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Mayor O'Malley LIED to the citizens of Baltimore!

Mayor O'Muck pledged to reduce Baltimore's horrific
murder rate by Summer 2000. Dear Folks: The homicide
count in The City That Bleeds is 3 higher than it was
at this same time last year! Your shiny new mayor has
LIED! Can we have a recall vote NOW?

For more about Balti-$hit:

http://omalley.ismad.com
http://baltimore.home-page.org
http://conventions.home-page.org



Here's the original story published late February 2000:

Headline: Homicide reduction pledged by summer
Subhead: O'Malley gaining allies in campaign to reform city courts


By Ivan Penn
SUN STAFF


Mayor Martin O'Malley, known for his impatience, said yesterday
that Baltimoreans will have to wait until summer before they
see homicides decline because the Police Department is developing
its crime-fighting strategy.

"The change is coming. Change is coming as quickly
as we can bring it about," O'Malley said during his
weekly news conference. "I think we're going to see
homicides continue on a high pace for the next few months."


The mayor's remarks came a day after the city's latest
fatal shooting, which left a 25-year-old man dead in West Baltimore
and increased the number of homicides for the year to 36. Of
the 308 homicides last year, 35 had occurred by this point.


O'Malley has made reducing homicides and drug violence a
top priority. Only a few weeks ago, he chided police Commissioner
Ronald L. Daniel for moving too slowly on the mayor's commitment
to clean up 10 drug-infested neighborhoods.

But O'Malley's impatience with the state judiciary
appeared to be paying off yesterday. At a meeting in Annapolis
with state legislators, the chief of the District Court said
she wasn't opposed to providing a full-time judge five days
a week at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center, a
top legislator said.

O'Malley said that a full-time judgein the lockup could
help eliminate a backlog of misdemeanor cases that clogs the
court system.

That backlog, the mayor says, contributes to wasted police
time and an overcrowded court system that has trouble prosecuting
violent offenders -- some of whom end up back on the street because
prosecutors failed to try them in time.

Last week O'Malley blamed the state's judges for
running a dysfunctional court system and urged state lawmakers
to withhold almost $9 million in state funding for the city courts
until the judiciary cooperates more on reform efforts.

The mayor again lashed out at the state's judiciary
during his weekly news conference. And, in a separate news conference,
Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger backed O'Malley's
call for reform of the city courts.

"There is a crisis right now in Baltimore that is affecting
the entire region. We must get our courts to work together as
a team to make a difference," Ruppersberger said. Referring
to tales of the "wild West," he said, "That's
like Alice in Wonderland compared to what's going on right
now in Baltimore City."

O'Malley's criticism yesterday did not end with
the state courts. He also criticized federal judges for failing
to move more quickly on gun violence cases. He said such issues
as heavy caseloads are no excuse for failing to bring violent
criminals to justice.

"I offer Bill Clinton the money to hire another federal
judge," O'Malley said. "The judges can moan and
groan all they want to. I'll pay for the federal judge."


His comments drew immediate criticism from the chief of the U.S.
District Court in Maryland.

"I heard the mayor's comments," said U.S.
District Chief Judge J. Frederick Motz. "They are unfortunate
and inappropriate."

In Annapolis, Del. Howard P. Rawlings, chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee, and a group of legislators from the
appropriations and judiciary committees met privately with Baltimore
District Chief Judge Martha F. Rasin to discuss possible solutions
to the case backlog.

"We thought there was some resistance on her part to
a five-day District Court judge," Rawlings said. But, he
said, "she was not opposed."

Rasin did not return repeated telephone calls yesterday.


O'Malley has asked for a judge in the lockup seven days a
week with a 24-hour team of prosecutors to handle bail reviews
and dispose of misdemeanor cases. A District Court judge and
a Circuit Court judge hold court at central booking two days
a week.

Though O'Malley wants a judge in central booking seven
days a week, he said he's glad progress had been made in
talks with the judiciary.

"It think it's a step in the right direction,"
O'Malley said of a judge at Central Booking five days a week.
"I think it could have a big impact."

Sun staff writers David Nitkin and William F. Zorzi Jr.
contributed to this article.


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