A Political Stance With Long Shadows

Actor Says He Supported Steele, Not Fliers

Charles S. Dutton was making a film in rural Alabama last week when he was drawn into a political fray that may have wide-ranging, long-lasting implications for Maryland's Republican leaders.

Dutton, of Baltimore, an ex-offender who went on to attend Yale and become a respected actor, director and activist on behalf of reformed felons, was identified as the liaison between a Philadelphia couple who work with ex-offenders and the homeless, and Republicans looking for African Americans to work for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and U.S. Senate candidate Michael S. Steele on Election Day. While Dutton supported Steele, he said he had nothing to do with the recruitment of homeless people to distribute fliers.

Malik Aziz, founder of the Ex-Offenders Association of Pennsylvania, at first said that it was Dutton who called his wife, Antoinette, to say that Republicans in Maryland were looking to hire people for $100 and three meals to come campaign for Ehrlich and Steele on Election Day. Aziz later recanted the statement about Dutton.

The workers were assigned to hand out fliers that appeared to be designed to trick blacks into voting for the two candidates, who were both subsequently defeated.

Republican leaders have defended the workers' hiring and their distribution of the fliers in majority-black precincts. The glossy fliers in red, black and green -- colors that represent black empowerment -- featured pictures of County Executive Jack B. Johnson, former county executive Wayne K. Curry and former U.S. Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume, all Democrats, under the caption: "These are OUR Choices." In fact, none of the three endorsed Ehrlich, and only one, Curry, endorsed Steele. Some political analysts believe that disappointment over the fliers, part of a strategy to pull in critical black voters, cost both Ehrlich and Steele precious votes instead of adding to their support.

In a telephone interview from his Alabama hotel room last week, Dutton denied any involvement. His only involvement in this year's political scene was doing a radio ad for Steele, he said. He said he knows Aziz but had not spoken to him for "eight or nine months."

"I had no idea any of this stuff was going on," said Dutton, whose breakthrough role was the title character on the television series "Roc," which centered on his home town of Baltimore. "When I got the call that someone wanted to talk to me about this, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know anything about it."

In recanting his statement, Aziz later said he had known Dutton for several years and knew that he had done a radio ad on Steele's behalf, but that Dutton had not reached out to him and his wife for the Republicans.

Dutton said he was dismayed about the news that the workers had been used to hand out questionable literature. He is a Democrat but supported Steele because he did not think that U.S. Senate candidate Benjamin L. Cardin (D) would be as responsive to African Americans. He said he also believed that Ehrlich has been a better governor than Martin O'Malley (D) would be.

"As a resident of Baltimore, I see what O'Malley has done to that city," Dutton said.

Dutton said he reached out to help Steele because he felt dismayed about how the state Democratic leadership had failed to support Mfume, whom Cardin defeated in the primary election in September. He has known Mfume for 35 years.

"For them to run an 'Uncle Tom' campaign about Steele when they had done what they had done to Mfume was unacceptable to me," he said. "I approached the Steele people and offered to do the ad. We did it right here in my hotel room in Alabama."

Like the Democrats in Prince George's who endorsed Steele, Dutton said he, too, believes it is time for African American Democrats to stop blindly following the party.

Dutton said he also supported Ehrlich because his dealings with him on issues such as how to help the state's criminal and ex-offender populations have been positive. He said that he spoke with Ehrlich about solutions to the problem of getting out of jail and going back, and that they discussed options to keep men and women who get out of jail from breaking the law again.

"I told him it has to be about more than punishment, and he listened," Dutton said. In contrast, he said, the Baltimore police force under O'Malley's leadership as mayor has responded to the crime situation by harassing innocent black men instead of creating solutions that will help cut down on law-breaking.

Cardin, he said, is not likely to have been as responsive to black needs as Steele would have been as senator. "I felt like African Americans would have been able to pick up the phone and call Steele and gotten a call back. But with Cardin, unless they are someone who works for him, I don't think they'll have that access," Dutton said.

Dutton said he was dismayed that his name had been put into the middle of the controversy. "If anyone had come to me and said they needed to hire ex-offenders or homeless people to work for $100 a day, I would have said they should hire people from Baltimore. They didn't have to go all the way to Philly, and the people in Maryland would have been aware of who the players were and what was going on."