You can blame it on the rain or perhaps a lack of clairvoyance

Who could be worse than the German record producer who brought the world the lip-syncing hit machine duo Milli Vanilli?

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and the Maryland Senate Democrats, apparently.

So says Keith Olbermann, the voluble political commentator.

Olbermann, on his eponymously named “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” podcast Thursday, bestowed the dubious honor of “worst persons in the world” on Ferguson and his caucus over the confirmation and later resignation of Carlos Ayala from the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Ayala resigned earlier this month after he was arrested by the FBI for his alleged involvement in the failed Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Olbermann, who begins his rant around the 29:40 mark, said Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and Maryland Democrats should have known better.

“The Maryland Democrats who supported him are all on record now basically with some variation of the same quote: We don’t know how this could have happened. We will try to find new methods of blah blah blah,” Olbermann said. “Well, you could have asked him. Or you could have googled him. Turns out they never asked him.”

Ferguson was not immediately available Thursday to respond to the podcaster.

On Tuesday, the Senate President said in hindsight he wished Ayala had been asked not only about Jan. 6 but also his opinions about the validity of the 2020 election.

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). Photo by Bryan P. Sears.

“In hindsight, do I wish that I could have gone back in time and asked, ‘did you participate in the Jan. 6 insurrection?’ Of course,” said Ferguson. “But in that context, we had already blocked another member who had never really participated in elections and sort of had a newfound interest in sort of questioning mail-in ballots.”

Ferguson said Tuesday that questions about Jan. 6 and election integrity will likely become standard lines of inquiry and a litmus test for nominees to the State Board of Elections.

Those comments by Ferguson and other unnamed Democrats only fueled Olbermann’s ire, who called it “panic.”

“Hey, you guys got an opening. Maybe you could replace him with this Mike Lindell guy. He seems nice,” Olbermann concluded.

Missing from Olbermann’s comments is some context.

Appointments for open board positions are made by the Democrat and Republican Parties. The five-member board is usually split 3-2 in favor of the party that controls the governor’s office. Democrats hold the majority for the first time in eight years by virtue of the 2022 election of Gov. Wes Moore (D).

Ayala, at the time of his appointment and for nearly a year after, had not been publicly named in any investigation. And unlike some other Republican nominees, Ayala was not the subject of complaints about his positions on elections.

Federal prosecutors say this image shows Carlos Ayala on the Upper West Terrace at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Ayala was subsequently appointed to and resigned from the Maryland State Board of Elections. Image from court documents.

It was not until two weeks ago that an indictment was unsealed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia charging Ayala with knowingly entering a restricted building, impeding the orderly conduct of government business, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and obstructing federal law enforcement authorities during civil disorder.

The FBI says Ayala was seen in photos and video carrying a flag, wearing an American flag sweatshirt drawn tightly around his face. His face was also obscured by a commercial grade respirator.

The FBI said they identified Ayala — whose face is not easily seen — through witness statements and phone records.

Ayala resigned soon after news reports about the indictment were published.

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