| Page 2 of 2 < |
Star Witness Is a No-Show In Investigation of Firings
Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, left, with former longtime aide Joseph Steffen, in an undated file photo.
(Wmar (Channel 2) Via Associated Press)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"No I did not," Chesek said.
Coe said in an interview that when the investigation was beginning, he and Steffen talked frequently, first by phone and then in a lengthy discussion in Coe's law office north of Baltimore.
"He was very, very cooperative," Coe said. "And he told me he would appear. I remember very specifically. He said he was very interested in appearing."
Steffen kept a low profile during the months after his name surfaced in the news, in connection not with the personnel questions but with his Internet discussions about one of Ehrlich's chief political rivals, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D). In those communications, Steffen took credit for helping "give float" to a widely circulating rumor that O'Malley was having an extramarital affair -- a rumor the mayor vehemently denied.
Ehrlich fired Steffen for making the claims. But Steffen did not disappear. He was a guest on talk radio several times, and at one point he even suggested that his newfound fame had led him to consider running for governor as a Libertarian. In April, he turned up at a dance party celebrating the end of the General Assembly session.
Steffen smiled and swapped stories with guests, including Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), who said, laughing, that he found Steffen so disarming that at one point he instinctively told the former Ehrlich operative to call if he ever needed anything.
But in the past few weeks, as Coe began hunting for Steffen to testify, the "Prince of Darkness" dropped out of sight.
His absence yesterday confounded Democrats on the committee. Sen. Thomas M. Middleton (Charles) wondered whether the governor had helped Steffen land a job to buy his silence. "If I were the governor and he was a potentially dangerous witness, I'd do anything I could to keep him happy," Middleton said.
Ehrlich communications director Paul E. Schurick decried that suggestion. "It's not true. . . . He should be ashamed to even make such a stupid comment."
Coe approached the problem more actively.
Coe: "When was the last time you saw him?"
Chesek: "Actually, he came to my birthday party, on July 1, 2005."
Coe: "Do you know where he lives now?"
Chesek: "No."
