Posted on 03/27/2005 1:16:30 AM PST by conservative in nyc
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday accused a Baltimore County woman who threatened to reveal more information about the dealings of former administration aide Joseph F. Steffen Jr. of being a disgruntled ex-employee who worked with high-ranking Democrats to exact revenge on him after she was fired.
The woman, Towson University pediatrics and nursing instructor Michelle Lane, released documents last week showing her dismissal came after she made a series of complaints to her supervisors at the Maryland Department of Human Resources about inadequate care for troubled children.
Speaking on Stateline with Governor Ehrlich on WBAL-AM yesterday morning, Ehrlich suggested that Lane was an eager participant in a Democratic smear campaign against him.
"It appears she's been meeting regularly with members of the Democratic leadership," Ehrlich said. "She worked for us at various times in two or three capacities. I'm not at great liberty obviously to describe employment. Needless to say, her employment was not up to snuff.
"She was let go and since then she was pretty angry, going to the press and going to the Democratic leadership and shopping the story," Ehrlich said.
--Snip--
Yesterday, Ehrlich continued to focus public attention on how Steffen's rumor-mongering about Mayor Martin O'Malley was exposed.
He again urged reporters to investigate and suggested that the person who appeared to bait Steffen into discussing the rumors on the conservative Web site www.FreeRepublic.com, known by the screen name "MD4BUSH," should reveal his identity.
"I would love to find him. I think it's obviously going to be a major story when it comes out, and it will," Ehrlich said.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
check post 16
seems you have a cousin in MD
Jim knows.
He admitted as much on an earlier thread.
Jim Robinson may know who MD4Bush is, but he isn't telling without a subpoena.
Stay tuned.
True enough.
What's this about? I've been staying away and not following the Schaivo case (intentionally).
RE: Robert Ehrlich is the first Governor of Maryland to engage real efforts to fix foster care.
Now ask yourself, in a state dominated by the worst sorts of classic, old time, union infused, big city liberal corruption, and, that also houses in certain suburban communities, a fair percentage of the professional welfare state aparat of DC, would you or would you not expect a more or less violent reaction from the left in response to a good faith effort to fix foster care? I would expect it. More of the motive for the MD4Bush conspiracy / smear opperation against Ehrlich.
Well, we'll find out if the media thinks it's s story when Jim reveals MD4Bush's identituy. I have publicly urged him to do so immediately.
My suspicion is that MD4Bush is a Doug Duncan operative. Duncan and O'Malley are the two major Democrat candidates for Governor. By spreading the rumor, Duncan's people can hurt O'Malley, adn by trying to tie it to Ehrlich, Duncan's people can hurt him.
The only one who comes out unscathed is Duncan.
And he's just amoral enough to try this kind of trick.
Jim, why don't you just reveal it now instead of waiting for the subpoena?
Jim, why don't you just reveal it now instead of waiting for the subpoena?
This, from WBAL in Baltimore. It seems Hell Hath No Fury . . .
Ehrlich Aides' Romance Ends Before Rumor Dispute
Governor Calls Into Question Internet Blogger's Identity
POSTED: 6:19 pm EST March 28, 2005
UPDATED: 7:00 pm EST March 28, 2005
BALTIMORE -- E-mail messages detail a romantic relationship between two aides to the governor that abruptly ended before one was fired, the WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team has learned.
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.
Michelle Lane once dated Joe Steffen, who was a longtime aide to Gov. Bob Ehrlich. E-mail messages between the two indicate they had an office romance that abruptly ended, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins reported.
Steffen resigned in February when it was revealed that he had spread rumors on the Internet about the personal life of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, Collins reported.
The E-Mail Messages
Steffen called Lane "Chelle" and "sweetness." Acquaintances said Lane called Steffen "Steff-fawn," Collins said.
Steffen e-mailed one of his friends about working on his day off: not all business, he wrote, some pleasure. He also wrote that Lane was also working, Collins said.
In other e-mails, Steffen tried to refresh a friend's memory, asking him to recall Lane as his party date.
The tone of the e-mails changed as the relationship appeared to end. Around the same time, as documented in e-mail messages, Lane appeared to grow more frustrated by a lack of reform in the state's foster care system.
The e-mail messages indicate Lane became a disgruntled employee and a whistleblower, Collins reported. Steffen warned colleagues through e-mail messages to be careful with the "MLA situation." He also accused Lane of sending "doctored e-mails."
Baltimore's health commissioner, Dr. Peter Beilenson, said he isn't sure why a former Ehrlich aide spoke to him about another aide.
The 11 News I-Team has uncovered that 11 months before the report broke about the rumors, Lane met with an O'Malley cabinet member under the auspices of foster care, speaking at one point in the conversation about Steffen.
Lane met with Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Peter Beilenson last March. Most of the conversation, he said, dealt with her concerns over the state's foster care system.
"She implied that (Steffen) was sort of, I guess the best term to be used would be like a mole" in the Ehrlich administration, Beilenson said. "I'm not sure why she brought him up to me, there's nothing I can do about it particularly."
Beilenson said he passed the information onto Michael Enright, one of the mayor's closest confidants at City Hall.
Just before 6 p.m. Monday, Enright said he indeed met with Lane. He recalls that she was looking for a job, Collins said. But Enright said the city did not offer a job to Lane.
Enright said Lane also described to him Steffen as "a mole for the Ehrlich administration."
The governor has since tried to focus attention on Lane, who was forced out of the Ehrlich administration last year. She's now threatening to release damaging information about the governor, Collins reported.
Ehrlich repeatedly challenged the media several times last week to expose the identity of an online blog participant, saying that person set up Steffen as part of an orchestrated campaign by Democratic party rivals.
He spoke in reference to the screen name "Md4Bush" -- the name of an Internet blogger who had communicated with Steffen about the mayor's personal life, Collins reported.
For the first time, the mayor spoke publicly about Md4Bush.
"I don't know who the person is that is Md4Bush, who engaged the governor's longtime dirty tricks person into the banter that revealed this," O'Malley said. "If I ever find out, I'm going to give the person a medal, though, because they really ended a lot of pain that the governor put me and my family through for many, many months."
Lane's attorney has yet to return the 11 News I-Team's repeated calls for comment.
So could this Lane woman be MD4Bush?
Steffen's Freeper name was NCPAC. It was Mayor O'Malley (D) of Baltimore.
Just trying to help;)
sp
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