Free Republic

The Internet posting saga that led to the firing of an aide to Gov. Robert Ehrlich has turned 180 degrees with the revelation of a possible Democratic tie, the Republican governor said Saturday. Ehrlich, appearing Saturday morning on Baltimore radio station WBAL, said "there appears now to be a sophisticated, or was a sophisticated operation, put together by a number of folks connected with the Maryland Democratic Party, and maybe a candidate or campaigns, and their purpose was to go on the Internet and trash major Democrats, which is fascinating. "I don't know who thought this grand scheme up, but...

Top officials in Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration ordered the dismissal of a succession of mid-level state workers, plucked from a sheet of paper that an aide called the "death list," a former state personnel official told top lawmakers yesterday. The targeted employees were fired, in some instances, solely because they were Democrats, and in each case to make room for Republican political appointees, said Tom Burgess, who yesterday became the first former state employee to testify under oath before the panel investigating Ehrlich's personnel practices. The panel was convened this fall to examine complaints that Ehrlich (R)...