Regardless of your opinion of what happened regarding the death of Freddie Grey, regardless of your thoughts about the week of peaceful protests that sadly turned violent last Saturday night and again two days later, regardless of what Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said or didn’t say that may or may not have given the green lights to the cowards who looted the city, regardless of the feelings people have about the use of the word “thugs”, regardless of which politician looks strongest in the aftermath of the riots and the State of Emergency that followed… It is clear that one person has lost a lot of credibility in the aftermath. And it may cost this person dearly in the coming months. His actions over the last 15 years set the stage for the disaster which followed. At this point, he may be less popular in the city of Baltimore than the current Republican Governor of Maryland. He is clearly the biggest loser of the Baltimore riots.
That person is Former Mayor of Baltimore, Former Governor of Maryland, and possible 2016 Democratic Presidential Candidate, Martin O’ Malley. Surprised? You shouldn’t be, if you have been following Baltimore politics since the 1990s. O’ Malley used the city as a springboard for higher public office, but his decision-making set the stage for what followed.
Flashback to 1999, the last time Baltimore had any semblance of a competitive Mayoral Election. Many of the state of Maryland’s Democratic party elder were lamenting the fact that the city of Baltimore was descending into chaos that was shown in fictional TV shows like “Homicide: Life on the Streets” and later “The Wire”. Outgoing mayor Kurt Schmoke had done nothing to stem the tide of 300+ murders a year annually throughout the 1990s. The party leaders wanted a mayor who could help remake Baltimore’s image and help bring in desperately needed money to help the struggling city. Those leaders were begging Kweisi Mfume, then the head of the NAACP, to run for the top city job. Mfume toyed with the idea, before ultimately declining. That refusal to take the Mayor’s position may have cost Mfume when he ran for US Senate in 2006. But back to the 1999 Mayor’s contest…
Without Mfume in the race, three main candidates from the City Council formed a spirited Democratic primary. The anointed favorite was City Council President Lawrence Bell. Councilman Carl Stokes (who recently remarked that instead of calling the rioters thugs, they should be called the N-Word) was considered the main rival. O’ Malley, also on the city council, was the third person in the race. Other names were in the race, but they were largely afterthoughts.
Bell and O’Malley focused on a “Zero-Tolerance” policy for criminals in their campaigns. Stokes did not. It clearly caused controversy in a town that was overwhelming African-American, where Zero Tolerance policing was considered a code word for racial profiling in many eyes. During the campaign, Stokes managed to gain traction on Bell by attacking Bell’s views on crime. O’Malley and Bell also had opposed the state taking over Baltimore City School in the mid-1990s due to the failing standards the city schools had been dealing with for many years.
In the end, all three candidates split the African-American vote. But O’Malley won nearly all of the non-African-American vote in what turned into a surprisingly easy primary win as he got 52% of the overall vote. The Democratic primary effectively was the election, as O’Malley won the general elections with 90% of the vote.
O’Malley highlighted using New York City’s Zero-Tolerance gun control policy, so it made sense that he picked a former high-ranking NYPD officer by the name of Ed Norris to be Baltimore’s top cop. With O’Malley in charge, the city appeared to have turned a corner in terms of being a safer place to work, live, and play. Coupled with the rise of the Ravens as an NFL powerhouse, things on the surface looked better.
But O’Malley’s views were not popular everywhere in the city, and nowhere so distinctly than the city’s west side. The Western District had never really fully recovered from the 1968 riots in the aftermath of the Dr. King Assassination. Crime dominated the area. And while the Zero-Tolerance policy was working, many in those areas felt the police were being given too much latitude in dealing with suspects. They were suspicious of O’Malley and Norris.
Soon though, O’Malley was being hailed as the next generation of Democratic Party leaders and so most of the city looked past O’Malley’s transgressions. After Republican Bob Ehrlich upset Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend in the 2002 Governor’s election, O’Malley was looked upon by the Democratic leadership as the Democrats top voice in dissent. And it got personal really quick as Gov. Ehrlich first tried to pluck Ed Norris away from O’Malley by nominating Norris as Maryland’s Top Cop. Parts of Norris’ past came up, and O’Malley threw his one-time police commissioner under the bus. Norris would ultimately be forced to withdraw consideration, and today hosts a morning talk-show in Baltimore. Ehrlich then tried to once-again use the state to take over the Baltimore City Schools, but O’Malley wouldn’t allow it. When the two finally clashed in the 2006 Gubernatorial Campaign, the bad blood between the two was at an all-time high. Despite Ehrlich being very popular with the voters of MD, O’Malley won the election, then beat back Ehrlich again in 2010.
With O’Malley gone from the city of Baltimore, City Council President Sheila Dixon took over as Mayor and tried to soften O’Malley’s position on crime. But after a few years, she was found guilty of taking gift cards intended for Baltimore’s poor youth and using it for her own benefit. Her resignation in 2010 paved the way for then-City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to become mayor, which she currently is.
But people on Baltimore never forgot about O’Malley’s tenure as Mayor. Though his impact was seen as positive by many—first as mayor, then as two-term Governor—some could not forget his views on criminals when he was Mayor of the city. It may have manifested itself in last year’s Gubernatorial Election, where O’Malley’s hand picked successor, Anthony Brown (an African-American) was stunned by Republican Larry Hogan. The post-election analysis proved telling. In a city where Democrats, and especially African-American Democrats do very well in elections, Brown won easily, but it was by a far less percentage than what was needed to overcome Hogan’s superior advantage in the suburbs. Many African-Americans probably chose not to vote in protest over O’Malley’s legacy. A few even voted for Hogan, because Hogan actually campaigned in Baltimore City and cared enough to do so.
In the aftermath of the riots, Hogan has been on the ground in Baltimore, talking with the people of the city and with its leaders. Though some may have criticized him giving the impression of throwing Mayor Rawlings-Blake under the bus for her response to the crisis on Monday, Hogan has shown a willingness to help out and appears to have shown a strong, yet caring hand in the situation.
As for O’Malley, he really hasn’t been around Maryland much since the elections. He’s been too busy trying to be a potential rival to Hillary’s steamroller of a campaign for President next year. But O’Malley’s national silence on the Baltimore situation has been deafening.
O’Malley returned to Baltimore on Tuesday. It was a disaster. First, O’Malley had to ask an aide if it was safe to walk the streets of West Baltimore and talk with people. Then, after being assured it was, he did—only to be heckled by residents who still remember his tenure as Mayor and how they believe it set the stage for the death of Freddie Grey. Despite positive comments by some church leaders, the damage was done—perhaps fatal to his dreams of becoming President.
O’Malley is back on the pre-campaign trail. Some have suggested a major speech is planned. But O’Malley’s sins will haunt him if he runs for President. Hillary is seen in a better light, especially after recent comments. In the end, Martin O’Malley will likely be sitting the 2016 Presidential General Election on the sidelines, instead of being the nominee. Baltimore’s sins have come home to roost on O’Malley.
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