Former top cop points finger (MD4Bush)

Washington Times ^ | 7/27/06 | S.A. Miller

[conservative in nyc]

A former police commissioner suing the city says he can implicate an associate of Mayor Martin O'Malley in a 2004 plot that entrapped Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration in a rumor-mongering scandal.

Kevin P. Clark, who is suing over being fired in November 2004, says he lost his job, in part because a police probe of a city-owned laptop stolen from Baltimore Labor Commissioner Sean R. Malone threatened to expose Mr. Malone's link to the scandal.

"We received information ... that there was information on the computer regarding a group called MD4Bush," said Neal M. Janey Sr., a lawyer for Mr. Clark, whose lawsuit has been winding through the courts for nearly two years. "The information about MD4Bush just came up a week ago."

MD4Bush is the alias of a visitor to the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com who in October 2004 enticed Ehrlich aide Joseph F. Steffen Jr. into spreading rumors about Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat running for governor this year against Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican.

Mr. Steffen's e-mail exchanges with MD4Bush were published in The Washington Post in February 2005. It caused a political uproar that spawned an investigation of the Ehrlich administration -- the General Assembly's first of someone outside the legislature in more than 25 years.

MD4Bush later was shown to be associated with an e-mail address of Ryan O'Doherty at the Maryland Democratic Party. Mr. O'Doherty, who has ties to Mr. O'Malley, worked as the party's communications director at the time.

Mr. Janey said that the mayor's firing of Mr. Clark stopped the search of the laptop hard drive before police found the MD4Bush data. The new information about the hidden data, he said, came from an anonymous source who demonstrated intimate knowledge of the computer's contents.

[conservative in nyc]

According to the newspaper, Sean Malone denies being MD4Bush or knowing who MD4Bush is. He also claims there is no information regarding MD4Bush on his computer.

The Washington Times also reports that Malone's computer was stolen from Malone's home on October 4, 2004 (not October 7, as WBAL-TV reported). MD4Bush signed up here on October 7, 2004. The Washington Times incorrectly reports that MD4Bush's first post here was on October 15 - a simple "search by poster" on Free Republic for MD4Bush's posts shows that MD4Bush's first post was on October 7, 2004.

More at the link.

[conservative in nyc]

MD4Bush PING!

Another anonymous source, a fired police chief, a stolen computer and more political intrigue in Maryland. Will the real MD4Bush please step forward?

[Anti-Bubba182]

Thanks for the ping.

[nopardons]

Thanks for the ping!

[jan in Colorado]

The plot thickens. Thanks for the update!

[commonguymd]

I really thought these clowns got away with it. Looks like there might be some life left in the possible exposure of md4bush.

[maggief]

MD4Bush bump!

[RebelBanker]

... and the story continues...

[maggief]

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/9576539/detail.html

Laptop Might Hold Key To Commissioner's Firing

POSTED: 7:29 am EDT July 26, 2006

[Katya]

"To this day, one of his closest political advisers is Sean R. Malone, with whom O'Malley struck up a friendship a dozen years ago at McGinn's, a Baltimore pub on Charles Street where O'Malley's March played regularly."
From the WashPost article: "O'Malley's music brings exposure and gibes"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/28/AR2006052801101_pf.html

[Dante3]

Interesting article.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

The story keeps unfolding! Thanks for the ping!

[shetlan]

Wondering if the investigative reporter, Jayne Miller, is related to S.A. Miller--the author of this interesting article?

The p word intrigues me.

Thanks for the update.