In what is a stretch even by the usual standards of campaign rhetoric, the state Democratic Party demanded Friday that Gov. Robert Ehrlich “dissociate himself” from a single reference to Hitler made on talk radio by attorney Billy Murphy in discussing Baltimore police tactics.
The Ehrlich campaign called the charge a “desperate attempt to smear Billy Murphy?s name.”
Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks on WBAL radio Thursday was relating how police arrests for petty crimes or non-crimes, such as “sitting on the stoop in front of their grandmother?s house doing nothing,” have encouraged ex-convicts to clean up their acts.
“You cannot discount that this effort has impressed some folks into trying to do the right things and get off the streets,” Rodricks said.
Murphy said: “You know, Hitler was effective.”
Rodricks responded, “You played the Hitler card pretty early in the conversation here.” There was then a rather joking byplay on the “Hitler card,” but Murphy didn?t use the name of the Nazi leader again or compare Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley to Hitler.
“We demand that Governor Ehrlich immediately dissociate himself from these comments and from Billy Murphy, and pull these misleading campaign ads from the air,” said Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman. “It is shocking, shameful and inexcusable to compare the atrocities that occurred under Hitler and Nazi Germany to your opponent for partisan political purposes.”
The headline on the party news release referring toMurphy says: “Ehrlich campaign spokesman compares Mayor O?Malley to Hitler.”
Murphy is a defense attorney and former judge who is a longtime critic of Baltimore police and O?Malley. In a radio ad supporting Ehrlich, he criticizes the arrests of thousands of predominantly black Baltimore residents who are never charged and thousands of other arrests where the charges are dropped.
In an interview with The Examiner, Murphy challenged O?Malley to a debate “any place, any time, anywhere” on the arrest policy and other issues.
He said O?Malley has a history of insulting detractors, such as Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy, and advised that the mayor should “avoid personal attacks.”
Shareese DeLeaver, who noted that she was “the real Ehrlich campaign spokesperson,” said the Murphy flap “is a desperate attempt by the Democratic Party to smear Billy Murphy?s name and snuff out a credible voice on O?Malley?s failed record on crime.”
Rodricks could not be reached for comment.
Examiner Staff Writer Luke Broadwater contributed to this report.
