Aide Asked How to Fire In-Law of O'Malley's

[Pirate Smile]

Aide Asked How to Fire In-Law of O'Malley's
E-Mails Show Steffen Wrote to Ehrlich Official

By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 22, 2005; Page C01

The aide dismissed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) for spreading rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's personal life also inquired last year about removing O'Malley's sister-in-law from her state job, according to an e-mail exchange.

E-mails from Joseph F. Steffen Jr.'s computer show that he sought guidance in July from an Ehrlich appointments official about who had authority over Melinda O'Malley's job as a lawyer representing the Maryland Insurance Administration.

O'Malley, who was on maternity leave at the time, said yesterday that she was "kind of stunned" when she learned about the e-mail. "It was scary to think that two weeks after giving birth, someone was looking into firing me."

An aide to Martin O'Malley (D) said the correspondence was the latest evidence of an orchestrated dirty-tricks campaign by Ehrlich supporters against a likely 2006 rival for the governor's mansion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/21/AR2005052100548.html