Gov. Schaefer Mails Protesters Photos of Them Taken at Rally

Diane Frampton’s Christmas card from Gov. William Donald Schaefer had a little present inside--two photographs of her and her children at an anti-Schaefer rally.

There was no explanation. Just the photos and the governor’s signature on a card bidding her a joyous Noel.

Frampton says she is certain that Schaefer was trying to intimidate her.

“It doesn’t bother me,” she said Friday from her home in Easton, Md. “It won’t stop me” from protesting. “In fact, it might make me protest sooner.”

The card is a new approach for Schaefer, who is known for dashing off nasty notes to opponents or dropping by a critic’s house for an unannounced visit.

Responding to a letter from 63-year-old David Nottingham last year that criticized the governor for increasing the size of his staff, Schaefer wrote: “Dear David Nottingbrain: Your letter sounds like a frustrated little boy. How old are you?”

And to a woman who gave him the thumbs down gesture, he wrote: “Your action only exceeds the ugliness of your face.”

Frampton is the second recipient of photographs from the rally who has stepped forward. Annette Lavelle, another resident of the area who also attended the February rally, received three photographs in a Christmas card.

A Schaefer aide, Daryl Plevy, said the governor told her that he mailed four or five cards with photographs to protesters at the Statehouse rally, organized after Schaefer described Maryland’s Eastern Shore as an outhouse.

The Democratic governor said later that he made the remark in jest to a friend in the Legislature.

Last week, Schaefer said he sent the photographs to Lavelle because “they were nice photographs.” He denied that he intended to harass or intimidate her.

Schaefer was on vacation Friday and unavailable to comment on Frampton’s card.

“I did feel intimidated,” Lavelle said Friday. She said she interpreted the photographs as a message from Schaefer that he knew who she was and what she was doing.

Schaefer said a private photographer gave him the photographs. He would not say who took the pictures or how he identified Lavelle and found her address.