover-up that violation, the easiest way to do so is to make no effort to determine who was accessing the MD4Bush account.

[conservative in nyc]

Democrat State Senate President Miller told the Maryland Business Gazette:

"We're not going to be in the business of chasing down these O'Malley rumors or who was spreading them," he said. "We'll be looking at the role Mr. Steffen played and if there are others like him in other departments."

Sounds like the Democrats don't want a real investigation into who spread the rumors.