GOP Questions Newspaper's Role With 'MD4Bush'

WBAL TV ^ | 11/02/05 | Staff

[nunya bidness]

The one thing I haven't been able to figure out is who "Steve" (mentioned in the Ryan O'Doherty "BIG Story" letter) is or was. Was it someone in the Maryland Democrat Party or someone at the WaPo or someone else?

Also it should be noted that the on-air broadcast of this story showed FR so we can expect some new guests.

[Repub4bush]

Can I be put on a ping list for new news? I have been following this, but never posted on the thread. Thanks :)

I would have freepmailed you.. but you know how that goes ;)

[conservative in nyc]

Certainly. Anyone who wants to be added to the MD4Bush ping list can send me FReepmail requesting to be put on.

[Dan Zachary]

Purpose: The Free Republic forum is intended for Conservative users who wish to have a serious discussion about political events, conservative principles and the elimination of government corruption and abuse...Your Free Republic account cannot be used to engage in any illegal activity.

User Account Confidentiality: User agrees to protect user's account and password and not to disclose account information to any third party.

link

[Mo1]

The Reporter thought if he logged on as MD4Bush he could learn his identity

Oh yea .. I believe that story .. /s >

[conservative in nyc]

The one thing I haven't been able to figure out is who "Steve" (mentioned in the Ryan O'Doherty "BIG Story" letter) is or was. Was it someone in the Maryland Democrat Party or someone at the WaPo or someone else?

No clue. I was wondering the same thing. Living in New York, I don't know the Maryland players. Perhaps one of the Marylanders knows.

[Abby4116]

ty, as usual, for the ping!

[Anti-Bubba182]

The thought occurs to me that if MD4Bush violated FR policy by sharing account information with a third party(FR user agreement section below):

User Account Confidentiality: User agrees to protect user's account and password and not to disclose account information to any third party.

Why should FR be bound to continue to protect MD4Bush's information?

[maggief]

Also Wednesday, the operators of The Free Republic Web site told the 11 News I-Team that they are now considering their legal options because their policy prohibits their Web site users to share account information with a third party, something MD4Bush apparently did.

[Mo1]

I don't see any reason to protect him

I'd let him hang out to dry for the stunt he pulled

[cgbg]

Jim R.--Sue the bastids!

[pctech]

Let this also be a lesson to all those who converse with those trolls. Beware of them folks, you don't need that kind of grief.

[Anti-Bubba182]

We have a public confirmation from the Washington Post that MD4Bush or indermediary acting for him shared private user information in violation of the user agreement agreed to by MD4Bush in the beginning.

MD4Bush broke the agreement. FR should not have to protect him.

[nicmarlo]

Did y'all see this?

Wednesday, the operators of The Free Republic Web site told the 11 News I-Team that they are now considering their legal options because their policy prohibits their Web site users to share account information with a third party, something MD4Bush apparently did.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

You need their password to peak at saved FReepmail. Remember, MD4Bush is the one who had the exchange with NCPAC via FReepmail and posted the mail from him in open forum the day a WAPO story came out.

[smith288]

They can't get anything right, it seems. I have heard them refer to FR as a 'chatroom' or a 'blog'. It is clearly neither.

Its also a clear indication that FR is quite possibly the most power political web site.

[ConsentofGoverned]

I email wapo ombudsman on this matter of course no reply.

[nunya bidness]

There's a Steve Jost listed as a Maryland Democrat party staffer with the email address sjost@mddems.org. There's also a Steve Kearney listed as Director Policy & Communications for Mayor Martin O'Malley.

From a Maryland Gazette article entitled Duncan takes shot at O'Malley:

(SNIP)

Steve Kearney, O'Malley's spokesman, did not try to deflect Duncan's criticism.

"The truth is that, after three years of gridlock, the mayor thinks a reasonable, responsible compromise is possible to protect the thousands of jobs in Maryland's horseracing industry, to keep the Preakness in Baltimore, and use some funds for school construction," Kearney said. "It's time to get this behind us and move on to the other important issues facing our state."

Here's the whole paragraph with the key sentence in bold:

There will be a big story in the Post either tomorrow or Thursday that credits Governor Ehrlich's staff for creating and spreading the nasty and untrue rumor about our Mayor and his family. Steve asked me to contact you to see if you could show your disgust by calling into WBAL Radio after the story hits. The guys on WBAL obviously could try to protect Ehrlich, so we need as many folks as possible to call 410-467-WBAL. I will e-mail the story to you as soon as it hits and read it carefully and then call in and raise hell. Don't call in until after the story is published in the Washington Post - It is top secret!

The letter sounds like a mass email to Maryland Democrats to seminar call WBAL so they would likely know Steve (Jost) from his party activites. But it's also possible that it's a mass email to Baltimore City employees that would likely know Steve Kearney as the mayor's spokesman.

I'm more inclined to think it's Steve Kearney because the letter describes O'Malley as "our mayor". I'll see if I can dig out his email address.

[b4its2late]

This gets more intresting by the day hour.

[conservative in nyc]

A Google search for Steve involved in Maryland Democrat politics shows a Steve Kearney, who was Mayor O'Malley's spokesman in February 2005, and a Steve Jost, who is currently listed as a Maryland Democratic Party staffer on mddems.org. A Steve Jost is also listed as Congressman Ruppersberger's (D-MD) Chief of Staff.

There's no proof (yet) that either Steve is the Steve referred to in the e-mail purportedly from Ryan O'Doherty.