Ehrlich Alleges 'Blackmail' By Former State Employee (Possible identity of MD4Bush Revealed?)

Washington Post ^ | 03/25/05 | Matthew Mosk

[conservative in nyc]

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. accused a former state employee yesterday of trying to "blackmail" him. The woman involved said she was trying to protect herself against a retaliatory "whisper campaign" by the administration that could cost her a job.

And after a winter of partisanship and allegations of political dirty tricks, the tension ratcheted up another level when Ehrlich(R) stood in front of the State House and charged that there was a campaign at work to make his administration look bad.

"We really want to know about any political orchestration" by Democrats, Ehrlich told reporters.

--Snip--

Yesterday [Gov. Ehrlich] suggested that Steffen had been set up and asked reporters to find out how that happened.

As evidence, he released an e-mail from Michelle Lane, a registered nurse who held mid-level posts on Ehrlich's transition team and in his administration before being fired last summer. In the Feb. 13 e-mail, Lane accused the governor's aides of trying to smear her, and she threatened to distribute damaging correspondence she received from Steffen if Ehrlich's staff did not leave her alone. She included one sample, in which Steffen describes efforts to "start cleaning house" at a state agency.

Ehrlich told reporters, "Getting a blackmail e-mail . . . that was certainly interesting."

--Snip--

The exchanges Lane had with Steffen appear to be the fodder for the threat she made last month in the e-mail to the governor's top aides.

"As a result of your whisper campaign (assassination politics) which is outrageous and completely false, I am releasing four emails . . . " she wrote. "Every time I hear about Ehrlich people engaging in this whisper campaign about me, I will release information. These emails are merely the tip of the iceberg."

[GOP_1900AD]

LOL!

[GOP_1900AD]

There were more than that. I had a list of some others, but it's buried way down there somewhere.

[Mo1]

Well this sure is taking an interesting turn

[advance_copy]

Well, now it appears WaPo had Michelle Lang in their back pockets all along (probably working in cahoots with MD4BUSH who is looking more and more like a WaPo reporter every day). Oh, and I like how Lang turns out to be chummy with Gilbert Genn, DUmbocRAT former delegate turned lobbyist.

Genn was referred by Ehrlich's office to the Maryland State Ethics Commission but had been cleared prior to July 2004 for his dealings with SAIC and Deibold. No grudge held there, but that was when Genn says he became "so distressed by the situation" surrounding Lane getting fired and something about foster children in the office where Lane worked that he wrote a three page letter to the Governor (concerned citizen and all, you know):

"There is an internal paper trail that is wide, incredibly damaging and a specific indictment of incompetence and cover-up at the highest levels," he [Genn] wrote. "Because Ms. Lane was aware of these issues and tried to point them out to certain Administration officials, those officials felt the easier remedy was to silence the constructive critic rather than . . . make the necessary changes."

It seems Gilbert Genn knew about a "paper trail" proving Ms. Lane was innocent of the plain failures relating to the "Office of Children, Youth and Families". WaPo reports that in September 2003, Lane wrote to others in her office and to the Governor's counsel about foster children being handled shoddily:

...she "discovered that there were children assigned to workers who were no longer employed by the state." She said this illegal practice explained why an internal audit found foster children going without a check from a social worker "for months at a time -- with the most severe case, a young girl, who had not been visited for seventeen months."

She sent a similar memo to Jervis S. Finney, the governor's chief counsel, under the heading, "Action Needed," and said "goals have not been met and three children have recently died, by homicide, within a four month time frame."

That is just too much like Biff wrecking McFly's car and blaming him for not saying it had a "blind spot". Ms. Lane was the Governor's appointee over there at the Office of Children, Youth and Families. Why did she drop three dead kids on somebody else's desk and say "Action Needed"? HINT: spell C-Y-A. Eight months later when she got fired, do you wonder if it could be because she wasn't doing such a great job?

Oh, I forgot. Genn, WaPo and their little buddy, MD4BUSH all say Michelle Lang is a "whistleblower". There's no way an incompetent bureaucrat, a left-wing newspaper, and a DUmbocRAT lobbyist were all trying lay a trap for the Governor, is there?

[newzjunkey]

What a bizarre situation. Is this "payback" for Rather's memogate? You know, the dead-tree media taking aim at the electron media?

[prairiebreeze]

A registered nurse who signs in with screen name MD4Bush. Delusions of grandeur or a Freudian tie to her identity.

[prairiebreeze]

A registered nurse who signs in with screen name MD4Bush. Delusions of grandeur or a Freudian tie to her identity.

[prairiebreeze]

sorry for double post, internet is funky where I am

[Peach]

Oh, very good thought. I had previously thought it was MD for Maryland. But this could be as likely.

[maica]

"He's violated a lot of employees' legal rights without caring. She sent that e-mail because the administration was attempting to have her fired from her present position -- but it was not blackmail."

^^^^^

A little background -
There are about 70000 State employees in MD. About 7000 are not Civil Service protected, but political appointees, serving at the will of the Governor. Because Md has not had a Republican governor since Agnew, there are actually a lot of State employees who may be nearing retirement, and yet are not in Civil Service jobs.

Governor Ehrlich did not ask for the resignation of all of these employees. Because the situation was so entrenched with Dem employees, he worked slowly to see who was effective, necessary, and cooperative with the new admin.

According to Lt Gov Steele only about 300 resignations have been requested since the start of the Ehrlich admin.

The woman who is threatening to release damaging emails was obviously a political appointee, not a civil servant, and served at the pleasure of the Governor. It looks like he decided that she or perhaps her entire "task force" was not effective, and he fired her.

PS: Matthew Mosk, who wrote this WP article, also wrote the original article about Steffen and MD4Bush.

PPS: According to Chip Franklin the HBO TV show based on crime in Baltimore "The Wire" has an episode about a City Councilman who wants to run for Mayor who is married and having an affair. Chip was commenting that that story line was "over the line" because it was obviously referencing certain rumors.
I mention it here to point out that NCPAC was certainly not the only person to be "spreading" rumors.

[maggief]

Previous news from Gazette.Net:

http://www.gazette.net/200511/weekend/a_section/265742-1.html

Budget battles put House upside down


by Steven T. Dennis
Staff Writer
Mar. 18, 2005

EXCERPT

Ehrlich's appointments secretary, Lawrence J. Hogan Jr., said the Democrats, not the Ehrlich administration, were guilty of firing employees for political reasons.

"The people responsible for spreading the lies and vicious rumors, and intimidating employees and firing people because of their party affiliation are Mike Busch, Mike Miller, Peter Franchot and Brian Frosh," Hogan said in a statement.

(snip)

http://www.gazette.net/200509/frederickcty/state/263443-1.html

Senate leader to inspect Ehrlich personnel practices


by Thomas Dennison
Staff Writer
Mar. 3, 2005

EXCERPT

Miller said an investigation should not be a "witch hunt." "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." ...

(snip)

[RebelBanker]

But, of course, we all know that can't be true as both the Post and the Sun are nonpartisan objective papers, especially in their news departments.

Jim, that about cost me a cup of coffee and a keyboard! LOL indeed!

[mabelkitty]

Outstanding!
You nailed it.
It is Michelle Lang.

[mabelkitty]

If she had these non-work related conversations on state-owned equipment and during work hours, that is illegal and theft in office.

How stupid can one be?

[Woodstock]

*ping*

[Mr. K]

JUST RELEASE THE EMAILS!!!

[sauropod]

Wow! Ms. Lane appears to be quite the charming dragonlady, doesn't she?

[expatpat]

Well, the Post and the Sun surely won't -- so he must be asking the W. Times.

[expatpat]

yes, you are. The Post is basically the house organ of the Democratic Party. The Sun, of course, is somewhere left of the moon, and hates Erlich.