House Republicans said they would resist efforts by lawmakers to launch hearings into the matter. "I don't think we need anything to investigate anything," said House Minority Leader George C. Edwards (R-Garrett). "The governor found out. He fired the person immediately. He's not involved in any grand scheme . . . to discredit the mayor of Baltimore."
Steffen did not take calls or answer the door of his Baltimore apartment yesterday, but someone using his "handle" signed on to the freerepublic.com Web site to give his version of events.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and his wife, Catherine, talk to reporters about how rumors of an extramarital affair have hurt their family.
(Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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"I didn't start any rumor, I was commenting on rumors that were out there," NCPAC wrote Tuesday night. "Given the volatility of the situation -- and knowing the blowback potential on the Governor -- I opted out rather than letting him bleed further at the hands of O'Malley."
In another posting, NCPAC said that by "inadvertently opening up the Governor as a target," he had made "a mistake, one for which I am willing to take full blame and consequence."
The mayor and his wife spoke to reporters yesterday morning after emerging from Baltimore City Hall tightly clutching each other's hand.
"It is difficult to express the kind of anger a father feels in not being able to protect his children from the lies," Martin O'Malley said. "It's hard to defend against this without giving aid to the people trying to push this."
Catherine O'Malley -- a Baltimore judge and daughter of Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D) -- appeared to hold back tears as she said, "I want to thank the press for not buying into the stories and falsehoods perpetrated against me, Martin and my children."
Democrats said the mayor's ability to address the rumors will remove a significant obstacle that had bogged down his efforts to launch a campaign for governor. "It helps solve a major problem for the O'Malley team, and it's going to generate a huge sympathy vote for him," Miller said.
They also said they believe that the episode will chip away at the reputation of a governor who has been popular with voters.
"This has a huge negative impact on the governor because people will finally realize he's bringing radical right-wing campaign tactics to Maryland," said Terry Lierman, the state Democratic Party chairman. "He no longer has deniable culpability. He has to accept that he will be known by the company he keeps."
Ehrlich said he believes that the controversy will prove to be a momentary distraction. "It is just an unfortunate incident that you have to take care of and then you go on," he said.
Staff writers Hamil R. Harris, David Snyder and John Wagner contributed to this report.
