A ROVE IN THE MAKING... IN MARYLAND

If you're from Maryland you already know this whole story. It was huge there a few months ago. If you're from most other places you need to know the story. Turd Blossom, Bush's affectionate name for his roley poley political strategist/Lord High Executioner, Karl Rove, didn't just blossom out of nowhere one night. Oh, no; it took years for Bush's "brain" to develop into the viciously effective hatchetman he is now. Ironically, the malicious (and treasonous) revenge he masterminded against courageous civil servants Joe and Valerie Wilson-- "rovenge" that could well land him in prison-- was carried out by planting stories with right-wing gossip columnist Bob Novak on behalf of George Bush. When Rove was just a little turd and hadn't blossomed into the bloated monster he's become, he planted another story with the same right-wing gossip columnist and George Bush's father fired his ass.

But today's tale from Maryland isn't about that turd; it's about that state's Republican governor and his own version, one Joseph F. Steffen Jr., the unschooled, longtime aide of Maryland's unlikely Far Right Governor, Robert Ehrlich. Steffen is a 46 year old libertarian-branded Repug and he and Ehrlich were as close as two non-gay men get. "Were" because last spring Ehrlich was forced to fire him-- the way Bush may soon be forced to fire Rove-- when he was caught red-handed doing what he always did for Ehrlich: dirty tricks, REALLY dirty tricks.

But don't just take my word for it. Let's hear what Steffen has to say about himself: "My nicknames in GOP campaign circles are A) The Prince of Darkness, and B) Doctor Death. I can't even discuss a lot of what I've done/written/managed/initiated/executed because A) Most of the candidates I helped were elected and are still in office and, B) These office holders have NO IDEA of what actually helped elect them (Plausible Deniability -- a MUST in politics and psy-ops)." Nice guy for the Governor to have around. And he had more to say about himself:"I work in professional politics for a living. Part of my unwritten job description is to hurt people. It's the nature of the beast." And hurt people he did--at the behest of Ehrlich, of course. Steffen characterized himself as "Anti-tax, pro-gun, pro-premptive defense measures, pro-free speech, pro-state's rights: That's me, a social darwinist with a Jack and Coke in one hand and a handrolled smoke in the other. My nicknames in political campaign circles are 'The Prince of Darkness,' 'Doctor Death,' and 'Doctor Ice.' (as in ice water in the veins). When I am involved professionally in a campaign, I play hard. I play to win. Period."

And Steffen was proud of his nickname, which his pal Ehrlich gave him a decade ago. And he dressed the part-- sinister black outfits and flamboyantly macabre ties with a Grim Reaper statue on his desk. He likes to name-drop wing-nuts he claims to have worked for-- Reagan, Richard Viguerie, Terry Dolan, Brent Bozell, Craig Shirley, Linda Chavez, Pat Buchanan... but all of them claim they've never heard of him (although one state official in Virginia thinks he may have picked her up at an airport once). People who remember him from those days say he was delivering pizzas and selling cemetery plots.

One job he definitely did have was as the spokesperson for the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), which funded vicious attack advertising against liberal candidates. Steffen's writings on the crazy FreeRepublic.com site were posted under the name "NCPAC," which, in effect, is how he got caught spreading his poison. (Lee Atwater he's not.)

Officially Ehrlich had given him a sinecure and a cover for his hatchetwork; he was the spokesman for the State Insurance Administration. When Ehrlich, who a childhood friend of his tells me has always been a real bucket of slime, finally was forced to fire his henchman it was because of messages he was posting on a neo-Nazi website, FreeRepublic.com, messages that started rumors that Maryland's rising Democratic superstar, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, had had an extramarital affair.

The popular O'Malley, who is heavily favored to force Ehrlich into early retirement when they face off next year, denied Steffen's rumors and Steffen was ordered to apologize to the mayor. He sent him an e-mail. Unfortunately for Ehrlich's Prince of Darkness, once the light was on him all kinds of other unsavory activities started coming into public view. For one thing, it turned outthat Steffen was hunting around the state bureaucracy for workers deemed not loyal to his patron and getting them fired. Ehrlich, of course, is trying to say this is all about Democrats trying to make him look bad. He stinks to high Heaven and no one needs to make Robert Ehrlich look bad. He is bad!

Steffen went to work for Ehrlich in the freshman congressman's district office. Officially, he was helping constituents who were tangling with the IRS. But it was widely known that what he was really doing was Ehrlich's dirty work. "Joe Steffen is Bob Ehrlich's dirty-tricks operative," says Gerry Brewster, a respected Baltimore lawyer. Ehrlich denies it, of course, smearing anyone, GOP-style, who dares mention it. In 1996, former state legislator Connie DeJuliis challenged Ehrlich for his congressional seat. Although it was never proven, everyone knew that Steffen distributed a flier accusing her of being a "home-wrecker."DeJuliis says she confronted Ehrlich at a joint campaign appearance and,according to her, he said, "The home-wrecker piece? Yeah, Joe does good work."
Ehrlich denies that too, of course. "That is absolutely the goofiest thing I've ever heard of," he says.


According to the WASHINGTON POST, "during that same campaign, someone spliced the letterhead of the local steelworkers union and the signature of the president, Joe Butler,onto a letter that Butler didn't write. The letter was a masterpiece of reverse psychology. It said Ehrlich was a 'racist' for not supporting a federal program to move poor inner-city families into suburban neighborhoods that opposed the program -- and the letter was distributed in those [white, suburban] neighborhoods.
'That was a bogus letter,' says Butler, now retired. 'It was a trick.'" Again, never proven, but everyone knew it was Steffen's handiwork. The stories are countless. In 1998 Steffen planted rumors that a Democratic rival of Ehrlich's was gay. And last year Steffen had a suggestion for Illinois GOP senate candidate/sex pervert Jack Ryan to deflect attention from his growing scandal. Steffen (via the FreeRepublic on-line loony bin) wrote that"operatives" masquerading as supporters of Democrat Barack Obama could deface GOP signs and hand out bogus inflammatory attack fliers to make the Democratslook bad.

Did Rove start off by putting fart cushions under Democrats' seats? Or was that Atwater?


UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! PRINCE OF DARKNESS TURNS ON HIS MENTOR, EHRLICH!

If there's one person who knows how dangerous and what an asshole the Prince of Darkness is, it is his former employer, Bobby Ehrlich. And now Steffen is plenty pissed off, feeling abandoned, shunned and cast-off by Ehrlich and his erstwhile Republican pals. Their promises "to take care of him" have-- like most Republicrook promises (ask NYC first-responders about Bush's 9-11 promises or New Orleans' former residents about Bush's reconstruction promises)-- been conveniently... put on a back burner. And The Prince is looking for revenge.

This week he said he would cooperate with Maryland's Democratic legislature in investigating Ehrlich's illegal politically-motivated purge of the state bureaucracy. And now he's making noises about running for Governor next year (as a Libertarian) a move that would guaranatee Ehrlich's political demise (particularly in light of the fact that O'Malley is so wildly popular and people have come to see little Bobby Ehrlich for nothing more than a particularly pathetic and ethically-challenged Bush-clone).

"For better or worse, my name ID is pretty high," said The P of D. There is never a better time to put the Libertarian Party on the map." He is more than aware a potential candidacy, even an underfunded one, may hurt Ehrlich more than O'Malley by siphoning away right-wing voters and by keeping the Ehrlich-Steffen scandal stories in the news throughout the whole campaign-- but says, with a devilish grin, he doesn't care. "I'm not looking to help or hurt anybody," he said, adding he simply supports having "the most limited government possible." Many observers say he has more chance of going back to his old jobs of delivering pizza or selling cemetery plots than of mounting a campaign, but that he is firing a threatening shot across his old pal Ehrlich's bow to get back a little love. We'll keep you updated.