Posted on 12/16/2005 12:52:44 AM PST by conservative in nyc
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 political aide Joseph F. Steffen Jr.
Steffen confirmed to a Washington Post reporter in February that he wrote the e-mails discussing O'Malley rumors. But after publishing several articles, the Post acknowledged that the reporter, Matthew Mosk, had logged on as MD4BUSH from his work computer to verify the exchange, further complicating the story.
Taylor said the latest information about e-mail addresses - which the Web site previously refused to release citing privacy rules - indicates that the Ehrlich aide was unfairly targeted by the governor's opponents.
"I think people ought to be concerned that political operatives and Washington Post reporters will violate your Internet privacy for their own nefarious purposes," Taylor said.
--Snip--
Walker, the Democratic spokesman, said the timing of Robinson's message and the leak about the MD4BUSH e-mail addresses is suspicious. It comes two days after a former state employee testified to a special committee that the Ehrlich administration dispatched Steffen to fire state workers because of their political affiliations.
"They're trying to derail the entire review process by the legislature by dribbling out something that is not new news," Walker said.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Comments from Democrat spokesmen questioning the timing of things - priceless. Especially when the original WaPo story conveniently broke the day after Mayor O'Malley put his foot in his mouth, likening Bush budget cuts to the 9/11 attacks, wiping that gaffe off of the front pages.
well, at least they got that right.
ROFLMAO!! This one has got to be an all time FR classic. Next they'll be saying Senator Daschle is deeply saddened.
It's all Bush's fault.
They make it sound like you've been getting lessons from Karl "Evil Genius" Rove himself.
What little I know about the internet leads me to believe that you can (using your logs) only determine the machine address and by extension the ISP of a user; is that correct?
So if you know that Ryan signed up using one email account and then his account was accessed using others, you could determine his whereabouts assuming it was he that was the user at these known addresses. In other words, the user is defined by his account information.
So then, you would also have a trail by which you saw his habits change over time, namely, using signon information from different machines and providers over time.
Is that about right?
Assuming it is, and assuming that Ryan either accessed his account or gave his login information to someone at either mddems.org or possibly the mayor's office is it safe to assume that somewhere in your logs there's a connection to the mayor's office in addition to the mddems.org?
And finally, what is it about the IP information that makes the Washington Post stand out? Do they have a T1 line that screams Washington Post in general or does it go further and identify the machine and user specifically?
This is all speculation that's is driving at least three WBAL radio shows at this point as well as WBAL TV.
I have no way of knowing if any of the IP addresses logged are connected with Mayor O'Malley or any of his other political dirty tricksters. Wouldn't be a bit surprised if he's not behind all of this though. I've already heard they have a file on FR and are preparing a smear attack. Now why would they do that? I don't recall ever mentioning his name in connection to MD4Bush. Just makes you want to go hmmmmmmm....
Fascinating. So instead of just ignoring your little website the mayor's office is preparing a file, presumably to combat the connection. A connection that can't be proven, won't be covered by local media (other than WBAL), does nothing more than discuss allegations of the mayor's rumored infidelities, and in all likelihood isn't criminal.
That is unless, the actions of Ryan were somehow directed (remember he was the mayor's communications director at one time), to deflect attention to the mayor's habits in a contentious primary and put the weight of those rumors on one of Ehrlich's staffers (since fired), create a state committee to look in to the alleged firing habits of the (since fired employee) governor's office within his authority and discretion, and otherwise derail the incumbent's campaign against the same mayor.
I guess it's safe to assume that the mayor would try to distance himself from Ryan, his brother Damian, Damian's boss Baltimore County executive Jim Smith, Ryan's current employer who hired him on the mayor's word, and Montgomery County executive Doug Duncan, who has everything to gain from this scandal, and a rumor that the mayor tried to squash by posing with his wife, the daughter of Maryland Attorney General Joe Curran, in an attempt to run a fair campaign for governor.
Did I miss anything?
I have no idea. I know absolutely nothing about Maryland politics and had never even heard of Mayor O'Malley or the supposed rumors of his alleged marital infidelities. And I suppose I never would've known anything about any of it had it not been for Mosk's story on FReepers MD4Bush and NCPAC.
But now I'm really starting to wonder. Haven't seen it in print yet, but I was told today that Mayor O'Malley asked a reporter why anyone would believe "that" guy. Referring to me. After all, he says, that's the guy who accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of murder and said that George W Bush was a drug dealer. ROTFLOL!
Now it's obvious someone in the Mayor's camp has done some research on FR and O'Malley had already been briefed on some talking points before today's interview. Why would they go to all that trouble? Why is O'Malley so concerned about FR?
Well, I guess if they carry through with the smear campaign, then we'll know we're smack dab over the target. Bombs away!
Looks like you're ground zero in a small campaign in a small state that has nationwide implications. I've got to hand it to the MD dems, they've spent their money wisely in their opposition research. You've now become a source and as such must be marginalized. And the only way to do that is to splatter your own words against you.
But that doesn't do much to deflect the rumors of the mayor's infidelities, or why it's coming out now. In fact, it appears that the rumors will now be hung around your neck.
Namely, a guy from Fresno who runs a political website that just so happens to be infiltrated by Maryland Democrat operatives trying to smear a Republican governor who broke a thirty year stranglehold on a 2/3rds majority Democrat state by the same incumbent gov who happens to have one of the most statesmanlike black Lt. Governors in history who happens to be running for the senate.
In other words, I think it's safe to assume that the tried and true methods of Democrat electioneering won't work and now it's time to take on the "alternative media".
It should be said that Governor Ehrlich locked out reporters from the Baltimore Sun and relied on talk-radio to get his message to the people of the state. He was widely castigated for his impulsive decision. But now it's seems obvious. You can take on an opponent who buys ink by the barrel.
You just have to invest in the alternative media.
Advantage Ehrlich. But more importantly, advantage Steele.
still waiting for the that CNN or MSM segment on this corruption ...
By the way, the little side scandal that broke yesterday on WBAL should be headlines in the Baltimore papers:
"Since then, the 11 News I-Team has contacted O'Doherty several times by e-mail, but he has yet to respond.Looks like Mayor O'Malley is head over heels involved in some very real corruption of his own doing and has some 'splainin' to do. If I were a citizen of Baltimore, I think I'd want to get to the bottom of this. And if I were a citizen of Maryland and this guy is running for governor, I think I'd be more than just a little concerned. And if O'Malley has presidential ambitions, I think he and I are going to be going round and round in the not too distant future. He looks to be nothing more than another slimeball Clinton to me.
O'Doherty worked for the state's Democratic Party during the timeframe in which MD4Bush exchanged private e-mails with former gubernatorial aide Joe Steffen on the Free Republic Web site.
In those e-mails, MD4Bush coaxed Steffen to discuss rumors about the mayor's personal life.
In addition to serving as a party spokesman, O'Doherty worked as the organization's computer tech who maintained the Web site, e-mails and staff computer workstations.
O'Doherty left the party in late January this year, roughly two weeks before The Washington Post broke the Steffen rumormongering story.
Collins reported O'Doherty is a strong supporter of Mayor O'Malley and a friend of O'Malley aide Steve Kearney.
Kearney and O'Doherty once worked together at the Baltimore Archdiocese. Kearney said he doesn't recall whether he tried to help O'Doherty find a job.
O'Doherty found employment in a newly-created and unadvertised position with the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, a publicly-funded organization associated with Baltimore's City Hall and surrounding county governments.
According to three board members -- all of them elected officials -- Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith recommended O'Doherty for the job and passed his resume around the table during a Jan. 25 meeting.
Through a spokesman, Smith said he doesn't recall doing that. O'Doherty's brother, Damien, is a top aide to Smith.
One elected official on the Baltimore Metropolitan Council's board recalls that O'Doherty's name came up during a Jan. 25 board meeting. At that time, O'Malley acknowledged knowing O'Doherty.
The mayor's office did not answer the 11 News I-Team's questions on Wednesday about O'Malley's recollection of that meeting."
It's been obvious by the mayor's presentation of himself that's all he's intereseted in from day one.
So rest assured he's going to use you as far as that will get him in his ambition.
Problem is, he didn't account for his underlings getting their hands dirty. Expect them to try to cleanse themselves.
Just one problem, they're almost as ambitious as he is and the clock's ticking for them. Namely, Damian, and Ryan O'Doherty, their enabler Jim Smith, MDems, the mayor's office, and Democrat operatives statewide.
When Paul Sarbanes saw the writing on the wall, this bunch wrote it off. Big mistake.
Unlawful Access to Stored Communications 18 U.S.C. 2701.
"§ 2701. Unlawful Access to Stored Communications
(a) Offense.--Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section whoever–
(1) intentionally accesses without authorization a facility through which an electronic communication service is provided; or
(2) intentionally exceeds an authorization to access that facility; and thereby obtains, alters, or prevents authorized access to a wire or electronic communication while it is in electronic storage in such system shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this section. "
Registration and User Agreement
"User Account Confidentiality: User agrees to protect user's account and password and not to disclose account information to any third party."
Mosk should have looked at the Registration and User Agreement before he used MD4Bush's password. If he had he would see MD4Bush had no right to pass that to him. As a professional journalist he can't excuse himself that he didn't read the rules. He should have.
How was MD4BUSH able to seek out Steffen?
BUMP
I think the NCPAC screen name rang a bell for MD4Bush and he began digging.
How do you know that Jim Rob isn't Karl Rove himself?
That guy in Fresno is probably just a front.
Evil Geniuses do things like that, you know.
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