Martin O'Malley is getting some media scrutiny re Baltimore today...

[CTyankee]

Joe Scar threw some innuendo about his policies when O'Malley was mayor of Baltimore. When Joe starts something I always think it is going to be part of the RW talking points du jour.

If this goes the way I think it might, O'Malley is in for it. Or maybe not...

[geek tragedy]

1. not that O'Malley had any chance of winning beforehand, but . . .

Then again, lots of people are being hurt a lot worse due to the injustice and backlash in Baltimore than is O'Malley

[CTyankee]

3. I think the RW media is going to make this look like O'Malley's fault.

I'd like to hear from some Baltimore folks, though. I sure don't know how this situation got to where it has...

This is a profoundly depressing day for me and esp. for the good people of Baltimore.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

32. and they are also blaming the present Mayor

cheap shots from the republican governor 'Hogan the Horrible.' She finally phoned me etc.

[global1]

2. Last Night During The Heat Of The Cable News Reporting Of The Situation I Already Heard Some Blame..

being foisted on O'Malley.

[CTyankee]

4. The next hours and days will be interesting. O'Malley's inner circle must be in a

very deep funk...

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Michael Steele raised it first

He was Lt. Gov. of Maryland so he has some basis for his commentary. The claim is that O'Malley clamped down on parts of the city trying to bring down crime etc. by using the police aggressively, preventing locals from sitting on stoops etc., maybe using stop and frisk type tactics (I'm not sure if Steele explicitly stated that that tactic was used.) I do not know if Steele is off base or is correct in his observations.

[FSogol]

10. We now lend credence to the glop that comes out of Michael Steele's piehole?

Here's how O'Malley was involved (note the dates)

O'Malley, as Mayor of Baltimore (Dec 1999-Nov 2007) followed a policy of zero tolerance, also know as the broken windows policy as did almost every major city in the US. Every major city switched to that form of policing in the mid to late 90s because of the drop in NYC's crime rate. By the mid 00s, everyone was moving away from it due to over-policing, arresting innocent people, profiling, etc. He employed those policies when he arrived as Mayor, but moved away from them for the reasons stated. The number of arrests dropped each year in Baltimore as did the crime rate.

By the end of his Mayoral term he moved away from that policy. He did not employ those methods as Governor. Unlike say, Giuliani, O'Malley changed, evolved, and modified his approach until he got a fairer/more workable system.

From a 2010 article in the Baltimore Sun:

A lawsuit filed in 2006 on behalf of 14 people alleged that their arrests indicated a broad pattern of abuse in which thousands of people were routinely arrested without probable cause. The suit also alleged that the so-called "zero tolerance" system was endorsed and enforced by city officials under the tenure of then-mayor Martin O'Malley.

In a joint statement with the plaintiffs, the police department said it has agreed to institute policies that reject the "zero tolerance policing" and establish a range of appropriate officer responses to minor offenses. The department will issue written directives that spell out the elements of common minor offenses to ensure that officers are aware of the scope of their authority, and will train every officer on the new policies for offenses, the statement said.

Arrests in the city have fallen by the tens of thousands since O'Malley became governor, and the ACLU and NAACP said in the statement that they recognize that the current city leadership has taken steps to address the issue and "applaud those efforts."

Fast forward to today. The problems with the Baltimore PD are not the fault of someone who was last in charge of them 7-1/2 years ago. Articles that make this link don't even mention the people currently in charge or the people in charge from 2007-present.

[Tom Rinaldo]

17. "I do not know if Steele is off base or is correct in his observations."

If you know for a fact that he is wrong, fine. I was simply adding info to the OP, pointing out that Scarborough was repeating Steele's allegations. I think DU readers can handle information accurately presented.

[boston bean]

23. OMG, someone evolved! HERESY!

I'm being sarcastic in light of other "criticisms" I find on this board regarding a presidential candidate.

[FSogol]

6. Yeah, pretty ridiculous. He left office as Mayor of Baltimore in Nov 2007.

No mention of the people in charge for the last 7-1/2 years? Reach back and blame O'Malley?

[CTyankee]

7. They are finger pointing and saying "He started it."

That was what I was hearing this morning...

[Lurks Often]

8. Yes and No

If O'Malley laid the foundation for how the police operate in Baltimore and none of his successors changed those policies, then yes, he deserves some, but certainly not all of the blame.

[CTyankee]

9. The question arises as to whether he has "evolved" into a newer way of seeing things

and how he thinks it can be remedied.

Have we even discussed the issue of arming cops with increasingly lethal weaponry?

[Lurks Often]

21. "arming cops with increasingly lethal weaponry"

Not really, the shotgun formerly found in many police cars was far more lethal and more indiscriminate then the rifles that have replaced the shotgun. I am not sure that the rifle replaced the shotgun on a 1 for 1 basis. At least locally one used to see shotguns locked to in a dashboard mount in most marked police cars. Now the shotguns are gone and there is no rifle visible, so it's either in the trunk, not issued or only issued to select officers such as supervisors or swat team members who normally work as patrol officers in smaller towns.

As for handguns, police have switched from revolvers either in the 38 Special or .357 Magnum (as or more powerful then any issued semi-automatic) partly due to the drug wars of the 80's and partly because the FBI has always been a major trend setter among law enforcement agencies and the FBI switched over to semi-automatics after the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout

[FSogol]

11. See post #10. He started with those policies, but changed away from that

style of policing before leaving office back in 2007.

[Lurks Often]

15. Doesn't much matter, rightly or wrongly he is going to get some of the blame

for Baltimore. That's how the media and the public work.

As for being Governor, he had very little input into how towns and cities choose to enforce the law.

[FSogol]

19. That's how the RW media works. We don't have to accept that.

PS, he was Governor AFTER being Mayor.

[Lurks Often]

22. That's how BOTH sides of the media work

I'm aware he was Governor after being the Mayor of Baltimore. Governors have little/no input into how the towns and cities run their police departments.

[FSogol]

24. and yet efforts are being made to stretch the blame back 7-1/2 years while not mentioning

the people in office since 2007.

[Lurks Often]

27. Comes with being a politician

[malaise]

12. I disagree with this part

Joe Scum never starts anything - he comes with the official ReTHUG talking points and today they are - get rid of the 'black mayor' and hurt O'Malley as much as possible.

[CTyankee]

13. He starts the day for folks like me...I tune him in to get today's RW talking points...

but I'm sure he has the talking points given to him.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

33. yes he does

[FSogol]

14. Yup, pretty transparent. n/t

[OKNancy]

16. O'Malley is no more to blame for his tenure as mayor or city council

(Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007, Baltimore City Councilor from 1991 to 1999)

eight years ago than Hillary is for what she did or thought 10-20-30 years ago.

[mopinko]

18. let's see who got the memo.

i am betting that tweety bird sings a slightly watered down version.
a "some say" version that he takes no trouble to bat down.

[stevenleser]

20. Folks who have said we should nominate someone other than Hillary to avoid smears should

pay attention. Anyone else who even looks like they have a chance will have a full dossier on them with smearable items within a week.

[FSogol]

26. For the RW, any Democrat getting the nomination will become the most liberal candidate of

all time. They'll call them a baby-killing, anti-Christian lover of America's worst enemies.

This should be old hat by now.

[qwlauren35]

25. I Guarantee if O'Malley Runs, the African-Americans of Baltimore

will not speak highly of him.

[FSogol]

34. Some will. From a recent Washington Post article:

“What was positive was that there was zero-tolerance for criminals and drug dealers locking down neighborhoods and taking neighborhoods hostage,” said the Rev. Franklin Madison Reid, a Baltimore pastor. “Does that mean there was no down side? No. But the bottom line was that the city was in a lot stronger position as a city after he became mayor.”

Benjamin T. Jealous, a former president of the national NAACP who worked with O’Malley when Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013, credited him for supporting a civilian review board as mayor and for a sharp drop in police shootings that occurred during that time. Jealous said O’Malley’s “mass incarceration” police strategy is “a separate issue” than police brutality, and “a conversation for a different day.”“It was a period where a lot of mayors were doing whatever they could to try to reduce crime,” Jealous said.

and

Over the past year, as he has criss-crossed the country, O’Malley has talked about alleged police misconduct in places such as Ferguson, Mo. and North Charleston, S.C. On Saturday, he called Gray’s death “another awful and horrific loss of life.”
“Whether it’s a police custodial death or a police-involved shooting,” O’Malley said, “we all have a responsibility to ask whether there’s something we can do to prevent such a loss of life from happening in the future.”

Earlier this month, at a civil rights event convened by the Rev. Al Sharpton, O’Malley said his crime-reduction efforts as mayor saved many lives. “There are a thousand fewer black men in Baltimore who died violent deaths over the last 15 years than otherwise would have died had we not come together.”

[lumberjack_jeff]

37. +1 n/t

[fredamae]

28. First one must

Listen to the ilk in Joe's "class" in order to be angered by his comments and unverified "expert" criticisms always offered by corporate.

I had to stop listening to their "outrage bait", there-fore I also stopped feeding their ratings (giving them a ROI)...and try not to discuss these ridiculous distractions on-line...even "bad ratings" go "CaChing in the cash register".

Who can afford to buy advertising like that?
mvho, of course

[CTyankee]

30. I view his stuff as propaganda that he is pushing du jour. I don't take his word on anything.

I think he's given his talking points before the show starts. I just like to know what shit is being stirred by the repukes for the day...

[Koinos]

29. O'Malley cuts short his speaking tour in Ireland to return home to Baltimore

O’Malley cutting short trip to Ireland amid unrest in Baltimore:

Quote from the WP article:

"In a statement Monday night, O’Malley said he is 'saddened that the city I love is in such pain this night.'

“'All of us share a profound feeling of grief for Freddie Gray and his family,' O’Malley said. 'We must come together as one city to transform this moment of loss and pain into a safer and more just future for all of Baltimore's people.'"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/04/27/omalley-cutting-short-trip-to-ireland-amid-unrest-in-baltimore/

I think that O'Malley is genuinely concerned about what is happening in Baltimore, and I am very interested in how he handles questions about his tenure as mayor. It is possible that his candidacy will depend on the way he comports himself at this time. My gut feeling, as well as my knowledge of how he was able to adapt to changing conditions as mayor, is that he will do very well.

[CTyankee]

31. I'm not so sure. He has a really big problem on his hands if he is thinking of running for president

as the Democratic candidate. A huge chunk of his base is watching in horror and the finger pointing has begun. Potential runs to be the candidate of your party have been destroyed by less...

[Koinos]

35. Unanswered charges are most damaging

I think the biggest danger for any candidate is to go silent and to let his/her opponents define him or her. That's pretty much what Brown did in the final weeks of his campaign for governor in Maryland. O'Malley is no Brown. And he usually doesn't dodge difficult questions. The Baltimore mess is, indeed, unfortunate timing for his potential run; but I believe the present mayor is really to blame for not acting more decisively and proactively in this situation. I am not impressed with what she has done for relations between the police and the black community. O'Malley's tenure as mayor was a long time ago, and his final years as mayor showed real progress from an initial "zero tolerance" approach, which had been pursued by many mayors all over the country due to its apparent "success" in New York City.

The real "danger" to O'Malley's possible candidacy will be the entrance of Bernie Sanders into the race. I believe that Bernie would attract most of the progressive support and dollars out there, and O'Malley would find his campaign suddenly unaffordable. O'Malley visited friends in the movie business out west, but I think Hollywood and practically everyone else uneasy with Clinton would support Bernie Sanders in a New York minute.

[CTyankee]

36. I guess if he makes a real effort to reach out to the black community and he gets

some key black leaders to support him, it would very much help....

[Koinos]

38. Martin O'Malley walks into a West Baltimore community meeting

See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026584386

His concern for Baltimore is real. This is his home.

[CTyankee]

39. It's exactly what he needed to do...and I do think he is sincere...

thanks for your post and the link.

I note that Joe Scar didn't mention him today on MJ. His snide stuff on O'Malley yesterday never really got off the ground once O'Malley returned so promptly and immediately went to the community...