Posted on 11/04/2005 5:54:02 AM PST by conservative in nyc
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 headline: 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.org mailbag, 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, as the House voted down a law that would exclude Bloggers and other New Media entities from potentially stifling campaign finance reform laws, 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. O'Doherty as the contact person. And the Washington Post referred to Mr. O'Doherty as being "of the Maryland Democratic Party" on January 23. Even if Mr. O'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....
Thanks for taking your time to clarify this episode, especially the sequence of events! Very useful and answers a number of questions.
Thanks! I think it is vital that FreeRepublic keep close track of this whole fiasco, because this is just a preview of what is inevitably going to happen on a larger scale as time goes on. Last election showed people like Howard Dean how to effectively raise money via the internet. At the same there were any number of politically motivated cyber attacks all over the place, on both sides. (any Wolverines in the audience???)
My point is that we likely don't know just who is and who is not a mole, so vigilience is in order.
This is a revised version of the draft MD4Bush FAQ on the previous thread.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Does The Washington Post have ethical standards?
I bet NOT!
Stay tuned.
OK...I've got my popcorn ready.
But being able to prove it definitively is always an opportunity not to be missed! :-)
Good approach. We're taking the high road here.
And with our pressie, we have led by example and demonstrated a much higher ethical standard than the WaPo and the rest of the MSM.
It doesn't take much to have higher ethical standards than the ENEMEDIA (AKA MSM), since they have absolutely NO ethical standards at all. They have done everything they possibly can to undermine this President and to sabotage success with this WOT.
The ENDEMEDIA has given aid and comfort to the enemy and IMHO their actions are treasonous.
FYI...a few of us FReepers have decide to no longer call them the MSM. There is NOTHING MAINSTREAM about them. They are an extension of the Democratic Party and their primary objective is to undermine President Bush and do all they can to prevent him from accomplishing his agenda.
As Rush has said so often..."What's Great for America, is bad for them"! Their actions are despicable and unforgivable.
I know, I know...this is a rant. Sorry
Old Stream Media ... OSM ...
or ... if you prefer ...
Enema + media = Enemedia
or ... if they continue their death spiral ...
End + old media = Endomedia
Well, what ever we call them...they are obsolete....gone the way of the dinosaur...good riddance!
Are you ready for the big Freep of the enemy tonight? It's going to be hard to top last week, but as long as you're out there for our Troops...it's all good!
LOL!!!
Signing off and heading out as soon as I post to you! It is a beautiful day. Thank God!! I really dislike those high humidity FReeps! ;*)
The ENEMEDIA are fullfilling their own deathwish, that's what they have in common with the liberals and islam.
"For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor [anything] secret that shall not be known and come to light." Luke 8:17
Maybe I'm dense, but I don't get it - how does Steffen spreading rumors in private e-mails give him ammunition to fire state workers? And why did Steffen resign in the first place if all he was doing was gossiping about another politician? I initially thought that he was spreading the rumors about his own boss, which could be bad, but this just sounds like water cooler stuff...
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