Monday, August 23, 2010

Washington Post - Maryland Politics: Md. Republicans seize on economic report removed from state Web site

Md. Republicans seize on economic report removed from state Web site

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2010/08/negative_economic_report_remov.html

A state report on federal unemployment numbers released Friday that ran counter to a far more positive job-growth assessment offered by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) was pulled Friday from a Maryland state Web site, drawing condemnation from Republicans who charged the administration was playing games with official state jobs reports.

The bullet-point style document characterized Maryland's economic recovery as having "faltered in July," according to six people who viewed it before it was removed from the Maryland Department of Labor and Licensing Regulation's Web site.

An administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity who was familiar with the removal of the report characterized it as an "innocent mistake." The official said the report was an internal document prepared by a 30-year state analyst that was never supposed to be posted online. The official said that once state officials recognized the error, they removed it. The document was posted for about five hours, the official said.

However with O'Malley on Friday touting a fifth-consecutive month of Maryland job gains, Republicans seized on the seemingly contradictory internal report, and it's disappearance from the state Web site... http://voices.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2010/08/negative_economic_report_remov.html

Washington Post - Maryland Politics: Md. Republicans seize on economic report removed from state Web site

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