“I say to you Baltimore, I look you in the eye, and tell you that we’re going to make history. We will make history because this will be the first African-American-elected mayor to have unseated an incumbent,” said Bundley, standing on stage in the Enoch Pratt Free Library auditorium as many in the audience of 300 screamed and clapped.
O’Malley, who is seeking a second term, remained calm throughout much of the two-hour debate, resting his chin on folded hands, occasionally smiling or shaking his head, as Bundley and two other challengers attacked him while the audience hooted and screamed.
“Have some respect,” moderator Marc Steiner of WYPR-FM told the crowd that packed the sweltering Wheeler Auditorium as Bundley supporters repeatedly interrupted the speeches of the mayor and others, shouting, “Throw the rats out of city hall,” “Truth,” and “That’s right!”
But after repeated questioning of the city’s progress in fighting crime and improving its schools, O’Malley became angry at a written question from the audience asserting that the city was “broken” and asking the candidates what they would do to fix it.
O’Malley asked voters to have faith in the city’s progress in creating jobs, fighting drug gangs and improving school test scores and to resist the cynicism and bitterness of his challengers.
“We are not a broken city,” O’Malley responded, his sleeves rolled up and his voice rising. “There is nothing broken about the hearts and minds, and the majority of the children of Baltimore. … We are going to be a city that the whole country is impressed with in a short period of time.”
O’Malley offered a litany of numbers to bolster his case. He said 17 new supermarkets have opened in city neighborhoods during his term; the average value of a home has jumped from $69,000 to $104,000; and developers have started $1.6 billion in construction projects, despite a national recession.
“Minority businesses people are getting more and more involved in the economic life of this city,” O’Malley said. “If you look at the Board of Estimates contracts [for city work], you’ll see historic high numbers going out to minority firms.”
Some in the audience cheered when O’Malley strode onto the stage, and sat next to two other Democratic challengers, A. Robert Kaufman and Marvin Ray Jones. But others screamed and whistled when Bundley took the stage.
Bundley, a high school principal making his first run for office, spent much of the evening saying that he wanted to make education and job training the city’s top priorities. He also said that the city couldn’t arrest its way out of its drug problem, needing instead to send job counselors to drug corners.
“I am here to declare that the mayor’s campaign for re-election has been nothing but smoke and mirrors, magic and sometimes deceit,” Bundley said. “Tonight, I am going to blow away the smoke and readjust the mirrors.”
The debate was broadcast live on the FM stations WYPR and WEAA, and will be repeated from noon to 2 p.m. today on WYPR (88.1).
The planned format of the debate broke down when Bundley accused O’Malley of being part of a Democratic Party conspiracy.
The tumult began when a moderator asked O’Malley and the other candidates if they would promise to serve out their full four-year term if elected. This has been an issue in the race because many believe that O’Malley will run for governor in 2006 – as he almost did last year, instead deciding not to challenge then-Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for the Democratic nomination.
O’Malley didn’t respond directly to the question with a yes or no. Instead, he said, “So long as my wife allows me to … so long as the voters want me … I am going to fight to make this a great city.”
When it was Bundley’s time to speak, he turned to O’Malley, who was sitting next to him, and pointed to his face.
“You are being a little deceitful,” Bundley told the mayor.
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Over the crowd’s shouts, O’Malley said: “It’s the Teddy Kennedy rumor. It’s ridiculous.”
The mayor was referring to gossip – which he said is false – that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Townsend’s uncle, had urged him not to run for governor last year by offering political favors from the Democratic Party in the future.
“It’s not a rumor,” Bundley said. “The trade-off was, you don’t run for governor against the lieutenant governor. ‘We are going to send someone to give you national press from Esquire magazine. We are going to allow you to respond to President Bush in a radio address.'”
O’Malley urged voters to turn away from cynicism. He thanked students of the city for three years of steadily improving test scores, and he thanked the people of Baltimore for helping the Police Department give the city the fastest-falling rate of violent crime in the nation.
“The drug dealers are trying to replace the true culture of Baltimore with their culture,” O’Malley said. “And we need to stay true.”
<!– ART CREDITGENE SWEENEY JR. : SUN STAFF
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTMayoral candidate Andrey Bundley looks on as Mayor Martin O'Malley answers a question from the audience at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Marvin Ray Jones and A. Robert Kaufman also took part.
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