Baltimore Mayor Denounces Rumors of Infidelity

Mayor Martin O’Malley on Wednesday denounced rumors of infidelity spread on the Internet by a longtime aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., saying he was the target of an “orchestrated campaign,” as his wife described the effect that the stories were having on their young children.

“These are despicable lies. These are falsehoods,” said O’Malley, a Democrat who is pondering a run for governor in 2006 and is considered a rising star in his party. “I have always been faithful to my wife from our first date until this date.”

One day earlier, O’Malley, 42, had accused the Republican governor’s administration of spreading the rumors, prompting Ehrlich to force out the longtime employee, who had discussed the rumors on a popular conservative website.

O’Malley said he and his wife, Catherine, have known about the rumors for about 18 months, thinking “it was a falsehood that would blow through.” According to the rumor, O’Malley supposedly fathered a child with a television news reporter and separated from his wife.

Catherine O’Malley described the effect the stories were having on their four children, who range in age from 2 to 14, saying 7-year-old William had insisted last week that both parents sign his report card.

She said William told her: “ ‘If daddy doesn’t sign it, then they’re going to think that we’re in a divorce,’ and I just looked at him and my heart broke.”

O’Malley aides said after the news conference that the mayor and his wife would like an apology from Ehrlich, who has said he didn’t have anything to do with spreading the rumors.

Ehrlich asked for the resignation of Joseph Steffen, who said he had discussed the rumor on FreeRepublic.com and in private e-mails, which were given to the Washington Post.

Steffen, a spokesman for the Maryland Insurance Administration and who has held a series of jobs in Ehrlich’s administration, told the Baltimore Sun that the governor didn’t know about his actions. “If anyone is guilty, it is me. There was no outside influence.”