O'Malley Takes Race To Duncan's Home Turf
Baltimore Mayor Shifts Spotlight

By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

A Maryland Democratic primary for governor that has been dominated by debate over Baltimore issues is rapidly spreading to a second front: Montgomery County.

That is in part because of fallout from Douglas M. Duncan's return last week of campaign contributions linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a story that has given new ammunition to critics who say the county executive is too cozy with special interests, including developers.

But it also reflects a strategic move by the campaign of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. After months of largely ignoring his rival, O'Malley has decided to spotlight problems facing Duncan's jurisdiction.

That will be most evident tomorrow, when O'Malley plans to tour the Clarksburg development, where building irregularities made headlines for months last year, and then will hold a town meeting in Germantown on sprawl.

The two camps offered different takes on what is driving the change in dynamic. Aides to Duncan, who has pummeled O'Malley for months on Baltimore crime and schools, suggested that the mayor's campaign is tacitly acknowledging a tightening statewide race and has no choice but to start engaging Duncan.

"We look forward to the comparison of the records, the review of promises Doug has made and kept to the people of Montgomery County and the promises made and broken by the mayor of Baltimore," said Duncan campaign manager Scott Arceneaux.

But O'Malley aides said they see a real opportunity to make inroads in heavily Democratic Montgomery, in part because Duncan has steered so many of his resources in recent weeks to the Baltimore area, including a nearly month-long television ad campaign.

"Montgomery County residents . . . are deeply concerned that . . . they are spending more time stuck in traffic and less time with their families because of runaway development," said O'Malley spokesman Hari Sevugan. "To the extent that Mr. Duncan's record and cozy relationship with developers has had an impact on increased congestion and out-of-control sprawl, they are bound to be a part of this campaign."

Aides to O'Malley said the stepped-up focus on Montgomery was planned before news broke last week about Duncan's Abramoff-related contributions, but they acknowledged that the timing was fortuitous.

After inquiries from The Washington Post, Duncan announced Thursday that he would return $20,000 in campaign contributions from companies based in Saipan and Guam linked to Abramoff. The contributions reached Duncan's campaign in the last week of July 1999, a month before he signed a lease-purchase agreement for a shuttered county school with the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, on whose board Abramoff served.

Democratic insiders said yesterday that the story is likely to inflict at least short-term damage on Duncan in the Washington region. The story has received virtually no attention in Baltimore, however.

"It'll affect Duncan's base in Montgomery County," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), who is neutral in the race. "His base is one of the most educated in the history of elected officialdom."

Dolores Milmoe, a longtime Democratic activist from Montgomery who is backing O'Malley, said the contributions from supporters of Yeshiva reinforced "the pay-to-play mentality the county is becoming known for" and suggested that Duncan is interested in "developers, not citizens."

Duncan ally Richard N. Parsons, president of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, however, said the disclosure would be viewed by voters as "inside baseball," because businessmen give to "everyone to cover their bases."

Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.), who has endorsed Duncan, also played down the impact on Duncan's race against O'Malley. "I don't think these campaign finance questions really bear any relation to the question of who's a good manager," Wynn said. Voters are "not likely to nitpick or fret over campaign contributions that are legal."

For much of the race, O'Malley, who leads in polls and fundraising, has been the Democrat on the defensive. Duncan has joined O'Malley's political foes in Baltimore in questioning whether the city's crime statistics are accurate. An attempted state seizure of 11 low-performing Baltimore schools focused attention on O'Malley's commitment to education. And Duncan's TV ads have chided O'Malley for failing to reduce homicides as much as promised.

Tomorrow's events are shaping up as O'Malley's most visible foray into Montgomery, though the mayor has said for months that he would not cede the county to Duncan. Aides to O'Malley, who grew up in Montgomery, have been aggressively recruiting volunteers there, and O'Malley's running mate, Del. Anthony G. Brown (Prince George's), declared this month that the ticket would carry Duncan's county.

Brown said his prediction was based in part on a recent poll, which Duncan aides have sought to discredit, that showed the contest to be tighter than expected in Montgomery. Duncan's campaign has long acknowledged that the county executive will have to win Montgomery by a large margin to beat O'Malley.

Tomorrow's events appear designed to chip away at that margin. A flier advertising the town meeting invites Montgomery residents to "come to share your concerns and your ideas for how to better manage growth" with O'Malley and Brown.

The irregularities at Clarksburg were largely blamed on the county's planning department, which reports to the County Council, not to Duncan. But the problems have become symbolic of concerns about the pace of growth in Montgomery.

Aides to Duncan questioned the sincerity of O'Malley's efforts, pointing to a campaign appearance last year in which O'Malley referred to the quality of life in Montgomery as "the envy of the nation."

Staff writer Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.