Gov. Martin O’Malley and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake got into a heated debate last year over zero-tolerance policing in Baltimore. However both oppose legalizing pot.

Rawlings-Blake will not be waving
‘the Schmoke flag of legalization’

A VOICE OF BALTIMORE EDITORIAL
 
It would be hard to find a Democrat vying for the highest office in the land who has hewn more closely to the liberal laundry list of hot button issues than Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

From gay marriage to immigration to green energy, the upstart governor whose presidential aspirations are no secret has done his level best to set a progressive political table in preparation for a national bid.

But with the growing support for decriminalizing marijuana in key blue states, and some legislation passed legalizing it, the deep blue gov faces for the first time the reality of a seemingly liberal cause that is at odds with one of his few, and some would say defining, principles.

Even for a governor who has been widely branded as an opportunist, it’s hard to argue that the man who got his start as mayor of one of the most violent cities in America doesn’t favor the lock-’em-up, throw-away-the-key approach.

During his tenure in Baltimore, then-Mayor O’Malley espoused a get-tough strategy on crime that led to a risky and ultimately discredited experiment with mass arrests that still haunts him today.

It was a policy that led to tens of thousands of illegal incarcerations and a million-dollar settlement with the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union. In fact, after a surge in homicides last year in Baltimore, O’Malley got into a heated debate with current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake when he urged Blake to return to the so-called zero-tolerance model to subdue the violence.

So now the law-and-order pol finds himself squarely at odds with the latest liberal crusade — at precisely the wrong moment.

Look no further than the insurgent, rising candidacy of State Del. Heather Mizeur, who has wedded her dark horse campaign for governor successfully to the single issue of decriminalizing pot, and has gained recognition as a result.

Just this week, controversy over the policy erupted, proving how dicey being on the wrong side of decriminalization can be.

Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke called for legalization of marijuana as far back as 1988.

Like O’Malley, Rawlings-Blake also tried to duck the issue, citing the foibles of former Mayor Kurt Schmoke as one good reason to stay out of the fray.

(See WBFF Fox45-TV coverage of the mayor’s comments, in particular her reference to ex-Mayor Schmoke — click here — including video of her assertion that she will “not be waving ‘the Schmoke flag of legalization.’”)

It was an offhand comment — a term coined by Rawlings-Blake — that created a firestorm of criticism and defense for Schmoke, and forced the current mayor to take to WBAL-Radio’s C4 Show to reiterate her respect for the man who first raised the issue of decriminalization of marijuana in the context of social justice when he was Mayor of Baltimore back in 1988.

Which is precisely why the issue of decriminalization is so dicey for card-carrying liberals like O’Malley and Rawlings-Blake.

As Schmoke and many other proponents, including District 43 State Del. Curt Anderson, point out, pot laws disproportionately affect African-Americans. Plus a recent report by the ACLU revealed that blacks are five times more likely to be arrested for minor pot possession than whites, even though both races partake of the drug equally. But only blacks seem to suffer the major consequences of the law.

Put simply, the law is racist.

That conclusion was the impetus behind a vote just two days ago in Washington, by a D.C. Council committee, to decriminalize pot in the nation’s capital.

The council member (Tommy Wells) who chairs the committee, cited “undeniable racial disparities” in advancing legislation that would eliminate criminal penalties for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.

If passed, the proposed law would require only that offenders be fined and that the drugs in question be seized.
 
Editor’s note:  Ward 6 Council Member Tommy Wells, who is white, is one of three Democrats running against incumbent D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray in the April 1 primary election.
 
— VoB Staff
 
alforman@voiceofbaltimore.org