O'Malley Has Made Enemies For Himself, Allies for Ehrlich

Prominent Baltimore lawyer William H. Murphy usually reserves his powerful rhetorical skills for the courtroom, but this year he's hitting the airwaves to try to sway voters.

"I don't think anybody understands the criminal justice system better than I do, and that's why I'm not voting for Martin O'Malley for governor," he says in a 60-second radio ad that has been airing for weeks in Maryland.

The former judge, a confidant to Baltimore's elite and a lifelong Democrat, has something in common with a number of influential figures in his city: He can't stand the brash young man who became mayor at 36, and now, at 43, is his party's nominee for governor.

Although scores of party insiders adore him, O'Malley's lightning-fast ascent has left a trail of wounded egos and bitter opponents. Several have become vigorous campaigners for incumbent Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., O'Malley's Republican opponent in this year's race for governor.

"Not everybody can be Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm all the time," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), an O'Malley supporter. "If you're going to be a leader, you have to have the guts to be disliked at times. To stand up to powerful people for things you believe in and risk criticism."

O'Malley has done that, confronting business owners over plans to redevelop some of Baltimore's blighted downtown neighborhoods and challenging the city's law enforcement orthodoxy over how best to tackle inner-city crime.

In the process, he made an enemy of Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos, who was once one of the most prolific supporters of Democrats in the nation but who now has hosted a series of fundraisers for Ehrlich.

His pointed words helped turn two former Baltimore mayors -- Kurt L. Schmoke and William Donald Schaefer -- into outspoken backers of O'Malley's primary opponent, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan. Schaefer, whom Ehrlich has courted for four years, is still brimming with bile. He says O'Malley treated him "like I have cholera."

O'Malley has openly sparred with Baltimore's prosecutor, and three of his former police commissioners have become critics. Murphy has criticized the mayor's crime-fighting tactics, particularly the arresting of people for offenses such as loitering. Murphy backed an O'Malley opponent in the 1999 mayoral race and has done legal work for the Ehrlich administration.

In an interview yesterday, O'Malley acknowledged that he has acquired detractors since becoming mayor, but said that it has been an inevitable byproduct of trying to improve a troubled, lethargic city. "There was a fair amount of confrontation, particularly in that first year, because there were a lot of people pleased with the status quo," he said.

"In order to break through that, I did have to take on some battles," O'Malley said. "Over the long haul, I think people have generally been very fair and patient with me as I've done this job and hopefully grown in this job."

Daniel M. Clements, a Baltimore lawyer, said that although the mayor does "speak his mind, people like that about him. A lot.