I-Team Uncovers MD4Bush E-Mail Addresses

The WBAL Channel ^ | 12/14/05 | WBAL-TV

[conservative in nyc]

The WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team has uncovered new information surrounding the mysterious Web user known as MD4Bush.

In private e-mail exchanges, MD4Bush coaxed Joe Steffen, a former aide to Gov. Bob Ehrlich, into discussing rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's personal life on the conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com.

The 11 News I-Team has uncovered e-mail addresses used to register the MD4Bush account on the Free Republic Web site. The 11 News I-Team does not know who opened the MD4Bush account.

According to a source familiar with the MD4Bush postings, the e-mail address used in October 2004 to open the MD4Bush account is: ryanrock2004@yahoo.com.

Sources said that e-mail address was later changed to rodoherty@mddems.org, then changed for a third time to brianwaverly@yahoo.com. That third e-mail address remains as the address registered on the Free Republic account, which remains open.

Free Republic Web founder Jim Robinson refused to publicly disclose the electronic trail of MD4Bush; however, he authorized a statement weeks ago, as follows:

"Free Republic has evidence that an mddems.org e-mail address is associated with the MD4Bush account. This is not just coincidence," Free Republic spokeswoman Kristinn Taylor said.

According to Free Republic, anyone who has the password to the MD4Bush account could change the e-mail registration address at any time. It is not known how many people may have had access to that password.

MD4Bush used e-mails to coax former gubernatorial aide Joe Steffen into discussing rumors on a conservative Web site about the personal life of Baltimore's mayor. The e-mail address information obtained does not shed light on the actual users of the MD4Bush account, nor does it reveal whether someone attached the Ryan O'Doherty e-mail address to the account without his knowledge.

[conservative in nyc]

Yahoo! e-mail accounts will become inactive if you don't log on often enough. But Yahoo! doesn't send a message saying the account is closed even if it is inactive. The e-mails go to never-neverland.

Please let us know if you get any response.

[nopardons]

Yes, someone should tell them that! LOL

But what an article! This can of worms isn't going to go away.

[GeronL]

Someone needs to tell WBAL-TV that Kristinn's not a woman

Some FReepers probably don't know it. Probably doesn't come up enough in the threads

[GeronL]

That woman got a beard?? Work at the Big Top?? /joking

[Fruit of the Spirit]

"I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!"

This reminds me of the story I read in today's paper about the mayor of Biritiba Mirim, Brazil outlawing death. Apparently federal law has boxed them into a situation where they can't bury or cremate the dead.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Go Jim Rob! Go Kristinn!

[benjibrowder]

That question occured to me as well. Where did the people get the email addresses (and not just one, but all three of them)?, unless MD4BUSH is still out there somewhere passing information such as the account passwords and other stuff himself.

[conservative in nyc]

I doubt the e-mail information came from MD4Bush - if David Colins from WBAL-TV knew the identity of MD4Bush, he'd have put it in his report. More likely, the information came from a reliable source with ties to Free Republic.

That the mddems.org e-mail was the second used makes the Ryan O'Doherty link a little less certain than if it were the first used. I don't think any e-mail is sent to the old or new account if someone changes the e-mail address registered with Free Republic. I could theoretically change my settings here so that my e-mail address is mickeymouse@disney.com, if I felt so inclined. And if I didn't have notifications on, nothing would be sent to that address.

I think figuring out who ryanrocks2004@yahoo.com and brianwaverly@yahoo.com are connected with might be helpful. A Google, Google Groups, Dogpile and Yahoo! search using those e-mail addresses turns up nothing. I don't know of any way to easily search Yahoo! Groups. For what it's worth, Waverly is a section of Baltimore near Ryan O'Doherty's known home address.

[Anti-Bubba182]

I have a reason why he would have changed the email from the Yahoo mail drop to his regular one at mddems.org. He used the mail drop to get a name annonymously. Then he changed it before he talked to Mosk at the Washington Post so that his regular email would show on the Edit Account page if the reporter looked as he was checking out the FRmail exchanges he described. It would look more credible that way. This makes me more certain that this was Ryan O'Doherty. No one else would have a reason to pick out this particular democrat.

In spite of Mosk claiming he got the sign in information from an "intermediary", I don't see how he would go to print if he did not actually know who the source was.

[Jim Robinson]

I gave some info to a trusted professional (who wishes to remain anonymous for the time being) who is helping us get to the bottom of this matter. When asked if I was worried that it might go public some day, I said, no, it's bound to get out sooner or later anyway.

I feel that a (possibly criminal) political dirty trick has been committed against Governor Ehrlich and Joe Steffen and the evidence would lead any rational thinking person to believe that it was perpetrated by officials of mddems.org, perhaps working in concert with a reporter from the Washington Post.

After this story first broke, I was startled to discover an email address from mddems.org associated with the MD4Bush account and then even more startled when I discovered logins to that account from the Washington Post's server. I posted my suspicions early on and almost welcomed a subpoena from any investigative committee that might be interested. Not surprisingly, the Democrat controlled committees were not interested in following leads on Democrat corruption.

The reporter on the original story lied. He originally claimed that he did not know the identity of MD4Bush. He also did not disclose that he had secretly logged into the MD4Bush account after mysteriously receiving the password from an unknown source, nor did he disclose the nefarious motivations of his sources. Later (probably because he knew we had the evidence against him in our logs) he attempted to cover his lies and now claims he received the password for MD4Bush from an unnamed intermediary. This too appears to be a lie and all of his actions in regards to this matter appear to be breaches of journalistic ethics and standards (as if there were such things in the MSM).

I believe that if an official of mddems.org (ie, the official Maryland Democrat Party) is working in collusion with The Washington Post in an attempt to bring down a sitting Republican governor, then this would be a much more serious crime than anything Joe Steffen may have posted on an open public forum, and it should be exposed. Hell, it should be breaking news.

So, why am I not concerned that the reporters finally got the email address info? Well, first of all, MD4Bush breached any agreement he may have had with Free Republic.

Number one, the very first post he made after registering was to NCPAC, so it's obvious he had intent and a targeted individual in mind from the very start. It's also now just as obvious that he had nefarious purposes in mind when he registered to FR posing as a conservative when he was actually an official Democrat mole. This is called playing games with his FR account which is against our rules.

Number two, he used FR to purposely plant false rumors.

Number three, he shared his password with one or more third parties.

Number four, he passed on the real life identity of one of our members along with his private mail communications to a third party (a Washington Post reporter) with the intent said reporter would publish said private material.

Number five, he then posted the same private mail messages to the open forum.

Number six, all of this appears to be a conspiracy with malicious intent to defame, libel, slander and defraud Steffen and Ehrlich. Using FR for criminal purposes is against our rules.

And so, no I'm not concerned that it's going public. As I said above, the fact that The Washington Post is working in concert with the Democrat Party in an attempt to bring down a sitting Republican Governor should be breaking news. And if the Democrat controlled committee is not interested and the MSM is not interested, then the story might as well break right here on Free Republic where MD4Bush and the Washington Post perpetrated the crime. The truth shall set you free.

[conservative in nyc]

You may be right. Note that Ryan O'Doherty hasn't issued any recent denial that he was or knows MD4Bush. On the contrary, he's been issuing a bunch of non-denial denials and not responding to WBAL-TV's e-mails. And he seemed a tad bit defensive when David Collins confronted him outside his new job.

I wonder if Matthew Mosk ever checked the edit account page. Heck, Matthew Mosk could have changed it himself, for all we know. He had the password. It would be interesting to know when the changes to the e-mail contact info were made.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Yes Mosk could have changed it but had no reason whatever to do so. Nobody but a user logged in under that name could see it.

O'Doherty, on the other hand had a reason and that would be to show his identity to the reporter he was trying to convince to run the story.

[conservative in nyc]

See Jim Robinson's comment in #70.

Thanks for the clarification, Jim!

[Anti-Bubba182]

Thanks Jim. Aren't there also violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act in the Washington posts ilicit access of someones FR account?

[Jim Robinson]

Could very well be.

[nopardons]

bttt

[nopardons]

Many thanks for the ping!

[Mo1]

Oh my my

Who's got the popcorn .. cause we are gonna need it *L*

[Diver Dave]

Bookmarked!

This has all the makings for a best seller and a blockbuster movie.

I'll have my people talk to your people about a book signing tour. Fire up the FReepmobile. :)

[Jim Robinson]

LOL. Yup, this is a mini Watergate, only this time the Democrats are the perps. We have lots of dark and mysterious political operatives (plumbers), a break-in and cover-up, partisan investigative committees, planted falsehoods, and a deepthroat character (the mysterious unnamed source in this article). Even a Washington Post reporter. But this time the Washington Post is with the perps and the bulldog investigative reporters (the good guys) are at WBAL-TV. Next we need to find evidence of the inevitable payoffs and a tape. Hope it's not erased. The question will soon be, what did the Mayor know and when did he know it?