Ehrlich wants to determine if rivals exposed former aide (NCPAC/MD4Bush - Free Republic Mentioned)

Baltimore Sun ^ | 03/25/05 | David Nitkin and Andrew A. Green

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That's a nasty rumor. Why would the MSM print that (about the wife of a Republican governor) but not the O'Malley rumors?

I'm sure the Capital Gazette and WTOP would tell you when they said and published "she sleeps with him", they were saying that Mrs. Ehrlich spleeps with the Governor, not Genn. The way it was written could be interpreted either way (with Gazette calling it a "rumor"), and I'll bet that's intentional. When they write, "the way to the governor's heart is not through his stomach, but maybe via another organ", that is trash talk and the Gazette should be ashamed of publishing it.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1945-2005Mar25.html?nav=rss_metro/md

Md. Foster Care Draws Scrutiny
Ehrlich's Challenge to Media on Former State Worker Backfires

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 26, 2005; Page B01

When Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. stood in front of the State House on Thursday and called on news reporters to investigate Michelle Lane, he said he suspected a little digging would expose her role in a politically motivated conspiracy to tar his reputation.

Instead, lawmakers and public advocates have begun to review documents and e-mails that the former Ehrlich loyalist wrote in 2003 before being fired from her state job. They say Lane's correspondence may reveal something altogether different: deep flaws in the governor's handling of the state's foster care system.

"If what she wrote is true," state Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery) said, "it's nuclear."

(snip)

[maica]

Also from the article: Lane's e-mail was sent to the governor and his top assistants four days after the Steffen story broke in the news, as administration officials began looking for the articles' initial source, who would have known about Steffen's postings on a conservative political Web site, www.FreeRepublic.com.

^^^^^^

I just heard on WBAL that the photo of the Gov and Steffen which appeared so quickly in the Sun and the Post was a cropped photo - and the person cropped out was Michelle Lane!!!! The plot certainly does thicken. Gov Ehrlich will be on WBAL this morning from 10 to 11.

[maggief]

Previous reports have shown Gov. Bob Ehrlich (center) and Joseph Steffen (right), but now the entire picture -- with Michelle Lane (left) -- emerges amid an investigation into the governor's hiring and firing practices.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55486-2005Mar21.html

EXCERPT

[Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D)] Curran said he recused himself from the review of the Steffen e-mails because he is O'Malley's father-in-law. But he said lawyers in his office did advise the governor's staff about which e-mails should be released and which ones they had the discretion to withhold. The final decision, Curran said, rested with the governor and his staff.

Curran also shed some light on reports that Steffen's computer hard drive was no longer being held by his office. Curran said his office received a written request from Ehrlich's chief counsel, Jervis Finney, to ship the computer to an analyst at ICG Inc. of Princeton, N.J., for inspection.

The company's Web site says it can use "forensic tools and techniques" to "extract critical information from deleted and partially overwritten files, as well as from other physical hard drive locations normally inaccessible or invisible to the user."