The newspaper ads seem traditional enough.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley is standing at a lectern, confidently raising his right hand and urging city residents to vote with him on a series of Baltimore bond questions.
“Let?s make BaltiMORE than ever,” says O?Malley, who is running for governor.
But Republicans say there?s one problem with the ads ? they?re paid for by taxpayer dollars.
“It raises some questions about propriety,” Maryland Republican Party spokeswoman Audra Miller said. “As mayor of the city, he does have certain responsibilities in that regard, but considering all the whining the mayor has done about Gov. Ehrlich?s tourism ads, it just stinks of blatant hypocrisy.”
O?Malley has repeatedly criticized Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s television tourism ads, which star himself and his family, as a diversion of public dollars for Ehrlich?s endless campaigning.
Now, O?Malley appears to be doing the very thing he criticized, Miller said.
The city has spent $11,240 on newspaper, Web and brochure advertising. The ads urge city residents to vote “yes” on $120 million in loans for schools, libraries, community development, economic development and other public buildings. One appeared in Monday?s Baltimore Sun and another without O?Malley?s picture in The Examiner last week.
“The goal has always been to make Baltimore a world-class city, and your YES vote will help us get there,” O?Malley says in the ads.
O?Malley spokeswoman Raquel Guillory said city officials are required to produce the ads and should not be criticized for following the law.
“We?re asking the voters to approve borrowing and before you ask them to approve that, you have to tell them what the money would be used for,” Guillory said. “These are vital projects that provide for everything from libraries to our schools.”
Towson University professor Richard Vatz, a conservative, said he considered the ad “not hypocritical, but inconsistent.”
“When you start criticizing someone for using their personal charisma, it?s going to be hard to avoid doing that yourself, especially when you?re charismatic, like Mayor O?Malley,” Vatz said.
Part of the Baltimore Examiner’s 2006 Election Coverage
