Former Democratic Official Denies Writing Suspect E-mail (MD4Bush)

WBAL Radio ^ | 11/02/05 | Scott Wykoff

[nunya bidness]

Governor Ehrlich's Chief Counsel has sent a letter to the co-chairs of a legislative committee investigating hiring and firing practices of the Ehrlich administration.

Included in that letter obtained by WBAL News, Jervis Finney provides the co-chairs with documents he says he uncovered during his investigation into the identity of "MD4Bush".

He points to a now-former State Democratic Party official Ryan O'Doherty who he says sent an email to party supporters hours before the Washington Post published it's first story about the rumors about Mayor O'Malley.

The following is the text from that e-mail:

"There will be a big story in the Post either tomorrow or Thursday that credits Governor Ehrlich's staff for creating and spreading the nasty and untrue rumor about our Mayor and his family. Steve asked me to contact you to see if you could show your disgust by calling into WBAL Radio after the story hits. The guys on WBAL obviously could try to protect Ehrlich, so we need as many folks as possible to call 410-467-WBAL. I will e-mail the story to you as soon as it hits and read it carefully and then call in and raise hell. Don't call in until after the story is published in the Washington Post - It is top secret!"

The Governor's chief counsel, in his letter, then points to an email circulated just after midnight the day the O'Malley story was run in the Post. He says it is an e-mail sent to members of the media with a cropped picture of Governor Ehrlich with Joseph Steffen that was sent from the email address "smitty_1945 @ Yahoo.com". The email had the header ...James Smith.

Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith says that is not him and he has never been connected to that email address and he has never had or used that email address. He says he is not the James Smith in the header of that document.

In a statement to WBAL News this morning, Daugherty writes, "Through news outlets over the course of several months, I have learnedof the content of this alleged e-mail, and I can say without a doubtthat I did not write it. In fact, I did not work for the Democratic Party at the time the e-mail was allegedly sent and I'm even told that my e-mail address shown on the document is incorrect. I'm disappointed someone is circulating a document without bothering to verify its authenticity."

In a statement to WBAL News, the governor's General Counsel,  Jervis Finney wrote:

"The e-mail raises serious questions about the former Maryland Democratic Party official's involvement in the MD4Bush conspiracy. That is all we will say now. The General Assembly's Personnel Committee, utilizing its subpoena power, is empowered to learn the truth about this matter."

 

 

 

[tgslTakoma]

Maybe his editor can give the WP customers a little history of this guy? Where did he go to Journalism school? Where else has he worked. How closely does his editor monitor the guy's stories, or is he a loose cannon?

[backhoe]

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

[Rightfootforward]

"The Maryland Dems are despicable bigots."


Couldn't agree more. Weren't they responsible for throwing Oreo cookies at now Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, following a debate he participated in prior to his (and Ehrlich's) election?

And they accuse people who vote (R) of being "racist" and "bigoted." I think not!

Maryland dems need to learn how to look at themselves in mirrors. Or is it that their images would fail to show up....?

[Free Vulcan]

Then the Wash Post has been caught in a lie. From the Baltimore Sun:

R.B. Brenner, Maryland editor of The Washington Post, said the newspaper "had no involvement in any way in the chat room postings between NCPAC and MD4BUSH on the freerepublic.com Web site."

"The Post did not know about them until after they had already occurred, as we have reported in the newspaper," Brenner said, adding "we do not know the identity of MD4BUSH."

"When we obtained copies of the chat room messages between NCPAC and MD4BUSH, it was clear that they contained potentially newsworthy information," Brenner said. To verify their authenticity, he said, "someone acting on behalf of MD4BUSH provided reporter Matt Mosk with the sign-on information necessary to view the messages on freerepublic.com."

Brenner said Mosk logged on as MD4BUSH two or three times before the Feb. 9 publication of his article only to verify that the messages were genuine."

How could O'Doherty at 6:11 pm known about an article was supposedly based on information not posted till 11:15 pm?

Even if the header date is wrong, how could this have all been put together in less than 15 minutes?

[conservative in nyc]

According to the Washington Post's Maryland editor, many Maryland politicos knew an article was going to be published in the WaPo because they interviewed the politicos about the article.

[GOP_1900AD]

What a loser ....

[King Prout]

ping

[King Prout]

ping

[Congressman Billybob]

While what you say may be true, that several politicos were interviewed and know its gist, Only one person, MD4Bush knew the heart of the article, the precise charges, and how strong the article would be. There are no doubts or equivocations in the e-mail that Ryan sent AS RYAN, about the precise contents of the not-yet-published Wa-Po article.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Democrat Official Outed as 'Sleaze' Source on Mayor O'Malley; Washington Post Ignored Story it Had (Updated)"

[Free Vulcan]

You are correct, I misread the BaltSun article.

[conservative in nyc]

I'm just trying to relay what has been reported. I usually let other FReepers arrive at conclusions.

Ryan O'Doherty claimed to the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun that the e-mail purportedly sent by him is a forgery. I have no independent way of verifying that, absent full header information. Although his mddems.org e-mail address appears to be on it, the contact info included in nunya bidness' write-up doesn't match his known cell phone number from previous press releases. It's off by one digit. Whether the number is correct in the version Jervis Finney sent to the state legislative committee is unclear because the print quality is really bad.

O'Doherty also claimed he wasn't working for the MD Dems on February 8, when the e-mail was sent. I've found nothing in the MD Dem Party's FEC financial disclosure statements indicating that they paid him a cent in 2005, and no reference on the Internet to him as affiliated with the Democratic Party after a January 9 press release and a January 23 Washington Post article. Whether he was working there may be irrelevant, though. Even if Mr. O'Doherty were working someplace else, his old e-mail account could have remained active.

[EQAndyBuzz]

This is another case of "nuance."

[Alia]

I dunno... During the LA/Katrina fiasco, a number of young friends of mine were outraged by "hotmail" email they were getting from ".... Blanco". They had no idea how this "Blanco" had gotten their email addys. And the content of the emails was pure ugly. And it was pure rad-lib "script".