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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMartin O'Malley is getting some media scrutiny re Baltimore today...
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
(68,868 posts)Then again, lots of people are being hurt a lot worse due to the injustice and backlash in Baltimore than is O'Malley
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)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
(28,627 posts)cheap shots from the republican governor 'Hogan the Horrible.' She finally phoned me etc.
global1
(25,251 posts)being foisted on O'Malley.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)very deep funk...
Tom Rinaldo
(22,913 posts)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
(45,488 posts)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:
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
(22,913 posts)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
(36,221 posts)I'm being sarcastic in light of other "criticisms" I find on this board regarding a presidential candidate.
FSogol
(45,488 posts)No mention of the people in charge for the last 7-1/2 years? Reach back and blame O'Malley?
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)That was what I was hearing this morning...
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)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
(63,912 posts)and how he thinks it can be remedied.
Have we even discussed the issue of arming cops with increasingly lethal weaponry?
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)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
(45,488 posts)style of policing before leaving office back in 2007.
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)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
(45,488 posts)PS, he was Governor AFTER being Mayor.
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)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
(45,488 posts)the people in office since 2007.
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)malaise
(269,022 posts)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
(63,912 posts)but I'm sure he has the talking points given to him.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)FSogol
(45,488 posts)OKNancy
(41,832 posts)(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
(70,112 posts)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
(32,886 posts)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
(45,488 posts)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
(6,148 posts)will not speak highly of him.
FSogol
(45,488 posts)Benjamin T. Jealous, a former president of the national NAACP who worked with OMalley 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 OMalleys 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
Whether its a police custodial death or a police-involved shooting, OMalley said, we all have a responsibility to ask whether theres 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, OMalley 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
(33,224 posts)fredamae
(4,458 posts)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
(63,912 posts)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
(2,792 posts)OMalley cutting short trip to Ireland amid unrest in Baltimore:
Quote from the WP article:
"In a statement Monday night, OMalley 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,' OMalley 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
(63,912 posts)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
(2,792 posts)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
(63,912 posts)some key black leaders to support him, it would very much help....
Koinos
(2,792 posts)See this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026584386
His concern for Baltimore is real. This is his home.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)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...