Martin O'Malley (politician)

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Mayor Martin O'Malley

Martin O'Malley (b. January 18, 1963) is an American Democratic politician from Maryland, who has served as Mayor of Baltimore City since 1999. He is currently an unofficial candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Maryland in the 2006 elections.

Early life

O?Malley was born in Rockville, Maryland in Montgomery County to Tom and Barbara O?Malley. He would grow up there and in Bethesda, Maryland as the eldest son in a family of six children. Raised in a politically active family from his earliest days, O?Malley expressed an interest in Democratic politics at an early age. His parents met while working for the Democratic National Committee. At the age of five, they had him cheering for Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, who won the Democratic nomination without winning a single primary but lost to Richard Nixon. His father would take him campaigning for local Democratic candidates. O?Malley stated, ?I was very lucky- I was raised in a home where pictures of King and Kennedy and Roosevelt hung on our walls.?

O?Malley graduated from Gonzaga College High School, a Jesuit school in Washington, D.C. He states he played football, acted in school plays, and pursued a love of music as a member of an Irish band, the Shannon Tide. He then attended Catholic University, earning a B.A. in 1985.

Since his college years, O'Malley was the lead singer and guitarist for the Irish-inspired rock band O'Malley's March. The band led to much of his early fame and eventually proved to be a convenient vehicle for O?Malley to connect with the public throughout the region. Its biggest impact was to merge the coolness of a ?rock star? image to the politician, culminating in the April 25, 2005 Time article labeling him as a ?Wonk ?n? Roller [1]. In 2005, Mr. O'Malley announced that he is officially disbanding O'Malley's March to focus on his Mayoral duties and on his impending candidacy for the gubernatorial race in the 2006 election.

Political Development

In December of 1982, O?Malley, while still in college, signed on with the Gary Hart for President campaign. In late 1983, O?Malley volunteered to go to Iowa, where Hart was a virtual unknown. He phone-banked, organized volunteers, and even played guitar and sang at small fund-raisers and other events. Hart was the surprising runner-up in the caucus, and O?Malley headed to other states such as Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Initially polling at 1%, Hart rose to become the biggest challenger to Walter Mondale. Hart became the ?new ideas? candidate, but eventually lost the nomination.

Returning to Maryland in 1984, O?Malley finished college at Catholic University in 1985. Later that year he enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore, graduating with a J.D. in 1988 and passing the bar that same year to become admitted. In 1986, while in law school, O'Malley was named by then-Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski as her state field director for her successful primary and general campaigns for the U.S. Senate. Later he served as a legislative fellow in Senator Mikulski?s office from 1987-88.

In 1988, he began dating his future wife. Later that year, as a recent lawyer, O?Malley was hired as an Assistant State's Attorney for the City of Baltimore. He would hold that position until 1990.

In 1990, O?Malley ran for the Maryland State Senate in District 43. He lost the Democratic Primary to incumbent John A. Pica Jr.. Although he was winning by five votes on the morning after Election Day, the subsequent absentee ballot count handed the election to his opponent by just 44 votes. A year later he ran for a vacant Baltimore City Council seat to represent the 3rd District and was elected for the first time to political office. He served from 1991 to 1999. As Councilman, he served as Chairman of the Legislative Investigations Committee and Chairman of the Taxation and Finance Committee

Mayor of Baltimore City

O?Malley announced his campaign for Mayor of Baltimore in 1999. He eventually won a competitive, three-way Democratic primary with over 50% of the vote. He was then elected Mayor of Baltimore in the general election at the age of 36. He won 91% of the vote in the general election in a heavily Democratic city.

O'Malley declined to seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2002 after pressure from Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's supporters.

In 2004, O?Malley was re-elected in the general election with 88% of the vote.

In O?Malley?s first year in office, he adopted a statistics-based tracking system first used by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and called it CitiStat. O?Malley expanded its use across all government services and linked it with a personnel performance rating system to grade the performance of government employees. O?Malley and CitiStat won the "Innovations in Government" award from Harvard University.

During O?Malley?s first term, he adopted the prominent ?BELIEVE? sign�with stark white letters on a black background�as a public show of support, as in ?Believe in Baltimore.? Its stated purpose was to replace former sayings such as ?Baltimore, the City that Reads,? which had become a regional joke considering the state of the city school system. The BELIEVE sign was so ubiquitous�used more like a campaign sign�that it was said that it signifies ?Believe in O?Malley.? Recently, with the re-launch of his website and at campaign events, O?Malley has adopted a campaign sign ?O?MALLEY? in familiar lettering with stark white letters on a dark green background.

As one of O?Malley?s top five accomplishments, he claims that his administration ?cut property taxes to new 30 year low.? A recent article in the press, ?Turnaround for budget raises some suspicions,?[2] noted that, ?In the span of just 12 months, Baltimore's city government has gone from predicting its worst financial year in decades to realizing its most prosperous stretch in recent memory.? It quoted prominent Democrats as suggesting budgetary maneuvering by city officials that underestimated property tax revenues to influence O?Malley?s election chances the following year.

Crime

O?Malley made public safety the foundation of his campaign for Mayor and it continues to be listed as his number one priority on his web site [[3]]. During his first Mayoral campaign, O?Malley?s most prominent campaign promise was to bring down Baltimore?s murder rate. O?Malley states that he ?has brought about nearly a 40% reduction in violent crime, which leads the nation.? [4] Baltimore?s murder rate, however, continues to be five times that of New York City.

Several prominent crimes during O?Malley?s tenure have highlighted Baltimore crime problems. In May 2004, three children were brutally killed by decapitation in Northwest Baltimore. The suspects under arrest are two illegal immigrants' relatives who police theorize committed the crime as a warning for not paying off debts to illegal alien smugglers. O'Malley was criticized in the press for lobbying aggressively against legislation that would encourage better federal-state cooperation to apprehend illegal aliens.

Recent FBI reports noted a significant increase in violent crime�defined as murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults�in Baltimore City in the year 2004.[5] The FBI reported that, while violent crime decreased 1.7 percent across the country, violent crime climbed 4.3 percent in Baltimore. O?Malley and his police department were surprised at the numbers and initially denied them even though they had supplied the statistics to the FBI.

Local politicians stated the result could be attributed to too much turmoil within O?Malley?s police department, noting the yearly turnover in police commissioners in O'Malley's term of office. The first of six Commissioners, Bert Shirey was appointed on interim basis in December 1999 and served a month. In January 2000, Ronald L. Daniel was appointed, but resigned two months later after refusing to back O'Malley's crime plan. Edward T. Norris was then appointed in April 2000. He resigned in January 2003 to become supervisor of Maryland State Police and was later convicted and jailed on federal public corruption charges for his actions in Baltimore. John McEntee was an interim appointee, serving one month. Kevin P. Clark was hired in February 2003, suspended in May 2004 after a domestic dispute and, although he returned to work, was fired in November. This resulted in a lawsuit and charges of racism. His replacement is Leonard D. Hamm.[6]

Schools

O?Malley lauds many of his achievements in the Baltimore City School system, stating that his administration has greatly improved schools and that they ?are on the mend for the first time in decades.? As one of his five most prominent achievements, O?Malley claims that his administration ?improved student test scores across the board.? Critics point out that the city's high school graduation rate is the state's lowest and has not improved during O?Malley?s term. O'Malley launched a "Believe in Our Schools" campaign funded by the Crabtown Project, public displays of giant crabs decorated by artists.

O?Malley prominently claims credit that ?Per-pupil spending has increased 14% since 2000, and Baltimore schools have received an unprecedented 37% increase in per capita funding over the last few years, with significant credit going to increased, effective lobbying on the City?s behalf at the state level.? Many people dispute that the increase provided by the Ehrlich Administration resulted from O?Malley?s lobbying effort.

In 2004, with the Baltimore City public school system teetering toward bankruptcy, O'Malley undertook one of his most controversial actions. O'Malley engineered a City Hall bailout to avoid a state rescue that would have cast Republican Gov. Ehrlich as the system's savior. This was highlighted in the Baltimore Sun article "Schools could be a political peril for O'Malley, 2004 bailout now means he bears responsibility" [7].

In June 2005, as his gubernatorial campaign was accelerating, O'Malley stated that under his administration, the Baltimore school system was "one of the biggest turnaround stories of any urban school system in the United States of America." Later that month, the Maryland State Board of Education announced that Baltimore schools constitute 22 of the 24 schools in the entire state�the other 2 are in Prince George's County�that have repeatedly failed to make adequate progress on the annual standardized tests mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and thus are required by the state to restructure for the coming school year [8]. The state Board announced that it was subjecting 3 Baltimore Schools, the only ones in the state, to "zero-basing"�one of the most drastic reforms available to school districts, which requires everyone from the principal down to the secretaries to reapply for their jobs.

The timing of these recent announcements has led to criticism from the O'Malley campaign that the State Superintendent, Nancy S. Grasmick, who has worked with the Governor on school issues, is timing the announcements for political reasons. Some have said they deliberately wait until good news is announced before releasing other information, perhaps to decrease O'Malley's standing among the Democratic electorate. Others note that Grasmick and the school system have not set the schedule in U.S. District Court nor do they control the school board pronouncements.

In July 2005, Deputy state school Superintendent Ronald Peiffer stated that "City schools are making such slow progress, if any progress at all." and U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis issued an order to cede authority for the city's special-education services to the state as a failing program under No Child Left Behind procedures.

O?Malley has supported Ehrlich?s proposal to provide additional funding for schools and education through slot machines, some of which would go in Baltimore?s Pimlico racetrack. His potential Democratic opponent Doug Duncan has criticized O?Malley support for this proposal. Ehrlich supporters have said that O?Malley support for slot machines was weak and that he chose not to provide leadership on such an important issue for fear of assisting a Republican Governor.

National Prominence

In 2002, Esquire Magazine named O?Malley ?The Best Young Mayor in the Country.? Reportedly, this was at the behest of former President Bill Clinton, with whom O?Malley frequently socializes when in town.

In 2005, Time Magazine named him one of America?s ?Top 5 Big City Mayors.? [9].

Homeland Security

O?Malley is one of the George W. Bush Administration?s most vociferous critics when it comes to Homeland Security funding. In 2003, national Democratic leaders asked him to give the Democratic Response to the President?s weekly radio address (an honor normally reserved for members of the House, the Senate, and sitting Governors) in which he spoke about Homeland Security. In 2004, O'Malley was one of the featured speakers at the Democratic National Convention in the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. In his speech, he focused on Homeland Security stating ?Sadly and unforgivably almost three years after that fateful day when thousands of moms and dads, sons and daughters didn?t come from work on September 11th, America?s cities and towns, America?s ports and borders and America?s heartland remain needlessly vulnerable.? [10]

On February 8, 2005, O?Malley criticized the George W. Bush Administration, stating "Back on September 11, terrorists attacked our metropolitan cores, two of America's great cities. They did that because they knew that was where they could do the most damage and weaken us the most. Years later, we are given a budget proposal by our Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States. And with a budget ax, he is attacking America's cities. He is attacking our metropolitan core." This speech was criticized by Republicans and many fellow Democrats.

In May 2005, the Baltimore Sun headed an article, ?Homeland funds used for apparel, bags.? It began, ?The mayor who decries homeland security grants as ?woefully under-funded? spent $23,572 in grant money on embroidered polo shirts, fleece pullovers, Nantucket caps and duffel bags.?

O'Malley regretfully admitted that had he reviewed the spending beforehand he would have vetoed the purchases.

Family

O?Malley is married to Catherine Curran O'Malley (Katie). He first met her in 1986 while he was working on now-U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski?s primary and general election campaign and she was working on her father J. Joseph Curran, Jr.?s campaign for Attorney General of Maryland. In 1988, they began to date and he married her in 1990 while he was running his first (and unsuccessful) campaign for political office.

In 1991, they had their first child, Grace, while Katie was finishing her last semester of law school at the evening school of the University of Baltimore. They live in Northeast Baltimore City with their daughters Grace (14), Tara (13), William (7), and Jack (2). They attend St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

O?Malley?s father in law J. Joseph Curran, Jr. is the longest serving attorney general in Maryland history, serving since 1987. He is also a former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, member of the Maryland House of Delegates, and a state Senator.

In 2001, Katie, then 38, having less than ten years experience as an attorney, and with an undergraduate degree from Towson State University and law degree from the University of Baltimore, was appointed by Governor Parris Glendening (D) as District Court Judge of Baltimore City.

O?Malley?s sister-in-law is Melinda O'Malley, who was hired in the office of the Maryland Attorney General in November 2002, just prior to her marriage to Peter O'Malley, the mayor's brother and one of his political advisers. Her boss is J. Joseph Curran, Jr.. She was assigned to work in the office of the Maryland Insurance Administration under Commissioner Alfred W. Redmer, Jr. and Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich.

Nepotism concerns

Much has been written about the possible inherent conflict of interest in potentially having two close family members at the position of Governor and Attorney General. As a result, many prominent Democrats believe that Curran will step down from his post. Curran has recently indicated, however, that he intends to stay. One prominent commentator compared the circumstances to the Kennedy brothers and their positions as President and U.S. Attorney General and noted that Congress succeeded in banning such nepotism thereafter. Currently, Maryland lacks a similar statute. [11]

The potential conflict of interest was recently cited when environmentalist groups initiated a class action lawsuit against the George W. Bush administration concerning mercury pollution rules. Republican Ehrlich blocked Curran from joining the suit, stating that better and faster results would be achieved by utilizing the rule-making process rather than lawsuits. Curran?s son-in-law O?Malley then joined the suit to great fanfare in the press, and with criticism from Republicans for not focusing on Baltimore?s needs. [12]

2006 Gubernatorial Elections

For more information, see Maryland gubernatorial election, 2006.

O'Malley is an all but declared candidate to seek the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge Governor Robert Ehrlich in 2006. O?Malley featured the news article, ?Running early, running hard [13], on his new web site, launched June 2005. It states, ?O?Malley has yet to officially announce his run for governor, but that doesn?t mean he hasn?t been busy on the campaign trail.? O?Malley also announced a goal to sign up 1,000 new ?Team O?Malley? members by the end of June 2005. O'Malley accepts campaign donations on his web site, stating, "This is going to be an expensive race." He named Jonathan Epstein as his campaign manager.

O'Malley will likely face Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan in the Democratic Primary and the candidates have been trading steadily increasing barbs. Many Democrats have been pushing to move back the Primary from September 2006 to early June 2006 to help the Democratic candidate against well-financed incumbent Ehrlich (and also help the candidate in Maryland?s U.S. Senate campaign against the expected candidacy of current Lt. Gov. Michael Steele). This move is widely expected to help O?Malley in his campaign against Duncan.[14]

Early polls (June 2005) demonstrate that Duncan is behind O'Malley in name recognition and public support within the Democratic electorate. Duncan has begun drawing distinctions, criticizing O'Malley on prominent issues.

In June 2005, Duncan sent an e-mail to supporters noting the increase in Baltimore's violent crime in 2004 and stressing a corresponding 9.5 percent decrease in Montgomery County crime.[15]

In July 2005, Duncan's campaign manager Scott Arceneaux criticized O'Malley on Baltimore Schools, stating "The mayor is coming late to this issue of a school system that's been in crisis for a number of years," and "I think education is going to be crucial" in the election.

In June 2005, Duncan criticized O'Malley for not being more active in statewide environmental causes such as power plant emissions. Although Baltimore has no "dirty" coal-fired plants while Montgomery County does have them, the current campaign involves statewide issues.

Trivia

O'Malley made his first foray in acting by having a cameo role as the mayor of Baltimore City in the 2004 film Ladder 49.

The character of Thomas Carcetti on the third season (2004) of the television drama The Wire is based on O'Malley, according to the show's producers. Carcetti is a Democratic Baltimore city councilman with aspirations of becoming the next mayor. It is believed that his election campaign will form a plotline in the upcoming fourth season of the show.

Time claimed that ?Gary Hart bought him his first legal beer at 21,? which would have been during the 1984 campaign. The drinking age at the time in Maryland and Washington D.C., however, was 18. Georgetown had bars catering to the under-21 (and sometimes under-18) crowd. If O?Malley was like most college kids in Washington D.C. his age, especially other band members, he had already had a beer or two by 1984.

O?Malley has no reported direct financial contributions to federal candidates. He has directly financially contributed only to the state campaign of Joan Carter Conway.

Sources

External Links

Preceded by Kurt L. Schmoke	Mayor of Baltimore 1999�present	Succeeded by To Be Determined

References

Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Martin_O'Malley_(politician)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_O%27Malley_(politician), used under the GNU Free Documentation License