4 years ago
The Democrats in the Maryland governor's race are firing some nasty shots at each other. Doug Duncan is all but using the word ?liar? to describe the mayor of Baltimore. And the mayor's accusing the Montgomery County Executive of a desperate bid to save a failing campaign. It started with Martin O'Malley picking up his first big endorsement in Montgomery County, from Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo, a registered independent. O'Malley repeated one of the touch points of his campaign: ?We have achieved in Baltimore nation-leading progress in reducing violent crime.? O'Malley claims he's helped cut violent crime in the city by nearly 40 percent. But both Doug Duncan and Governor Ehrlich say those numbers are suspect at best. And both are now calling for independent audit of crime stats in Baltimore; and around the state. ?We need to know what has been the true record versus the numbers he's thrown out trying to confuse the public. I was at an event where he claimed a 50 percent reduction in violent crime. That's patently false,? Duncan said.
O'Malley is furious, accusing Duncan and the governor of bashing Baltimore in stereo. ?He's so desperate at not being able to get any traction out there in his campaign that unfortunately this is what he resorts to.?
Duncan insists he's far from desperate. He's just won the endorsement of Baltimore City's State's Attorney. Pat Jessamy's tangled repeatedly with the mayor over fighting crime. And critics point out O'Malley's failed to fulfill his campaign promise to bring the city's murder rate down below 200 a year.
?While we've not hit goal we set out to reach on homicide reductions, we have still saved 50-60 lives a year.?
O'Malley says accusing him of cooking the crime stats is a little like asking him if he's stopped beating his wife. He says it's tough to disprove a negative. And he says no one has ever come forward with reams of crime reports that were dumped in a trash bin or anything like that.
Written By Bruce Leshan 9 News
