O’Malley Claims...

But Really....

Cut violent crime in Baltimore by 40%

Violent Crime In Baltimore Increased In 2004:  Contrary to a national trend of violent crime decreasing in major cities, violent crime in the Baltimore increased in 2004. (FBI Uniform Crime Reports 2004)

“Shattered” Baltimore’s number of homicides...and that his reforms to public safety resulted in “more than 250 being alive today”

O’Malley Failed To Deliver On His Campaign Promise As Homicides Still Plague Baltimore: In 1999, O’Malley won the mayor’s office on a promise to reduce the number of annual homicides in Baltimore to 175.  But homicides still plague the city, never dropping below 253 per year under O’Malley.  Homicides actually increased to 276 in 2004. (Baltimore Sun, 12/30/99; FBI Uniform Crime Report 2000 – 2004)

More Than 1,500 Homicides Since 2000:  From 2000 to 2004, 1,316 people were murdered in Baltimore; another 201 people have been killed as of September 22, 2005.  (FBI Uniform Crime Report 2000 – 2004; WBAL TV, 9/22/05)

Made Baltimore a safer city, thereby ending the city’s population loss

Census Data Shows Baltimore Still Losing People: U.S. Census Bureau data released in April showed that Baltimore lost 7,053 residents in 2004.  In the last five years, under Martin O’Malley, the city of Baltimore has seen its population decline by 14,903 people or 2.3 percent.  (Baltimore Sun, 4/15/05; U.S. Census Bureau Population )

Cut property taxes

Failed To Meet Goal On Property Tax Reduction: O’Malley failed to follow through on his 1999 campaign promise to cut the property tax by 5 cents over four years. O’Malley did not propose a tax cut until 2005, when he was gearing up to run for governor.  (Baltimore Sun, 9/2/99; Associated Press, 3/20/05)

And It’s Still The Highest Property Tax Rate In The State: The city’s personal and real property tax rates for 2005 ($5.77 and $2.308 per $100 of assessed value) are the highest in Maryland and more than double the rates of all other jurisdictions.  (Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, 2005-2006 County Tax Rates)

Oversaw the greatest achievement improvements by Baltimore’s students

Sadly, Baltimore Schools Still Failing: Statewide data for 2005 showed Baltimore as the lowest-performing school district and having the most failing schools than any other jurisdiction in the state.  In September 2005, a federal judge gave the state control over the city’s troubled special education program.  (Baltimore Sun, 7/4/05, 9/22/05)

Baltimore’s Graduation Rate Lowest, Dropout Rate Highest In Maryland:  The graduation rate for Baltimore City in 2005 was the worst in the state at 58.98 percent. That rate was 25 points below the state’s average of 84.81 percent.  For 2005, Baltimore City had the highest dropout rate in the state, at a rate of 11.81 percent.  The state average was 3.7 percent.  The city’s dropout rate has steadily increased since 2002.  (Maryland Department of Education, 2005 Maryland Report Card)

Increased per-pupil funding and made Baltimore the 2^nd best funded school system in the state

Real Increases In School Funding From State, Not O’Malley: When he first made this claim during his 2003 re-election primary and was asked to clarify, O’Malley conceded that responsibility for Baltimore’s school system was shared by the state.  For FY 2006, approximately 20% of the city school district’s budget came from Baltimore City government.  (Baltimore Sun, 8/30/03; BCPSS FY06 Proposed Operating Budget)

Rescued the city’s public school system from bankruptcy

O’Malley Stepped In At The Last Moment!: In March 2004, just as the General Assembly was set to take up legislation on Ehrlich’s oversight authority plan, O’Malley persuaded the city council to approve a $42 million loan to the schools in order to reject a state takeover. (Associated Press, 3/9/04)

O’Malley Rejection of State Aid Seen as Political Move: In 2004 as Ehrlich was pushing his plan to have the state take control of the school district, news reports noted that O’Malley was losing the spotlight on the issue as Ehrlich took control.  The Washington Post ran the headline “O’Malley Loses Limelight on Schools Issue” while the Baltimore Sun noted how O’Malley had been pushed to the sidelines on the issue by Ehrlich.  (Washington Post, 3/4/04; Baltimore Sun, 2/25/04, 3/11/04)

Addressed problems with the city’s public sewer system, “initiating” $1 billion in improvements to protect public health and help restore the Chesapeake Bay

Baltimore Sued For Dumping Sewage Into The Bay: Under O’Malley, Baltimore was sued by the federal government in 2002 for violations under the Clean Water Act over the city’s failing sewer system which had been leaking millions of gallons of sewage into Baltimore waters and the Chesapeake Bay. The city was charged with illegally dumping more than 100 million gallons of sewage over six years, transforming the city’s waterways into repositories of dangerous bacteria that could cause such diseases as gastroenteritis and dysentery.   The city settled the lawsuit for $600,000 and $900 million in repairs over 14 years. (Baltimore Sun, 5/3/02, 4/27/02)

O’Malley Tried to Deflect Responsibility:  When O’Malley placed blame on the federal government, the Baltimore Sun published an article by Michael Corbin who said, “rather than acknowledging a complicity in both endangering public health and causing the ecological degradation of our waterways, the current city administration has sought to blame the federal government for telling the city to clean up its mess.” (Baltimore Sun, 5/3/02)

Forged an agreement for the city’s $300 million convention center hotel

Hotel Deal Widely Criticized As Risky Use Of Public Money: A third of the Baltimore city council opposed the hotel deal which will require the city to borrow $305 million for the project. O’Malley was forced to make significant compromises to gather enough support for the project. Critics of the project thought city money should be directed toward poor neighborhoods with 16,000 abandoned or vacant homes.  (Baltimore Sun, 9/20/05; New York Times, 7/6/05)

Report Questioned Usefulness Of City’s Costliest Project:  In June 2005, the Abell Foundation issued a report sharply questioning the need for the hotel and whether it would do what O’Malley promised.  The report urged the council to demand evidence that a convention center hotel - a project that would be among the city’s all-time costliest - would jump-start Baltimore’s faltering convention business.  The foundation also suggested that the city’s Baltimore Development Corporation, which deliberated privately on the hotel project, open its records on the hotel to the public. Another report by the Brookings Institution noted that the convention industry was contracting and attendance was falling.  (Baltimore Sun, 6/22/05; New York Times, 7/6/05)