Duncan, O’Malley remove the gloves

Friday, Feb. 17, 2006

Doug Duncan came out swinging this week. The Montgomery County executive made his most aggressive move of the gubernatorial campaign with a sharp denunciation of Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley’s public safety record and the veracity of O’Malley’s police crime reports.

No more Mr. Nice Guy. Duncan said the Baltimore mayor had ‘‘cooked the books” and manipulated crime reports. Duncan said it was time to set aside ‘‘unchecked egos” and look at the facts. He called for ‘‘an honest discussion about the crime problem in Baltimore. No playing games with numbers. No putting partisan politics ahead of the needs of the people.”

Duncan made sure he drew press attention by holding two press conferences, one in Baltimore and one in Takoma Park. Then he went on talk radio in Baltimore not once but twice with conservative hosts who have been highly critical of O’Malley’s performance as mayor.

And in a move that is far more significant than press reports indicate, Duncan secured a ringing endorsement from Baltimore State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy.

Count on Jessamy to spend time campaigning hard against O’Malley. She and the mayor have been at odds for years, ever since the mayor suggested Jessamy wasn’t doing enough to fight crime from the courthouse and should resign. He also used some intemperate language to describe Baltimore’s African-American state’s attorney. This has reverberated ever since among Jessamy’s friends and allies.

Jessamy’s support of Duncan should not be taken lightly. It cannot in any way be equated with O’Malley’s media-lite event the same day announcing Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo’s backing. That was a slick counter-move by the O’Malley camp to detract from Jessamy’s announcement. To a large extent, the gambit worked.

But Jessamy has an extensive network within the Baltimore area’s African American community, including her church and sorority connections. The Baltimore courthouse is a hotbed of anti-O’Malley fervor. It is an essential foundation for making serious inroads in the mayor’s backyard.

Not surprisingly, O’Malley reacted to Duncan’s assault as though he’d been mugged. Any Duncan criticism of the mayor is termed an unfair attack on Baltimore city. That is O’Malley’s protective political shield. Duncan, the mayor said, is ‘‘desperate” and a ‘‘stereo city-basher” just like Gov. Bob Ehrlich.

This defense could wear thin over the next seven months. Indeed, O’Malley already is facing a growing controversy over police corruption and increasing signs that Baltimore’s crime statistics are being manipulated. The Baltimore Sun has run a lengthy article on the suspect numbers. WBAL-TV ran several investigative stories this week on unreported crimes and suspect homicide figures.

Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, no friend of O’Malley, has criticized a 1999 review of crime statistics by O’Malley’s hand-picked consultants that revised upward by 22 percent the number of crimes committed during Schmoke’s final year. That move radically improved the ostensible gains in crime reduction during O’Malley’s tenure.

Now O’Malley is complaining about a review of current Baltimore crime stats commissioned by a state criminal justice agency. He’s screaming that it’s a political set-up by Ehrlich. Yet the consultant hired to do the review is a nationally respected University of Maryland, College Park criminologist. Unless recent crime statistics get the same review as did the 1999 statistics, O’Malley’s crime-reduction claim will remain suspect — and a political liability.

Duncan is on to something. He’s getting some legislative support for a statewide audit of police crime statistics. He’s not engaging in Baltimore-bashing. He has simply hit a vulnerable spot in O’Malley’s armor.

Baltimore is one of the nation’s most violent cities. That’s a fact. Unfortunately, the city’s murder rate refuses to drop anywhere near the goal set by O’Malley when he took office. Illegal drug trafficking is a way of life in too many city communities.

Duncan offered a detailed criminal justice package at his press conferences but that was virtually ignored in the shouting over his criticisms of the mayor’s handling of crime statistics.

O’Malley has tried to ignore Duncan and convince voters the mayor is so far ahead in fund-raising and early polls that the only real contest is between O’Malley and Bob Ehrlich.

This ploy is starting to backfire now that O’Malley and Duncan are disputing the veracity, integrity and effectiveness of law enforcement in Baltimore. This week’s dust-up is just a glimpse of what lies ahead. O’Malley may have to reassess his ‘‘ignore Duncan” strategy as the focus of attention turns to the mayor’s record as chief executive of Maryland’s most populous and most troubled city.

Barry Rascovar, a communications consultant in the Baltimore area, has reported on Maryland politics for more than 30 years. His Wednesday morning commentaries can be heard on WYPR, 88.1 FM. His e-mail address is brascovar@hotmail.com.