Thursday, December 15, 2011

Juice Blender: MD House GOP Members Meeting to Discuss Leadership Future // Del. Tiffany Alston Faces More Charges

UPDATE: A Maryland Juice reader has written a rather feisty defense of Del. Tiffany Alston. Here is a short clip, but I urge you to read the full tirade: "Maybe House Seaker Busch could be a better mentor rather than attacking her though. When Sam Arora flipped on gay marriage, he got a stern talking to and a trip to India! Delegate Alston pissed off the speaker, she gots multiple indictments."

Here's a random blend of political tidbits starting with a development in Annapolis. Yesterday we wrote about MD House Minority Leader Tony O'Donnell's entry into the 5th Congressional District race. We also noted that Tea Party leader Del. Mike Smigiel called on Mr. O'Donnell to resign his GOP leadership position while campaigning for Congress. Today, a Maryland Juice reader who happens to work as a legislative aide in Annapolis sent us the following news:
Juice #1: The GOP House caucus is meeting right now. Potential leadership change. Smigiel is angling.... Also, Smigiel is running for a Judgeship, so I dont know what his deal is. http://www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2012/primary_candidates/statecandidateslist.aspx. Scroll down to "Circuit Court - Judicial Circuit 2."

Juice #2: Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports on another twist in the case against Del. Tiffany Alston:
The freshmen state lawmaker known most for her flip-flop last year on same-sex marriage has been indicted again for theft. State prosecutors say they have uncovered evidence that she used taxpayer money to pay the salary of an aide working at her private law firm.

The indictment comes three months after Alston was charged with stealing campaign funds to pay for her wedding, and also using campaign funds to pay for the salary of a law firm employee. Alston denied wrongdoing on those charges.

“The new charges allege that Delegate Alston sought to pay an employee of her private law firm for her work for the firm by arranging for her to be added to the state payroll and paid by the Maryland General Assembly at a rate of $100.00 per day,” according to a release Thursday by the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor.
Oy vey.

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