[Washington Post] Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. (R) trekked to Ocean City on Tuesday seeking one of the key remaining endorsements in this year's gubernatorial match-up - support of the 18,000-member Maryland State Fraternal Order of Police.Ehrlich is a former congressman, served a term as governor with Mike Steele as lieutenant gov. The legislature, which is controlled by the Baltimore-Prince Georges-Montgomery County oligarchs fought him tooth and nail at every turn. O'Malley's a pretty boy, works out, has (probably had, since he's been governator for almost four years) a band, and he's married into a local political dynasty. The only O'Malley-Whatsisname signs I see are literally outside the Democratic Club and outside the union hall when I drive to work. I think the polls have O'Malley three points up but I have no idea where that support comes from except for the inner city.
Ehrlich took the stage first and in a short speech asked for the same endorsement the group had given him twice before. According to some in the room, he alluded to agreements for benefits that he'd struck with the union that were later scaled back as the economy tanked under O'Malley.
State police have been taking mandatory days off without pay under O'Malley. They make up the difference by working overtime, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. They also pick up dollars on the side by working freelance security jobs.
Hours later, O'Malley entered and made a harder pitch. He stressed that he'd done more to keep violent criminals locked up and referenced bills he signed this spring, including the state's new Blue Alert program to form a dragnet to track criminals suspected of violence against police officers.
That doesn't override the mandatory days off, though.
When the two left and the doors were closed, however, the former Republican governor's strong ties to the state's law enforcement groups and his tough talk on holding down taxes won over officers, sources said.
In a vote, 26 lodges backed Ehrlich to 23 for O'Malley, according to sources with knowledge of the discussion and vote. But behind that tally was a bigger tilt toward Ehrlich. The mega lodges of Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Montgomery County all went for Ehrlich. The only major lodge that went for O'Malley was Prince George's County.
Prince George's County is a peculiar place, formerly populated by mostly white hillbillies, now populated by lots of black refugees from the political dog's breakfy that is our nation's capital. As refugees do, they brought their voting habits with them and they've been trying to turn PG County in the District for years. Montgomery County is a hotbed of trendy leftism with a heavy overlay of Hispanic immigrants. Takoma Park, for instance, is a "Nuclear Free Zone." The county's cop shoppe -- we have county police for the most part in Maryland -- is surprisingly professional and no-nonsense.
Ehrlich's campaign was not prepared to comment on the endorsement Wednesday night. But O'Malley campaign spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said O'Malley would "continue to partner with law enforcement to keep our communities safe. Governor O'Malley has broad support from the law enforcement community including state troopers, sheriffs and correctional officers."
23 to 26 is pretty broad, I guess.
Four years ago, the FOP endorsement was not enough to turn the election for Ehrlich, but this time around it could give the Republican a platform to talk about crime that had mostly belonged to O'Malley in recent months with a string of statistics showing 30-year lows in violent crime rates in most corners of the state.