Ehrlich Staffer Endorsed Firing:E-Mails Recount Democrat's Removal

[Judi Lynn]

Ehrlich Staffer Endorsed Firing
E-Mails Recount Democrat's Removal

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 23, 2005; Page B01

Newly released e-mails show that an aide in Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s appointments office personally authorized the dismissal of a mid-level state engineer with ties to the Democratic Party, information that could become a focus of a legislative probe into the role politics played in the governor's personnel actions.

A September 2003 e-mail exchange, obtained through the Maryland Public Records Act, sheds new light on the deliberations that immediately preceded the firing of Vincent J. Gardina, a Democrat on the Baltimore County Council who had worked for five months on dredging projects at the Maryland Environmental Service. Gardina, who earned $55,000 a year, had received a favorable work evaluation just weeks before being terminated.

After being dismissed, Gardina sued the governor, alleging that he was fired solely because of his political affiliation. The state settled the suit for $100,000 before the question could be resolved.

Some lawmakers have cited the settlement as evidence that Ehrlich oversaw a purge of Democrats from state government after becoming the state's first Republican governor in a generation. Gardina could be a key witness in hearings this year on the governor's personnel practices.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202038.html?nav=rss_politics
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Gov. Robert Leroy Ehrlich, Jr.

[ladylibertee]

1. scandalous

[salin]

2. same as the problems for Fletcher in KY

both new govs ... almost as if this was advised by... someone (roveco) as a means for solidifying power and attempting to get a one-party rule going in state?

Wonder how many other newer gop govs are playing by the same rule book - but it hasn't broken into the news or courts... yet.

[tularetom]

3. Ha ha

My brother lives in Md and loves this idiot because he cut taxes and "got the city of Baltimore under control" (apparently Md. code speak for "slapped down the blacks").

He seemed to me from what little I had heard of him to be a sneaky, lying ultra partisan hack who got elected by playing to the economic and racial fears of suburban an rural whites, an importnat voting bloc in a state where "white flight" is the unofficial state sport. Hard to believe this shit can still get you elected in 2005 but it can in some places I guess.

Glad to see he's being exposed for the punk he is.

[Lerkfish]

4. PAY ATTENTION; this is the hidden agenda of repubs

they aren't going to be happy until the only people who can get govt. jobs are republican.

Its happening in the private sector, too. I'm a target of a repub at work, who is trying to get me fired for no other reason than I dislike Bush.

Its happening quietly all around the country.