Back in Baltimore, Martin O’Malley is heckled, and could face political fallout
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley was heckled on a street corner in riot-scarred West Baltimore Tuesday, after he cut short a trip to Europe to return to the city he led as mayor for seven years.
O’Malley (D), who is preparing to launch a White House bid, waded into a crowd near the burned-out shell of a CVS pharmacy that was destroyed and looted Monday night. He was confronted by two men on motorcycles who shouted expletives and blamed the recent violence in the city on O’Malley’s tough-on-crime policies from 1999 to 2007.
“I just wanted to be present. There’s a lot of pain in our city right now, a lot of people feeling very sad,” O’Malley told reporters at the scene. “Look, we’ve got to come through this together. We’re a people who’ve seen worse days, and we’ll come through this day.”
In his travels to early nominating states, O’Malley has described Baltimore to Democratic audiences as a down-on-its-luck city that came to believe in its potential again while he was mayor. He has trumpeted progress made during his tenure, including a steep drop in violent crime, which is attributed in part to a zero-tolerance approach that led to a sharp increase in arrests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/back-in-baltimore-omalley-seeks-healing-could-face-political-fallout/2015/04/28/1fc4fc54-ede7-11e4-a55f-38924fca94f9_story.html
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Why blame him, yet cut a break to the people in charge the last 7-1/2 years?
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:
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."
As for what he ignored, here's a partial list of what he did:
1. Ended death penalty in Maryland
2. Prevented fracking in Maryland and put regulations in the way to prevent next GOP Gov Hogan fom easily allowing fracking.
3. Provided health insurance for 380,000
4. Reduced infant mortality to an all time low.
5. Provided meals to thousands of hungry children and moved toward a goal for eradicating childhood hunger.
6. Enacted a $10.10 living wage and a $11. minimum wage for State workers.
7. Supporter the Dream Act
8. Cut income taxes for 86% of Marylanders
9. Reformed Maryland’s tax code to make it more progressive.
10. Enacted some of the nation’s most comprehensive reforms to protect homeowners from foreclosure.
and how he left the state following his turn as Governor:
Fastest rate of job growth in the region.
#1 ranking for best public schools in America for an unprecedented five years in a row (Education Week).
#1 ranking for holding down the cost of college tuition (College Board).
#1 ranking for innovation and entrepreneurship for two years running (U.S. Chamber of Commerce).
Under the Governor’s leadership, Maryland also ranks:
#1 nationally in median income,
#1 in Ph.D. scientists and researchers per capita,
#1 in Research and Development, and
#1 in businesses owned by women.
So, spare me the calling it now crap.
did not catch the joke....feel dumb...and drunk
Remember to take your memory pills. 
He's there to help. Notice the absence of all other politicians? Cowardly Rand Paul expressed gladness that his train didn't stop in Baltimore. O'Malley is on the ground meeting people, finding out what can help the situation.
Where is Gutless Gov Hogan? He's trying to solve a policing problem by getting more police.
Dang it. Do we care it came from the Washington Post or not?? Just asking. Although his tough on crime stance can come back to bite him in the arse.
Last edited Wed Apr 29, 2015, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)
Congratulations, your thinking is shared by GOP intellectual giant, Michael Steele.
He won reelection as Mayor of Baltimore in 2003 with 87% of the vote and when he ran for Governor...