Soccer Dad: MD4JOBS

November 7, 2005

MD4JOBS

Maryland Democrats, are holding hearings looking into the fact that Governor Bob Ehrlich has retained 96% of the political appointees his administration inhertited from previous governors. (More likely they're disappointed that one of their own didn't win the right to make these personnel moves.)

Now Joseph Steffen the governor's appointee at the center of this controversy has expressed his willingness to speak to address the hearings. Brian Frosh, as reported in the Washington Post, for one smells blood in the water:

"This guy has confirmed what [the Ehrlich administration has] been denying from the beginning -- that he was instructed to fire low-level workers so they could fill slots with their Republican buddies," said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery).

Maybe Del Frosh's sense of smell is sharp as a shark's but his hearing could use some refining. The above mentioned article also quoted the man of the hour, Joseph Steffen:

At the same time, Steffen has refuted one major contention made by several employees who lost their job: that they were targeted because of their political views. Steffen reiterated yesterday that he never factored political leanings into his recommendations. "There were at least two high-level Democrats that I defended," Steffen said on WBAL Radio.

Here's a little more, actually from WBAL-TV:

Collins asked Steffen whether the governor's chief of staff dispatched him to various state agencies with the express purpose to identify state workers to be fired.

Steffen responded: "That was never the expressed purpose, but was part of the overall job description, yes."

He said he was called upon by the governor's chief of staff, a deputy secretary and the appointments office.

"I responded to the deputy secretary and the appointments office anywhere from one to five times a week," Steffen said.

Steffen admitted he enjoyed the notoriety surrounding his nickname, "The Prince of Darkness." He said he played it up by putting a grim reaper statue on his desk.

But Steffen contends his job was to only weed out poor job performers.

"The list that everybody keeps talking about, there was this list of at-will employees at all agencies because these were the individuals that could be fired if we wanted to," Steffen said. "There was never (the order to) 'fire this person or fire that person.'"

The Washington Post's Matthew Mosk helps us understand the implications of Steffen's testimony:

Ehrlich seized on that aspect during a recent interview, saying it offered proof that his administration did nothing wrong. "Nobody cared about party," Ehrlich said. "I've said that repeatedly."

Ehrlich shouldn't have to do any seizing. This does undermine the whole point of the hearings. Still no doubt they will go on.

What else could they discuss?

Maybe they'd discuss the true identity of MD4BUSH? No we couldn't have any of that:

The special legislative committee will not investigate the identity of MD4BUSH, and a possible link between the anoymous blogger with the Washington Post.

That's the word from Baltimore County State Senator Paula Hollinger who sits on the panel.

Hollinger told WBAL News today the MD4BUSH investigation is nothing more than, "a diversionary tactic," from the panel's investigation of wether the Ehrlich Administration fired state workers for political reasons.

Hollinger was responding to a request for an MD4BUSH investigation from the governor's chief counsel Jervis Finney.

"I think that's absolutely absurd, and what I want to know is what makes Jervis nervous."

Actually, I think the reason the Democrats are shutting down this line of inquiry is because they're the ones who are nervous. MD4BUSH was involved in questionable activities - including getting Steffen to boast about rumor concerning Mayor O'Malley even though Steffen demurred several times - if he or she is tied to a major Democratic politician or the party, it will expose the Democratic dirty tricks in this state to overturn the election results of 2002.

And you can be sure that during the hearings Steffen's role in the O'Malley rumors will be brought up by Democrats making speeches for the eager news media, though it has nothing to do with Ehrlich's hiring and firing practices. Once Steffen is there, our, oh so reticent, state representatives will find it impossible to keep their tongues from wagging, "Not only did he fire perfectly good Democrats he also attempted to smear Mayor O'Malley."

And that brings us to (also from the Washington Post):

"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 The Post's offices in Northwest Washington.

In response, R.B. Brenner, The Post's Maryland editor, said: "As part of our reporting, we needed to verify that the chat room postings were authentic. We were authorized to view them, and it was appropriate to do so under the circumstances."

WBAL gives other details:

The Post has disclosed that one of its reporters was given the private sign-on information for a poster known as MD4BUSH. That poster was engaged in a on-line conversation thread with Joseph Steffen, who was later fired for posting about rumors involving Mayor O'Malley.

The operators of the website think the Washington Post reporter's actions may have violated the electronic communications privacy act when he signed on using the MD4BUSH sign-on information.

While the reporter, Matthew Mosk, may have violated FreeRepublic's guidelines I'm less certain that there's any illegal activity here. Still Mosk's involvement in all this raises some questions. Was he, in any way, acting in concert with a Democratic operative? Or was there a leak to O'Malley's campaign from the Post?

For further reading of this blogs commentary media's (specifically the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post) campaign against governor Ehrlich see:
A perfect storm for republicans? in maryland?
Betting the farms
Dumb republican luck
Not so fired up
A repressive regime
Republican dirty tricks
The Washington Post and Governor Ehrlich
The Sun's contrition. not.
Governor Ehrlich vs. the MSM