Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley yesterday accused agents of Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration of spreading false rumors that he had an extramarital affair, and Ehrlich responded hours later by dismissing a longtime employee. The mayor, a Democrat considering a bid for governor in 2006, said he believes that the widespread and persistent rumors were part of a "concerted and orchestrated and sustained" effort and called on the Republican governor to apologize to his wife and children.
"I don't think any of us run for office expecting that this sort of hurt will be heaped on our kids or our spouses," O'Malley said.
Ehrlich said an apology was premature and denied any involvement in spreading the rumor. He then asked for and received the resignation of Joseph Steffen, a longtime aide working in state government. Steffen confirmed yesterday that he had discussed the rumor on a popular conservative Web site and in private e-mails, which were given to The Washington Post.
[...]
In the e-mails, Steffen wrote: "A lot of the reason that everyone knows [O'Malley's] history is because of what has gone on beneath the surface. . . . A few folks put in a lot of effort to ensure the [Martin O'Malley] story got some real float." In an interview, Steffen, 45, said the postings were his. When asked if he was part of an organized effort to disseminate the rumors, he said, "No comment."
[...]
The rumors appeared to have no effect last fall when O'Malley handily won a second term as mayor. But over time, O'Malley said he came to believe that the rumors were spread to thwart his gubernatorial ambitions. About 18 months ago, he said he first caught wind of a story circulating about how he had fathered a child with a local television news reporter and separated from his wife. Initially, the mayor said, he believed the story would "be a strange phenomenon that would just sort of blow through."
But the story quickly became grist for an Annapolis lobbying corps that eagerly trades in gossip, and then for those in Baltimore social circles.
"I began to suspect very strongly that it was something concerted and orchestrated and sustained," O'Malley said. "It became a drumbeat and then was relentless. And the common theme and language used to push it on Web sites and the like were some of the things about it that made me feel it was orchestrated."
O'Malley said the rumors began to take a severe toll on his family. He said barely a week goes by without his wife, Catherine, a Baltimore judge, having to defend his character. And he recalled a particularly distressing night when an aide called to tell him about identical reports pouring into a local television station's anonymous tip line. Five people had called in to say their children attended school with O'Malley's children and had heard the young O'Malleys saying, "Daddy doesn't live with Mommy anymore."
The mayor said he deliberated for months about how to fend off the rumors and could not come up with a workable strategy.
"The cowardly and hurtful, insidious and vicious nature of this sort of character smear is that there is so little that you can do to defend your family and the integrity of your marriage against these sorts of attacks without aiding those whose primary goal is to spread these falsehoods," he said. "It's a very insidious thing."
Steffen discussed the rumors on the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com during the summer of 2004. He posted them under the name NCPAC, a reference to one of his early employers, the National Conservative Political Action Committee. In his postings in the chat room, and during a brief interview at his Maryland Insurance Administration office yesterday, Steffen acknowledged that he has a reputation for hardball politics.
"They call me the Prince of Darkness," Steffen said in the interview. In the mid-1990s, Steffen worked on Ehrlich's congressional staff, and during Ehrlich's 1996 reelection campaign, Democratic candidate Connie DeJulius blamed Steffen for a leaflet that described her as a home wrecker. Ehrlich said Steffen "handled some tough constituent issues" for him but was not engaged in dirty tricks.
Steffen joined the governor's transition team after the 2002 election and then took a series of jobs within the administration, which Ehrlich described as "troubleshooting." Ehrlich Chief of Staff Steven L. Kreseski said Steffen played an important part in helping a Republican administration take over a state bureaucracy that had been in Democratic hands for 36 years. "We needed people out in the agencies that the governor trusted, who understood his mind-set," Kreseski said.
Several of Steffen's co-workers said in interviews that he parachuted into agencies, set up an office with a statue of the grim reaper on his desk and began assembling lists of people who should be fired.
"I had been advised by my boss that he had a hit list," said Tom Burgess, a former state Department of Human Resources administrator who was fired after Ehrlich took office. "We were all very concerned about him."
[...]
Until yesterday, Steffen worked as a spokesman for the Maryland Insurance Administration. Steffen's salary was $72,453.
Ehrlich Aide Ousted Over O'Malley Rumors, Web Postings, E-Mail Spread Affair Gossip by Matthew Mosk, Washington Post Staff Writer, February 9, 2005; Page A01 [complete article]
"I don't think any of us run for office expecting that this sort of hurt will be heaped on our kids or our spouses," O'Malley said.
Ehrlich said an apology was premature and denied any involvement in spreading the rumor. He then asked for and received the resignation of Joseph Steffen, a longtime aide working in state government. Steffen confirmed yesterday that he had discussed the rumor on a popular conservative Web site and in private e-mails, which were given to The Washington Post.
[...]
In the e-mails, Steffen wrote: "A lot of the reason that everyone knows [O'Malley's] history is because of what has gone on beneath the surface. . . . A few folks put in a lot of effort to ensure the [Martin O'Malley] story got some real float." In an interview, Steffen, 45, said the postings were his. When asked if he was part of an organized effort to disseminate the rumors, he said, "No comment."
[...]
The rumors appeared to have no effect last fall when O'Malley handily won a second term as mayor. But over time, O'Malley said he came to believe that the rumors were spread to thwart his gubernatorial ambitions. About 18 months ago, he said he first caught wind of a story circulating about how he had fathered a child with a local television news reporter and separated from his wife. Initially, the mayor said, he believed the story would "be a strange phenomenon that would just sort of blow through."
But the story quickly became grist for an Annapolis lobbying corps that eagerly trades in gossip, and then for those in Baltimore social circles.
"I began to suspect very strongly that it was something concerted and orchestrated and sustained," O'Malley said. "It became a drumbeat and then was relentless. And the common theme and language used to push it on Web sites and the like were some of the things about it that made me feel it was orchestrated."
O'Malley said the rumors began to take a severe toll on his family. He said barely a week goes by without his wife, Catherine, a Baltimore judge, having to defend his character. And he recalled a particularly distressing night when an aide called to tell him about identical reports pouring into a local television station's anonymous tip line. Five people had called in to say their children attended school with O'Malley's children and had heard the young O'Malleys saying, "Daddy doesn't live with Mommy anymore."
The mayor said he deliberated for months about how to fend off the rumors and could not come up with a workable strategy.
"The cowardly and hurtful, insidious and vicious nature of this sort of character smear is that there is so little that you can do to defend your family and the integrity of your marriage against these sorts of attacks without aiding those whose primary goal is to spread these falsehoods," he said. "It's a very insidious thing."
Steffen discussed the rumors on the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com during the summer of 2004. He posted them under the name NCPAC, a reference to one of his early employers, the National Conservative Political Action Committee. In his postings in the chat room, and during a brief interview at his Maryland Insurance Administration office yesterday, Steffen acknowledged that he has a reputation for hardball politics.
"They call me the Prince of Darkness," Steffen said in the interview. In the mid-1990s, Steffen worked on Ehrlich's congressional staff, and during Ehrlich's 1996 reelection campaign, Democratic candidate Connie DeJulius blamed Steffen for a leaflet that described her as a home wrecker. Ehrlich said Steffen "handled some tough constituent issues" for him but was not engaged in dirty tricks.
Steffen joined the governor's transition team after the 2002 election and then took a series of jobs within the administration, which Ehrlich described as "troubleshooting." Ehrlich Chief of Staff Steven L. Kreseski said Steffen played an important part in helping a Republican administration take over a state bureaucracy that had been in Democratic hands for 36 years. "We needed people out in the agencies that the governor trusted, who understood his mind-set," Kreseski said.
Several of Steffen's co-workers said in interviews that he parachuted into agencies, set up an office with a statue of the grim reaper on his desk and began assembling lists of people who should be fired.
"I had been advised by my boss that he had a hit list," said Tom Burgess, a former state Department of Human Resources administrator who was fired after Ehrlich took office. "We were all very concerned about him."
[...]
Until yesterday, Steffen worked as a spokesman for the Maryland Insurance Administration. Steffen's salary was $72,453.
Ehrlich Aide Ousted Over O'Malley Rumors, Web Postings, E-Mail Spread Affair Gossip by Matthew Mosk, Washington Post Staff Writer, February 9, 2005; Page A01 [complete article]
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