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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)...

A former personnel manager for the Department of Human Resources told a legislative committee today that the Ehrlich administration ordered that some employees in his agency be fired "so supportive Republicans could be put into office." Thomas Burgess, a Republican who stayed on for about a year after Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. took office, said he was also fired and was told his name was put on a "hit list" because "I had the nerve to recommend that a Democrat be promoted" to a high-ranking position in the department. The workers who lost their jobs were at-will employees who...

Lawmakers heard colorful testimony Tuesday describing the hiring and firing practices of the Ehrlich administration, saying the governor's staff employed a hit list among state workers. WBAL-TV 11 News reporter David Collins reported that a former state worker testified for three hours before a special legislative committee. Thomas Burgess, a Republican who worked 15 years in state government, characterized Gov. Bob Ehrlich's administration as highly partisan and paranoid to the point of spying on their own people. Collins said the underlying theme to Burgess' three hours of testimony was that the Ehrlich administration wanted to weed out Democrats and bypass...

Last week, Vanity Fair scooped the Washington Post when it revealed the identity of the Post’s legendary anonymous source Deep Throat. Once Vanity Fair had reported that Deep Throat was actually W. Mark Felt of the FBI, speculation began to circulate about his motives for feeding information to the Post. Bob Shieffer on Face the Nation Sunday argued that Felt’s motives were unimportant, because his actions had saved America from becoming “a nation of men, not laws.” Fair enough. Suppose, however, that Deep Throat had orchestrated the Watergate break-in and then leaked to the Washington Post in order to frame...

New e-mail messages obtained by the WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team could shed new light on the governor's claim of a political double crossing. WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller said the e-mails are all tied to the former Ehrlich aide who was fired in February for spreading rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's personal life on the Internet. Miller said the new messages provide details about former Ehrlich appointee Michelle Lane who was once a friend of Joe Steffen, the former Ehrlich aide who admitted to talking about the O'Malley rumor on a conservative Web site. --Snip--...

The WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team has learned that an Ehrlich aide met with an O'Malley cabinet member concerning rumors being spread about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. --Snip-- I-Team reporter David Collins said Michelle Lane, another aide to the governor, met with Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Peter Beilenson in March 2003. Beilenson said most of the conversation dealt with her concerns over the state's foster care system. "She implied that (Steffen) was sort of, I guess the best term to be used would be, like a mole" in the Ehrlich administration, Beilenson said. "I'm not sure why she brought him...

E-mail messages detail a romantic relationship between two aides to the governor that abruptly ended before one was fired, the WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team has learned. Michelle Lane once dated Joe Steffen, who was a longtime aide to Gov. Bob Ehrlich. E-mail messages between the two indicate they had an office romance that abruptly ended, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins reported. Steffen resigned in February when it was revealed that he had spread rumors on the Internet about the personal life of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, Collins reported. The E-Mail Messages Steffen called Lane "Chelle" and "sweetness." Acquaintances...

Towson nursing faculty member Michelle Lane believes the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich pressured the University not to renew her contract, her lawyer asserted last week. Attorney Daniel Clements said the governor believes Lane was instrumental in exposing the actions of longtime Ehrlich aide Joseph Steffen, who was fired in February for spreading rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. Clements wouldn't comment on whether or not Lane played a role in exposing Steffen. Despite the alleged interference, Lane is still scheduled to teach three courses in Fall 2005. "She came to understand that people in the administration were attempting...

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday accused a Baltimore County woman who threatened to reveal more information about the dealings of former administration aide Joseph F. Steffen Jr. of being a disgruntled ex-employee who worked with high-ranking Democrats to exact revenge on him after she was fired. The woman, Towson University pediatrics and nursing instructor Michelle Lane, released documents last week showing her dismissal came after she made a series of complaints to her supervisors at the Maryland Department of Human Resources about inadequate care for troubled children. Speaking on Stateline with Governor Ehrlich on WBAL-AM yesterday morning, Ehrlich suggested...

When Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. stood in front of the State House on Thursday and called on news reporters to investigate Michelle Lane, he said he suspected a little digging would expose her role in a politically motivated conspiracy to tar his reputation. Instead, lawmakers and public advocates have begun to review documents and e-mails that the former Ehrlich loyalist wrote in 2003 before being fired from her state job. They say Lane's correspondence may reveal something altogether different: deep flaws in the governor's handling of the state's foster care system. --Snip-- Paul E. Schurick, Ehrlich's communications director,...

Ehrlich: Democrats plotting to make him look bad By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Ehrlich administration released e-mails and a photograph yesterday that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and his aides said support the notion that there was an orchestrated campaign to make the governor look bad by leaking information about Joseph Steffen, a former gubernatorial aide. "We really want to know about any political orchestration" by the Democratic Party or Democratic officials, Mr. Ehrlich said. But Democrats said the documents support the allegations, denied by Mr. Ehrlich, that Mr. Steffen was a close aide of the governor who was sent...

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. accused a former state employee yesterday of trying to "blackmail" him. The woman involved said she was trying to protect herself against a retaliatory "whisper campaign" by the administration that could cost her a job. And after a winter of partisanship and allegations of political dirty tricks, the tension ratcheted up another level when Ehrlich(R) stood in front of the State House and charged that there was a campaign at work to make his administration look bad. "We really want to know about any political orchestration" by Democrats, Ehrlich told reporters. --Snip-- Yesterday [Gov....