An honest question. I need to get back to a friend of mine who is a Republican and brought this up.
Are we going to stand up and denounce those in our party who pull crap like this? Why is this being done? I agree with Dr. Dean that we can't point fingers at the other side if we are pulling the same crap.
Federal prosecutors have opened an inquiry into allegations that two Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee employees illegally tapped into Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's credit history.
WBAL-TV 11 News reporter David Collins reported the workers obtained the report in July while executing opposition research on the lieutenant governor.
In June, the Republican lieutenant governor announced he had established an exploratory committee to explore a candidacy for the U.S. Senate (Full Story).
Paul D. Ellington, Steele's chief of staff, issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon in reaction to the allegations
"Lt. Gov. Steele was extremely disturbed to learn about the alleged criminal identity theft of his personal finance records by (a staff member of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,) at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
"He was notified by the FBI that a federal criminal investigation is under way and has been asked not to comment on the specifics of the case.
"He intends to honor this request and expects that those responsible for these actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
According to the FBI, two Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee employees illegally obtained Steele's credit report.
Those familiar with the incident, say Katie Barge and Lauren Weiner were working on opposition research in July. They found Steele's Social Security number in a court document and used it to obtain his credit report.
"It's extremely unethical," said Evan Hendricks, the author of "Credit Scores Credit Reports." "This is a case of a couple very bright researchers, so smart, ending up doing the stupidest thing they could have done."
WBAL