Stokes to challenge O’Malley in primary

Stokes lost to O’Malley in the 1999 election, but said he believes the
popular incumbent is vulnerable because the mayor failed to reduce homicides
in the city as promised.

“I have come to this place, the city morgue, because far too many of our
citizens continue to arrive here as a result of murder,” Stokes said from a
podium set up on the sidewalk outside the Penn Street morgue. “Over 1,000
Baltimore citizens are likely to arrive here, murdered, in the current mayor’s
first four years in office.”

Since O’Malley took office in January 2000, the city has recorded 938
killings. Despite the mayor’s pledge to reduce homicides to 175 last year, 253
people were killed in 2002.

Stokes sharply criticized O’Malley for what he described as micromanaging
the Baltimore Police Department, saying his policies have led to a revolving
door with police commissioners and senior command staff.

“He has managed to seriously impair the morale of the brave men and women
who police our city,” Stokes said.

O’Malley said earlier in the day that Stokes, like anyone else, is free to
run for office, but he did not return calls for comment regarding Stokes’
criticism.

O’Malley is also being challenged in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary by
Andrey Bundley, principal of Walbrook Academy; attorney Anton J.S. Keating; A.
Robert Kaufman, a perennial candidate; and Charles U. Smith, a former
candidate for Congress.

Circuit Court Clerk Frank Conaway has said he will run as an independent
candidate in the November 2004 general election.

State Sen. Joan Carter Conway is still gauging support and said she will
announce whether she will run for mayor before the June 30 filing deadline.
Stokes had said early last month that he would not run if Conway did, but he
soon changed his tune.

He was set to announce his candidacy last month but delayed until
yesterday. He said he called Conway to tell her of his announcement, a
decision that she said would not deter her.

“You would hope that certain factors would exist,” Conway said. “But you
have to live with the reality that anyone who wants to run can run.”

Last month, a number of prominent African-American leaders met to determine
which of the black candidates – Bundley, Conway or Stokes – would have the
best chance against O’Malley. The attempt at agreeing on a consensus
candidate, led by Raymond C. Haysbert, has evidently failed.

“There was an attempt that I tried to make to get them to find a
consensus,” said Haysbert, chairman of the Greater Baltimore Urban League.
“Evidently, they have not. I have to leave it at that.”

Stokes, 53, is an executive vice president for new business development at
Mid-Atlantic Healthcare of Owings Mills. In 1999 he was a leading candidate
for mayor until revelations that he did not graduate from Loyola College, as
his campaign literature claimed.

Stokes’ 2003 campaign report, filed with the Maryland State Board of
Elections on Jan. 15, showed $23,000 in debts. Yesterday, Stokes said the
debts had been repaid and that he has raised some money.

He said he would raise enough money to buy radio and television
advertisements pushing one of yesterday’s themes – that O’Malley’s ambition
for higher office has blinded him to the concerns of “everyday citizens.”
O’Malley is considered a leading Democratic candidate for governor in 2006.

“The current mayor treats us like steppingstones,” Stokes said.

He said O’Malley fails neighborhoods by concentrating on development in the
Inner Harbor and downtown. He said O’Malley’s “Believe” campaign was a public
relations gimmick that is similar to one used by Guinness beer. He then held
up a Guinness beer coaster that read “Believe.”

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“The city needs a mayor, not the Inner Harbor, not downtown, not just the
wealthy who can pay for access, but the entire city needs a mayor,” he said.
“I am offering myself as mayor for the entire city of Baltimore.”