The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • A13

13WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019 THE BALTIMORE SUNFROM PAGE ONE next mayor will be called on to restore confidence in a political system rattled by the resignation of Pugh, the second mayor in a decade to quit amid questions about financial improprieties. The officeholder is expected to inherit the chronic problems: homicide rates that persistently see more than 300 people killed each year, thousands of blighted and abandoned homes, and a still-raging epidemicof opioid overdose deaths. At the start of this year, it looked like an incumbent who was a fundraising jugger- naut would dominate the race. That changed when Pugh quit May 2. Now, at least half a dozen aspirants are sizing up their chances in the April 28 Democratic primary.

In a city in which there are 10 registeredDemocrats for everyRepublican, that primary all but determines who will take office. Mileah Kromer, a pollster at Goucher College, said theprospective candidates are in a can safely just think about it over the said. Thatwill quickly change. you get into the fall, you have to put up that campaign infrastructure in earnest or going tohave it built in time to go the distance in the Kromer said. In 2016, the amount spent on the election byall plowed $2.5 million into her bid and had $1 million on hand for her reelection cam- paign.

The first campaign finance reporting deadline in the current cycle is in mid- January and will be a key early test of strength. Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume said that means campaigns can solicit campaign checks quietly from donors without immediately disclosing supportingwho. definitely in that stage he said.

JackYoung Democratic Council President Bernard C. Young assumed job as mayor, and while he initially said he would not run for the job in 2020, he has now said considering it. Young has gained the increase in public stature that comes with the office of mayor andhehad about $600,000 inhis campaign fund as of January, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. Young told reporters at City Hall this month that he has faced significant adver- sity since becoming mayor including a debilitating ransomware attackon the computers and the loss ofwater service to a public housing complex but rated his response highly. that could have happened when I became mayor has happened, and staff have navigated and have workarounds for just about everything that has happened in the city.

I think personally I have a right to keepmyoptions Democrat Carl Stokes, a former city councilman and friend of said talked to Young about his thoughts on next year. Stokes declined to describe a private conversation but said encouraged Young to run formayor in his own right. a small group of people talking to, as best I can Stokes said. BrandonScott Democrat Brandon Scott, the current council president, has long said he is considering running formayor. He achieved prominence on the council as the chairman of its public safety committee.

After resignation, he outmaneuvered Democratic Council Vice President SharonMiddleton to fill the spot vacated by Young a victory that Young said led him to reassess his own plans for 2020. Colleen Martin-Lauer, a political fund- raiser andconsultant toScott, confirmedhe invited labor leaders to this meeting about what he will do as City Council Jermaine Jones, the president of the Metro Baltimore AFL-CIO, said that topic is tied, however, to whether Scott will seek to becomemayor. he does run for mayor, it creates an interesting Jones said. do you work with the current leadership that going to run But in an interview after the meeting, Jones said the topic of political ambitions did not comeup. Scott has said his decision be affectedbywhoeverelsechooses he declined to say when he might make up hismind.

decision about what doing with my political career will come at the right said Tuesday in a meeting with The Baltimore editorial board. have to have discussions with my family. Running for any office not deciding to go off making a bunch ofmoney doing something running for any office has to be in your heart In January, Scott disclosed he had $143,000 in his campaign account. BenJealous Last defeated Democratic nomi- nee for governor, Ben Jealous, is working witha teamtoconductadetailedanalysisof the race andhas set a deadlineofLaborDay to make a decision, said Kevin Harris, an adviser to Jealous. enter this race a front-runner, unlike the race for governor, where he was the underdog who had to claw his way up from the bottomof the said of lives in the city.

The process involves assessing how many of supporters from the gubernatorial campaignmight vote for him asmayor. In gubernatorial contest, Jealous secured the votes of almost 34,000 people the city in a crowded Democratic field. Pugh topped in the2016mayoralprimary, in a year with a presidential election; such years typically have higher turnout. (Scott ran as a candidate last year for lieutenant governor on a ticket with attorney Jim Shea; they received 15,000 votes in the primary inBaltimore.) advisers are even considering how the presidential election could affect his chances. Democratic U.S.

Sens. Kamala Harris andCory Booker supported gubernatorial campaign, but now running for president and might not be available to lend a hand oncemore. In January, campaign reported having $48,400 in the bank. Bill Ferguson StateSen.Bill Ferguson, aDemocratwho represents a district in South and Southeast Baltimore, said he continues to evaluate his prospects, but a recent poll he conducted showed he needs to keep having discus- sions. Ferguson said he commissioned the poll a few weeks ago and that the results confirmed city residents are frustrated and for Crime topped the list of concerns among all demographic groups.

But, Ferguson said, the results showed divisions among racial groups and across generations onhow to address it: Some saw overhauling a corrupt political system as a necessary first step, while others wanted a focus on expanding economic and educa- tional opportunities. always believed that the answer is likely somewhere in between, despite polling suggesting a more polarized public Ferguson said. He had $74,600 in his campaign account as of January. Sitting members of the state legislature cannot raise money to campaign for state office during the legislative session, but they are free to solicit donations to a campaign for mayor. Pugh brought in almost $600,000 during the 2016 session, when shewas a state senator.

ThiruVignarajah Democrat Thiru Vignarajah, a former deputy Maryland attorney general, has already declared his candidacy. setting out policy ideas, including a series of steps he said would help people facing steepwater bills. Vignarajah said also opened a campaign office on Greenmount Avenue, lined up volunteer interns and hired three full-time staff members. They include deputy campaign manager Wil Hughes, who worked as field director on the successful campaignofChicagoMayorLori Lightfoot in a14-candidate primary. Like Vignarajah, Lightfoot is a former prosecutor who ran on battling crime and corruption.

Vignarajah said he thinks that message will cut across different neighbor- hoods something he said polling he conducted when he ran unsuccessfully last year for attorney showed. He also noted that as someone who immigratedfromSriLankaasa toddler, said he fall into either of the two biggest racial groups. not white and not he said. think that as an outsider, we appeal to all Vignarajah ended his run for attorney with less than $2,000 in his campaign account as of January, but said assembling a fundraising committee for race. SheilaDixon FormerDemocraticMayor SheilaDixon, who resigned in 2010 after pleading guilty to a perjury charge at the end of a long-running corruption investigation, said she continues to weigh a run and that thinking of conducting a poll soon.

She also said set herself a deadline for when she needs to make a decision but declined to say when it is or characterize her thought process. have a number of parameters that said Dixon, who finished second to Pugh in 2016. Dixon reported $10,600 in her campaign account as of January. Whoelse? Carlmichael Cannady, an activ- istwith a sizable socialmedia following has filed to run in the Democratic primary, as have seven other candidates. Del.

Nick Mosby, a Democrat who represents a district inWest Baltimore, said he is considering running again for mayor. He sought the Democratic nomination in 2016 before dropping out and endorsing Pugh. Former Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith followed through over the winter on his plan to move from Baltimore County to the city, where he grew up, and has said been consulting with advisers about running. He has been press secretary toBaltimoreCountyExecu- tive JohnnyOlszewski since January.

MAYOR From page 1 Potential candidates for Baltimore mayor in 2020 are taking steps to assess their chances ahead of making final decisions, including Democratic Mayor Bernard C. Young, left, and Democratic City Council President Brandon Scott. KEVIN SUN Tuesday that leaders declined three invitations to meet with the Commissioner to talk about the Harrison also weighed in, saying in a statement that his long-term push to address systemic concerns in the depart- make the department more and effective, and the city significantly priorities asCommis- sioner is making BPD a better place to Harrison said. He added that been striving to launch new initiatives, including a renewed focus on recruitment and retention to increase the number of officers on the street; improving technology and applying smart deployment strategies to and improving working conditions to increase back and forth is just the latest public challenge of Harrison by the police union. It previously questioned plan to use 120 that deploy officers across the city to areas that have experienced high rates of violence over the past five years.

Union leaders called that plan an effort to get something out to the public at a time when violence has esca- lated. Mancuso and police administrators also clashedoverapressconferenceannouncing the arrest of Sgt. Ethan Newberg, who was chargedwithwronglyarrestingandassault- ing a bystander who questioned his police tactics. Harrison was highly critical of Newberg, sayinghewas the badge thatwe Mancuso snapped back, saying Harrison Newberg while failing for days to address disturbances involving large crowds of youths at the Inner Harbor during Memorial Day weekend that re- sulted in a few arrests. The union released a statement at the time telling officers to each other and fall into the trap that they are only kids.

Some are Harrison later called the com- ments Mancuso on Tuesday did not respond to additional questions from The Baltimore Sun. A spokesman for Bernard C. Young also did not respondTuesday. City Council President Brandon Scott offered to mediate between the police commissioner and the union, saying host them in his office or at his favorite restaurant, Pub onHarfordRoad. have to end the back and Scott said in a meeting Tuesday with The dying.

Police officers (are) being over- worked in many instances, they have the resources they need, answering toomanycalls for service, butwehave toget everyone to the table. I have time for plan offers an immediate crime-fighting strategy aswell as long-term goals for the department over the next five years for crime reduction, community engagement, compliance with Justice De- partment consent decree reforms, account- ability, technology, increasing the ranks, and communication. One of the points in his plan calls for 10-minute response time with priority calls where life or property is in immediate Harrison said. It also calls for officers to spend a third of their day when not responding to direct and emergency the community and taking other The department also created patrol or across the nine districtswhere officerswill be concen- trated. Kenneth Thompson, head of the moni- toring team that is helping the police department implement widespread re- formsmandatedby the consent decree, said the team has reviewed and supports vision.

Chief Judge (James Bredar has leadto greater trust in the police department, which will lead to greater cooperation between the community and the police he said. Improving that rela- tionshipwill lead tomore effective policing and less crime, he said. In January, Bredar said that tional policing and effective policing are intrinsically interwoven. You simply one get onewithout the Mancuso said for the crime plan to be effective, Harrison needs to face the truth that the department is in financial straits and needs more trained officers. Mancuso also criticized the outdated technology and said systems often compatible with one another, which leads to the department not being able to account for the location of officers or the status of their assignments.

In an interview last week with WBAL- said he does not feel the city is unsafe. is not the correct narrative that if you come into Baltimore, your life is in danger and you are somehow not Harrison told the station. Mancuso said that comment left him He called the remarks an and said the public deserves to knowabout the ous situationBaltimore is Nearly 40 people have been killed so far thismonth.That is thehighest figure forany month since July 2015. Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the nonprofit Police Executive Research Forum that helped recruit Harrison to Baltimore, called plan a and said many issues, including lack of resources, low officer morale and years of unstable leadership, be fixed overnight. Wexler said Baltimore should follow New example in lowering crime and meeting the demands of a consent decree.

should look to New Orleans and see what happened he said. But, he added, take a Baltimore Sun reporter Ian Duncan con- tributed to this story. POLICE From page 1 is not the correct nar- rative that if you come into Baltimore, your life is in danger and you are somehow not Harrison, Baltimore police commissioner.