Proposed MD4Bush FAQ

Various | 11/04/05 | conservative in nyc/nunya bidness

[conservative in nyc]

MD4Bush was an infrequent poster on Free Republic from 10/07/04 to 02/09/05, usually discussing Maryland politics. All of MD4Bush's public posts are available here. In an apparent attempt to bait FReeper NCPAC (now known as former Republican Maryland Governor Ehrlich staffer Joe Steffen) into incriminating conversations, MD4Bush spread rumors of Democrat Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley's infidelity, called Democratic Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski a "lezbo", and discussed the alleged tactics of Karl Rove.

A battle was brewing between the Old and New Media in February 2005. Bloggers pressured CNN to fire its chief, Eason Jordan, who had publicly accused the U.S. military of deliberately targeting journalists in order to assassinate them. The Old Media pressured Talon News White House Correspondent Jeff Gannon to quit his New Media reporting gig. And the MD4Bush affair exploded right here on Free Republic.

In 02/08/05 packed news conference before the National Press Club, Democrat Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley stuck his foot in his mouth, likening President Bush's proposed budget cuts to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Later that day, someone logged on MD4Bush's account and publicly posted previously private FReepmails from Steffen to MD4Bush on Free Republic. The poster of these one-sided FReepmails underlined Steffen's most provocative comments.

The next morning, the Washington Post ran a front page story entitled Ehrlich Aide Ousted Over O'Malley Rumors, which detailed the underlined FReepmail content posted on the public forum and outed Steffen as NCPAC. A story about Mayor O'Malley's gaffe was buried on page A5. The Washington Post reporter on the MD4Bush story, Matthew Mosk, interviewed the O’Malley camp about the rumors and reported that Ehrlich had accepted Steffen’s resignation.

In the ensuing weeks, the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, New York Times and other local and national news organizations ran numerous stories about the MD4Bush affair. You can find some of those articles here and here. Most of these articles described Steffen as a self-described "Prince of Darkness" engaged in a dirty trick campaign to spread rumors about the Democrat Mayor of Baltimore, and tasked by a Republican governor the to fire "innocent" state employees.

A few months later, the Maryland General Assembly formed a special panel to investigate the alleged unfair firing practices of at-will employees by the Ehrlich administration based on the “dirty tricks” methods of Steffen. When the committee was convened, Ehrlich Chief Counsel Jervis Finney and Republican Legislators suggested it look in to the postings of MD4Bush to balance their view on Steffen, but he and Maryland Republicans were rebuffed when the committee decided not to grant subpoena power to committee Republicans.

This week, WBAL radio in Baltimore reported that MD4Bush may be Ryan O’Doherty, the former research and communications director for the Maryland Democratic Party. Ryan O'Doherty purportedly sent an e-mail on 02/08/05 (prior to the Washington Post's article)/ Below is the content of the "Big Story" e-mail, which was attached to a letter from Finney to the Special Committee:

There will be a big story in the Post either tomorrow or Thursday that credits Gov. Ehrlich's staff for creating and spreading the nasty and untrue rumor about our Mayor and his family," the e-mail reads. It goes on to mention a top O'Malley aide who "asked me to contact you to see if you could show your disgust by calling into WBAL Radio after the story hits ... it is top secret!

Theme:

“I voted for Ehrlich because I thought he would get rid of the culture of corruption and assassin politics of Annapolis -- he has only made it worse. He should be ashamed of the dirty smear campaign perpetuated by his own staff. It disgusts me to know that my tax dollars paid for this filth.”

This will be the biggest story of the year. Thanks for your help.

In an e-mail to WBAL Radio, Ryan O’Doherty denied he drafted the 02/08/05 "Big Story" e-mail:

Through news outlets over the course of several months, I have learned of the content of this alleged e-mail, and I can say without a doubt that 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.

However, questions are still lingering about the Maryland Democratic Party and Washington Post's role in the deception. On 02/11/05 Freerepublic owner Jim Robinson wrote:

I've got some very interesting information for the governor's investigation regarding the Maryland Democrat Party dirty trickster that setup Steffen and the Washington Post reporter er, Democrat operative that was working in concert with him. Almost hoping to receive a subpoena.

Which begs the question: Who was the Washington Post reporter that colluded with MD4Bush? The Washington Post responded through Maryland editor R.B. Brenner in a 11/02/05 article:

Brenner said, "The Washington Post had no involvement in any way in the chat room postings" between Steffen and MD4BUSH. "The Post did not know about them until after they had already occurred, as we have reported."

Brenner said The Post does not know the identity of MD4BUSH, which the newspaper also has reported.

Post reporter Matthew Mosk received printed copies of the message exchanges last fall, Brenner said. To verify they were authentic, he said, Mosk was given sign-on information needed to view the private chat room by an intermediary acting on behalf of MD4BUSH in late January. Mosk used that information to verify that "the chat room messages were genuine," Brenner said. Mosk presented the printouts to Steffen in February to confirm that they represented his words.

The Post’s piece raises more questions than it answers: Did Matthew Mosk collude with MD4Bush to “get” the Ehrlich administration and set up events that provided Maryland Democrats with the ammo they needed to seat a Committee that would burden the Governor during an election year? Is former Maryland Democrat Party Communications Director Ryan O’Doherty MD4Bush? Is the "intermediary" his brother Damian O’Doherty esq., chief advisor for Democrat Baltimore County executive Jim Smith? And who is the “Steve” in the “BIG Story” e-mail? Is Steve Jost of the Maryland Democrat Party or is it Steve Kearney, Communications Director for Democrat Mayor Martin O’Malley? Or is the "Big Story" e-mail just a fraud?

Free Republic.com has called a 9:30AM press conference today in front of the Washington Post building in Washington, D.C.

Developing....

[conservative in nyc]

Here's what I'd propose putting as a FAQ on the MD4Bush threads. The first draft was by nunya bidness here.

Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions to improve the piece.

[conservative in nyc]

MD4Bush Ping!

It's a work in progress. I'd appreciate comments.

[nopardons]

Looks good; keep at it!

[Grampa Dave]

Excellent. I will ping myself to re read tomorrow afternoon.

Both of you did a good job with this excellent summary.

[Kay]

Well done. People have been asking about this because they missed it months ago. (I don't think Rush has ever mentioned it.) This will help them get up to speed.

Again, thanks for the pings.

[JLS]

Thanks. Within the last couple of hours I freepmailed Howlin looking for a sysnopsis of this. I followed some of it at the beginning and have seen posts from time to time, but before reading this there were too many gaps for me to understant. Thanks again.

[HAL9000]

Thanks for keeping us informed.

[conservative in nyc]

There's a lot more. This thing is long enough, but could be longer. I didn't put a statement in there that the O'Malley rumors weren't just or first spread here. IIRC, they were on DU, a website called dcrtv.com, on USENET, on the Baltimore Sun's own website. Yet the Washington Post singled FR out.

[Jrabbit]

I have a question....did MD4Bush know who NCPAC was? Did anybody know?

[conservative in nyc]

did MD4Bush know who NCPAC was? Did anybody know?

I think so. One theory is that NCPAC had posted some personal information on the forum that could have led an enterprising person to figure out who he was using Google. Another theory is that someone used a keystroke logger to get his identity. Others have theorized MD4Bush may have been someone or working with someone who may have had a romantic relationship with MD4Bush (Michelle Lane, I believe). She was fired from her Ehrlich administration job and apparently used the same Democrat hack lawyer who represents a lot of the fired Maryland employees.

Rank-and-file FReepers like me who don't know NCPAC and don't have access to the FR logs (I only post here) don't know exactly how NCPAC's identity was revealed. Maybe we'll learn more at tomorrow's press conference.

[BreitbartSentMe]

I don't know if you want to include it in this piece, but maggief posted this link on another thread - she found that Ryan O'Doherty was on the payroll of the DNC at the end of 2004 based on FEC reports - here's the link she provided.

http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/expenddetail.asp?txtName=Ryan+O%27Doherty&Cmte=DPC&cycle=2004

It was hard to find, it was filed under firstname,lastname instead of lastname,firstname like the rest of them, so you have to search under the "R"s if you want to duplicate the search.

This means, if he is actually MD4BUSH, then he was posting on FR spreading rumors while on the payroll of the DNC.

[conservative in nyc]

Thanks.

I'll try to add that. Ryan O'Doherty was on the payroll in 2004, listed as a contact on a MDDems press release on January 9, and attributed as a spokesman of the MD Dem Party by in a January 23 WaPo article, IIRC. We just can't prove any ties on February 8. Yet.

[Jrabbit]

Thanks....fascinating stuff! I've kept up with most of it, but always wondered about the connection.

[nunya bidness]

Well done friend. Now we'll see if it bears fruit tomorrow.

[devolve]

Now who has been openly posting for so long on FR that pro dem ops have been operating here?

[conservative in nyc]

Looking at my notes, it was O'Malley and the Baltimore Sun that singled FR out. The Washington Post was a little more reasonable.

There's bad blood between the Baltimore Sun and the Ehrlich administration. IIRC, the administration refuses to allow anyone to speak with two Sun reporters because of some idiotic comments made by the Sun about how Lt. Gov. Steele's only qualification for the office was his skin color during the 2002 election.

[Jet Jaguar]

Good work.

[conservative in nyc]

Here's a revised version, cleaning up typos, adding some headings to make it more user-friendly, and a few sentences about the widespread nature of the original rumors and Ryan O'Doherty's ties to the MD Dems:

I'm off to bed. It hopefully will be a big day in the morning!

Who is MD4Bush?
MD4Bush was an infrequent poster on Free Republic from 10/07/04 to 02/08/05, usually discussing Maryland politics. All of MD4Bush's public posts are available here. In an apparent attempt to bait FReeper NCPAC (now known as former Republican Maryland Governor Ehrlich staffer Joe Steffen) into incriminating conversations, MD4Bush spread rumors of Democrat Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley's infidelity, called Democratic Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski a "lezbo", and discussed the alleged tactics of Karl Rove.

The February 2005 Old vs. New Media Wars
A battle was brewing between the Old and New Media in February 2005. Bloggers pressured CNN to fire its chief, Eason Jordan, who had publicly accused the U.S. military of deliberately targeting journalists in order to assassinate them. The Old Media pressured Talon News White House Correspondent Jeff Gannon to quit his New Media reporting gig. And the MD4Bush affair exploded right here on Free Republic.

The MD4Bush Scandal: February 8-9, 2005
In 02/08/05 packed news conference before the National Press Club, Democrat Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley stuck his foot in his mouth, likening President Bush's proposed budget cuts to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Later that day, someone logged on MD4Bush's account and publicly posted previously PRIVATE FReepmails from Steffen to MD4Bush on Free Republic. The poster of these one-sided FReepmails underlined Steffen's most provocative comments.

The next morning, the Washington Post ran a front page story originally entitled O'Malley Blames GOP Plot For Rumors (later retitled Ehrlich Aide Ousted Over O'Malley Rumors), which detailed the underlined FReepmail content posted on the public forum and outed Steffen as NCPAC. A story about Mayor O'Malley's gaffe was buried on page A5. The Washington Post reporter on the MD4Bush story, Matthew Mosk, interviewed the O’Malley camp about the rumors (who accused Ehrlich "agents" of "spreading false rumors" on Free Republic) and reported that Ehrlich had accepted Steffen’s resignation. In fact, the O'Malley infidelity rumors predated any Free Republic post about them and were widespread. The rumors posted on USENET, other Internet websites, including dcrtv.com, and in the March 10, 2000 edition of the Washington Post.

The Aftermath
In the ensuing weeks, the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, New York Times and other local and national news organizations ran numerous stories about the MD4Bush affair. You can find some of those articles here and here. Most of these articles described Steffen as a self-described "Prince of Darkness" engaged in a dirty trick campaign to spread rumors about the Democrat Mayor of Baltimore, tasked by a Republican governor the to fire "innocent" state employees.

A few months later, the Maryland General Assembly formed a special panel to investigate the alleged unfair firing practices of at-will employees by the Ehrlich administration based on the “dirty tricks” methods of Steffen. When the committee was convened, Ehrlich Chief Counsel Jervis Finney and Republican legislators suggested it look in to the postings of MD4Bush to balance their view on Steffen, but he and the Maryland Republicans were rebuffed when the committee decided not to grant subpoena power to committee Republicans.

Recent Developments: Unmasking MD4Bush?
This week, WBAL radio in Baltimore reported that MD4Bush may be Ryan O’Doherty, the former research and communications director for the Maryland Democratic Party. Ryan O'Doherty purportedly sent an e-mail on 02/08/05 (prior to the Washington Post's article).  Below is the content of the "Big Story" e-mail, which was attached to a letter from Finney to the Special Committee:

There will be a big story in the Post either tomorrow or Thursday that credits Gov. Ehrlich's staff for creating and spreading the nasty and untrue rumor about our Mayor and his family," the e-mail reads. It goes on to mention a top O'Malley aide who "asked me to contact you to see if you could show your disgust by calling into WBAL Radio after the story hits ... it is top secret!

Theme:

“I voted for Ehrlich because I thought he would get rid of the culture of corruption and assassin politics of Annapolis -- he has only made it worse. He should be ashamed of the dirty smear campaign perpetuated by his own staff. It disgusts me to know that my tax dollars paid for this filth.”

This will be the biggest story of the year. Thanks for your help.

In an e-mail to WBAL Radio, Ryan O’Doherty denied he drafted the 02/08/05 "Big Story" e-mail:

Through news outlets over the course of several months, I have learned of the content of this alleged e-mail, and I can say without a doubt that 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.

While the FEC has no record of payments made by the Maryland Democratic Party to Ryan O'Doherty in 2005, he was on the party's payroll in 2004. A Google-cached press release from January 9, 2005 lists Mr. Doherty as the contact person. And the Washington Post referred to Mr. Doherty as being "of the Maryland Democratic Party" on January 23. Even if Mr. Doherty was not officially working for the Maryland Democratic Party on February 8, it is not known whether his mddems.org e-mail account was active. However, questions are still lingering about the Maryland Democratic Party and Washington Post's role in the deception. On 02/11/05 Freerepublic owner Jim Robinson wrote:

I've got some very interesting information for the governor's investigation regarding the Maryland Democrat Party dirty trickster that setup Steffen and the Washington Post reporter er, Democrat operative that was working in concert with him. Almost hoping to receive a subpoena.

Which begs the question: Who was the Washington Post reporter that colluded with MD4Bush? The Washington Post responded through Maryland editor R.B. Brenner in a 11/02/05 article:

Brenner said, "The Washington Post had no involvement in any way in the chat room postings" between Steffen and MD4BUSH. "The Post did not know about them until after they had already occurred, as we have reported."

Brenner said The Post does not know the identity of MD4BUSH, which the newspaper also has reported.

Post reporter Matthew Mosk received printed copies of the message exchanges last fall, Brenner said. To verify they were authentic, he said, Mosk was given sign-on information needed to view the private chat room by an intermediary acting on behalf of MD4BUSH in late January. Mosk used that information to verify that "the chat room messages were genuine," Brenner said. Mosk presented the printouts to Steffen in February to confirm that they represented his words.

The Post’s piece raises more questions than it answers: Did Matthew Mosk collude with MD4Bush to “get” the Ehrlich administration and set up events that provided Maryland Democrats with the ammo they needed to seat a Committee that would burden the Governor during an election year? Is former Maryland Democrat Party Communications Director Ryan O’Doherty MD4Bush? Is the "intermediary" his brother Damian O’Doherty esq., chief advisor for Democrat Baltimore County executive Jim Smith? And who is the “Steve” in the “BIG Story” e-mail? Is Steve Jost of the Maryland Democrat Party or is it Steve Kearney, Communications Director for Democrat Mayor Martin O’Malley? Or is the "Big Story" e-mail just a fraud?

Free Republic.com has called a press conference at 9:30AM today in front of the Washington Post building in Washington, D.C. to discuss the role of the Washington Post and Mayor O'Malley in the MD4Bush scandal.

Developing....

[advance_copy]

Outstanding summary.

[Alia]

It's good; it's got all the parts. What else would I add -- about the left trying to ram CampaignFinanceReform down the throats of bloggers, forums, and freerepublic -- also occurring during this time. Just a mention.