Posted on 03/31/2006 9:22:13 PM PST by conservative in nyc
The 12-member legislative committee investigating Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.s personnel practices voted Friday to extend its work until mid June as its special counsel vowed to issue more subpoenas.
The Special Committee on Employee Rights and Protections after months of dormancy met Friday morning to decide its next steps in probing the hiring and firing decisions made by the Ehrlich administration.
The panel met in closed session where its legal counsel, Ward B. Coe III, discussed his on-going efforts in obtaining personnel documents from the Ehrlich administration via speaker phone. Democratic members said that the administration has not turned over personnel documents from three key agencies, leading Coe to issue subpoenas.
House Environmental Matters Committee Chairman Maggie L. McIntosh, a member of the investigating committee, said Coe will issue subpoenas to the Maryland Insurance Administration, the Public Service Commission and the Department of Juvenile Services.
Issuing subpoenas and extending the commissions timetable prompted criticism from Republican members of the committee. Ehrlich (R) and his GOP allies have characterized the investigation as a partisan witch hunt.
--Snip--
The committee is expected to meet at least three more times to hear from additional witnesses. The panel has been meeting since last summer.
Frosh and others are pressing to have Joseph F. Steffen Jr., the self-proclamed Prince of Darkness of the Ehrlich administration who was dispatched to agencies to gather personnel information, to testify before the committees work is complete. Ehrlich fired Steffen after news reports revealed that Steffen was rumormongering on a conservative website.
--Snip--
(Excerpt) Read more at gazette.net ...
The "conservative website" on which Steffen (aka FReeper NCPAC) was allegedly rumormongering is Free Republic. NCPAC still might testify in front of the committee, according to the article.
MD4Bush Ping!
That they would be worrying about the PSC is amusing, since the Democrats in the Maryland just yesterday rammed through a veto-proof bill to disband the current PSC and replace it with one composed of members appointed by the legislature.
This was because they needed to cover up the fact this is the same Dem legislature that in the 90's had its hands stuck so deeply into the pockets of the big electric utilities (state senate president Mike Miller received $119,000 from the energy companies all by himself) that Maryland residents are now facing a 72% increase in energy costs. Now that the piper needs to be paid, they need a scapegoat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.