Free Republic

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley today accused Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of orchestrating a taxpayer-financed campaign of character assassination by allowing state employees to continue to fuel a rumor about marital discord between the mayor and his wife, Katie Curran O'Malley. The mayor was responding today to questions that it was his wife, and not Ehrlich aides, who first publicly pronounced the rumor's existence shortly after he was elected mayor in 1999. "There's a big difference between public wonderings about a young couple thrust into the spotlight of being the city's first family, and a premeditated, orchestrated and relentless campaign...

Five years ago, Catherine Curran “Katie” O’Malley, the wife of Baltimore’s mayor, was discussing rumors of an affair with a newspaper reporter. On March 10, 2000, the Washington Post ran an article on the front page of its Style section, headlined “Charm City’s Mr. Charming; Mayor O’Malley Cheers Baltimore On” The Post reported the following exchange: Katie O'Malley found it "demeaning" to see herself in print as "the pretty wife," but her husband can't seem to help himself from crowing over her. "I am the luckiest guy," says O'Malley, and his slate-blue eyes glint. "Well, I'm glad he feels that...