Posted on 03/09/2005 8:11:43 PM PST by conservative in nyc
Maryland lawmakers will convene a special investigative committee to look into allegations that an aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. engaged in political dirty tricks and participated in what one House leader called "potentially illegal hiring and firing practices."
House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said the probe will start in April, immediately after the legislature adjourns its regular 90-day session. He said that details of the inquiry have not been set but that it might be conducted with the help of an independent counsel, who would be granted subpoena power. "It's something we've never done, but we've never seen behavior like this," Busch said.
Busch said the investigation will focus on the activities of Joseph Steffen, a longtime Ehrlich aide who boasted in Internet postings of an orchestrated effort to "give float" to rumors that one of the governor's political rivals had an extramarital affair.
Busch said numerous state workers have contacted lawmakers and identified Steffen as one of several mid-level aides who allegedly moved from one state agency to another, making lists of people they believed were disloyal to Ehrlich (R) and should be fired.
Ehrlich aides have called those allegations nonsense, and Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said yesterday that while they welcome any inspection of Steffen's activities, the probe sounded "a lot more like a political sideshow."
---Snip---
Busch said he was most troubled by fired state employees' allegations that they were tormented by Steffen, who referred to himself as the Prince of Darkness, and by others.
"This is about protecting the workforce of Maryland," Busch said. "I don't think decent people should be treated this way by someone who is nothing more than a second-rate Tony Soprano running around the Ehrlich administration."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Jim Rob - Which do you think will happen first? You receive a subpoena from the Democrats or hell freezes over?
He means that he wants to protect his consituency of thugs, muggers, rapists, and murderers who stalk undisturbed through Maryland's suburbs ...
This is easy to recognize as a political stunt. I don't think that any "investigation" by MD DUmbocRATS will reveal the identity of MD4BUSH, do you? Still, it might distract attention away from MD4BUSH, which seems to be the point.
Thanks for the ping.
PING.
I wouldn't think so.
The attorney general of Maryland is Mayor O'Malley's father-in-law.
Jervis Finney (Chief Counsel to Governer Ehrlich) need to find a way to subpoena Jim's records.
bttt
I would also like to add that my question in that post was out of pure curiousity as I know this forum generally will hash out the BS from the truth. I actually concluded from that thread that there was probably nothing to the rumors because there were two different women mentioned and the number of children increased from a single baby to "twins".
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