Free Republic

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. criticized yesterday Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, a rival in the governor's race, for praising a surreptitious Internet user who lured an Ehrlich aide into circulating rumors about the mayor's personal life. Speaking on his bimonthly WBAL radio show, Ehrlich said MD4Bush, the screen name of an anonymous visitor to a conservative Web site, discussed rumors about O'Malley and insulted Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, and should not be applauded. On Friday, O'Malley, a Democrat, said he wanted to thank MD4Bush for helping expose the role of an Ehrlich aide in talking about the mayor's personal life....

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...

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...

Following the discovery of e-mail addresses connected to the MD4Bush mystery, the WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team has uncovered the electronic trail of Internet activity. Also Friday, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley responded to the latest twist in the MD4Bush mystery. Last October, MD4Bush used private e-mails on the Free Republic's Web site to coax a former aide to Gov. Bob Ehrlich, Joe Steffen, into discussing the personal life of Baltimore's mayor. The 11 News I-Team has learned that MD4Bush routinely logged on to the Internet from a computer in the Pasadena area. On Feb. 8 -- the night the story broke...

Go to the WBAL Radio home page, at THIS LINK, and click on the "Listen Live" link on that page.I don't know any particulars about the telephone interview that Ron Smith will be doing with Kristinn (as Free Republic's spokesman), just that they will be discussing the MD4BUSH story.

An e-mail address of a former state Democratic Party worker was used in a discussion about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's marriage on a conservative Web site, a spokesman for the site said yesterday. Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for free republic.com, said Ryan O'Doherty's Democratic Party address was one of at least three used to operate the identity of MD4BUSH, the mysterious Internet poster who appears to have coaxed an aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. into talking about the mayor's personal life. MD4BUSH sought out another freerepublic visitor known as ncpac, who was later revealed to be longtime Ehrlich...

The operators of a conservative Web site yesterday released three e-mail addresses they said were connected to the anonymous site user who drew a former aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) into discussions of a smear campaign against a political rival -- and one of the addresses matched that of a former state Democratic Party official. A spokesman for the Free Republic Web site said the account MD4BUSH was originally created by someone with access to the e-mail address ryanrock2004@yahoo.com . The address of record was changed twice, first to rodoherty@mddems.org and later to brianwaverly@yahoo.com , said Web...

The operator of FreeRepublic.com has had little to say of the MD4Bush mystery -- until now. WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller reported the operator of FreeRepublic.com holds the biggest clues to the identity of the Internet user MD4Bush. They include e-mail accounts and electronic log-in information. The operator of the conservative Web site has not yet spilled all the beans, but he has made it clear that he believes he owes nothing to MD4Bush in terms of protecting privacy. In a lengthy posting early Thursday morning, Jim Robinson, the operator of the California-based FreeRepublic.com, explained why...

WBAL-Baltimore reporter Collins just announced that a WBAL TV reporter is set to do a story this evening that claims Jim Robinson is ready to disclose all he knows about the MD4Bush situation.

The WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team has uncovered new information surrounding the mysterious Web user known as MD4Bush. In private e-mail exchanges, MD4Bush coaxed Joe Steffen, a former aide to Gov. Bob Ehrlich, into discussing rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's personal life on the conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com. The 11 News I-Team has uncovered e-mail addresses used to register the MD4Bush account on the Free Republic Web site. The 11 News I-Team does not know who opened the MD4Bush account. According to a source familiar with the MD4Bush postings, the e-mail address used in October 2004 to open the MD4Bush...

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...

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...

Long before Joseph Steffen surfaced at the center of political intrigue in Annapolis, Gerry Brewster suspected he was the political operative who wiped out his fundraising list and plastered his windshield with bumper stickers for his opponent. Connie DeJulius believed Steffen was behind a nasty leaflet pinned to every telephone pole in her neighborhood, tarring her as a "home wrecker." Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., left, and former aide Joseph Steffen, who helped Ehrlich win congressional races in the '90s. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., left, and former aide Joseph Steffen, who helped Ehrlich win congressional races in the '90s....

Governor Ehrlich is speaking out on the identity of MD4BUSH. The governor says the identity of the web poster will be known shortly, and the identity will confirm what he believes, MD4BUSH is a Democratic operative. "If this thing does turn out ultimately, and we're going to find out fairly shortly that it's a set up by major Democratic operatives connected to one or more campaign, how interesting is that going to be," Ehrlich told WBAL's Stateline........." Audio link:

<p>In response to questions about the MD4BUSH affair, in which a democrat operative got an aide to the governor to comment online about infidelity rumours of Baltimore Mayor Martin Omally, the Governor became angry over the double standard. "When this thing broke I had cameras and mics stuck in my face, now that it seems MD4BUSH is a democrat operative working in conjunction with a major media outlet...its a set-up...where are the cameras now?"</p>

Finally this week, the elusive MD4BUSH may not be so elusive. After dogged investigating by WBAL Channel 11 (note: not the Sun or the Post, who seemed intent on covering the earlier aspects of the story), the Maryland Democratic Party released a statement indicating that a member of their party’s staff is MD4BUSH. Following the statement by Keiffer Mitchell, co-chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, that decried the dirty smear campaign by MD4BUSH, Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party John M. Kane called on Terry Lierman to launch an internal investigation into whether a current or former state Democratic Party...

Did the Washington Post Violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act? 11/10 05:24 PM For those of you who have been following the MD4Bush story (if not, click on the links at the bottom of this post to catch up), here's a little breaking news: Free Republic is looking into whether the Washington Post violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act when Post reporter Matthew Mosk accessed the Free Republic account of MD4Bush. According to the Post's statement on the matter, Mosk was given MD4Bush's sign-on information by "someone acting on MD4Bush’s behalf." He then used that screen name and password to...

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s chief legal counsel yesterday called on Democratic leaders to investigate newly exposed ties between the state Democratic Party and an Internet chat room visitor who apparently orchestrated a "dirty tricks" campaign to smear the administration. Chief Counsel Jervis S. Finney said Democrats appear to have been players in a "scam" to discredit Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican. The involvement of a Democratic operative "certainly takes it a step further and it would seem the so-called Special Committee [on Employee Rights and Protections] and the Maryland Democratic Party should seek at last to find the final...

BALTIMORE -- Inside the MD4BUSH mystery are questions of timing, motive, and who knew what when.[snip]..... ......[snip]MD4BUSH signed on to Free Republic in early October and immediately added new dirt to the rumor -- writing on Oct 8: "Yeah, he cheats on his wife. I heard he is not allowed in the house and is living in some new high-rise near City Hall." MD4BUSH then wrote to Steffen directly by commenting on Maryland politics, using language to depict an Internet user who was a true conservative, and suggesting there was a need to play dirty in 2006. In mid-October, Steffen...

In yesterday’s (Saturday) Washington Post is a brief article in its Metro section, responding to well-attended press conference the previous day in front of the newspaper’s offices. The press conference accused the Post of violating the privacy rights of certain individuals on the website FreeRepublic.com This exchange, printed by the Post, explains the charge, and the newspaper’s response to it, so far: "How in good faith could The Washington Post access a private Internet account without the express permission of the account holder?" Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for the conservative FreeRepublic.com, asked in a morning news conference in front of...