Investigation Faults Ehrlich In Firing of State Workers

During the first two years of Ehrlich's tenure, that operative, Joseph Steffen, worked in three state agencies, fostering a reputation as a hatchet man by placing a figurine of the Grim Reaper on his desk and telling co-workers he had a "death list" of people who were marked for dismissal. He signed e-mails "POD," which stood for his nickname: "Prince of Darkness."

Firings followed. Ehrlich's top aides put the count last year at 284. Ehrlich's predecessor, Parris N. Glendening (D), fired 65 workers during the first three years of his administration.

Ehrlich administration officials have said the turnover was a natural byproduct of the 2002 election, which put a Republican in the governor's office for the first time in a generation.

No one was singled out for partisan views, Ehrlich officials said.

But some changes were made to help Ehrlich move the state in a new direction. "The governor has said he wants people on the same page," his communications director, Paul E. Schurick, said in a June 2005 interview.

The turnover concerned Democrats in the legislature. And the investigation that followed has validated those concerns, said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), who was one of the first to urge a review.

Coe, as committee counsel, interviewed more than 60 current and former state employees, taking sworn testimony from more than 20.

"It's not pretty for the Ehrlich administration," Frosh said yesterday. "It makes clear that many of the firings were illegal, and many more were inappropriate."

Coe's report makes its most direct case when addressing the termination of Vincent Gardina, a Democrat on the Baltimore County Council who was hired as a project manager at the Maryland Environmental Service.

Ehrlich aides learned that Gardina was on the payroll eight months after Ehrlich took office, the report says. Soon after, the report says, a deputy in the governor's appointments office called Gardina's boss and told him that "Gardina 'needs to go' because he is 'too political.' "

An e-mail exchange followed and ended with an e-mail from the governor's deputy, dated Sept. 9, 2003, saying: "you can let Vince Gardina go. We have signed off on this end." Gardina was dismissed by a letter dated Sept. 16, the report says. It concludes that "there is substantial evidence that the termination of Vincent Gardina was based on his political activities in violation of [state law] and his constitutional rights."

Other findings in the report focus on the dismissals' effects on the functioning of state government. In a number of instances, the report highlights dismissals of workers who had outstanding performance reviews.