Democrats downplay change of party officials (MD:Josh White/MD4Bush)

Washington Times ^ | 12/17/05 | S.A. Miller

[conservative in nyc]

Maryland Democratic Party officials acknowledged yesterday that they have replaced their executive director but said the move is little more than a change in job titles.

The party has replaced Joshua M. White with acting Executive Director Derek Walker, who had served as the party's communications director.

Mr. White was reassigned some time last month to the job of political director.

The reorganization comes as more evidence shows a state Democratic Party operative was involved in a "dirty tricks" campaign to smear the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican.

However, party officials said yesterday that the job changes were not related.

"There is zero connection," Mr. Walker said.

Mr. Walker said he recently has been taking on more executive director duties while Mr. White has increasingly acted in a more political role.

"Nothing has really changed in our roles," he said. "That's the reason for the lack of fanfare."

The party never announced the change but recently updated the information on its Web site. Mr. White's name still appears on the list of party staff but without a job title.

The change also was not publicized within the party, resulting in some confusion.

Campaign staffers for a high-profile Democrat said privately that they heard only last week about the switch.

The party recently has come under more scrutiny for its connection to MD4Bush, the screen name of a visitor to an Internet chat room who reputedly orchestrated the smear campaign.

The owner of the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com revealed last month that MD4Bush was registered to the e-mail address of a state Democratic Party staffer.

--Snip--

[conservative in nyc]

Seems like the MD Democrats are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. And no, it has NOTHING to do with MD4Bush, according to them.

Josh White was listed as Executive Director on the MDDems.org website as late as December 6, according to Google Cache.

As always, more at the link.

[conservative in nyc]

MD4Bush Ping!

[Anti-Bubba182]

".. The uproar over Mr. Steffen, who detractors say was responsible for targeting Democratic state workers for firing, spawned the ongoing state probe of the administration, the General Assembly's first of someone outside the legislature in more than 25 years..."

But they don't care about MD4Bush.

[carumba]

But they don't care about MD4Bush.

They will care when the rug is pulled out from under them.

[advance_copy]

Did you hear that? It's the sound of a Maryland RAT caught in its own trap.

[maggief]

Hey, Washington Times! Did you get your reporting from the Washington Post? Matthew Mosk could have written this article.

It's not a "chat room" they were PRIVATE EMAIL EXCHANGES, (FReepmail). Furthermore, MD4Bush "turned over the written exchanges to The Washington Post" is incorrect. WaPo's Matthew Mosk was given the PRIVATE PASSWORD to MD4Bush's email account, which violated FreeRepublic's user agreement, for one.


MD4Bush Primer 2.0

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1519302/posts

[holden]

It reads to me that Josh has indemnification for dirty tricks in his contract.

Irrespective of whether that contract is written or not, I suspect someone who rises to Exec. Director of the state organization knows how to enforce such a thing, even if it weren't written down. The Maryland dims don't have any illusion that a Josh flappin' his jaws outside the fold is better than paying a continuingly cushy salary and shielding him from outright embarassment.

HF