Ehrlich Finds New Way to Lie; Quotes Himself in Negative Attack Ads
BOB EHRLICH: LYING BECAUSE HE’S LOSING
Ehrlich Finds New Way to Lie; Quotes Himself in Negative Attack Ads
BALTIMORE, MD (September 29, 2006) – Today, Bob Ehrlich changed the medium in which he’s lying from radio to television, using the same stale, false election-year attacks that he’s been using for nine months. He also continued his shameless attack on the hard work of the men and women of the Baltimore Police Department, who have risked their lives to dramatically reduce violent crime in Baltimore.
In his comically dishonest ad, he even quotes himself and attributes it to the Washington Post. The ad puts the words, “cooked the books,� on the screen attributing it to the Post. In fact, the article said: “O’Malley’s political foes… are accusing him of having cooked the books.� (Washington Post, 3/3/06)
Using Bob Ehrlich’s new standard of dishonesty, our next ad will say: “Bob Ehrlich is lying because he is losing� – Baltimore Sun.
While he’s quoting himself onscreen, the narrator somberly lies: “O’Malley was caught manipulating crime statistics to make the city look safer.� In fact, the very same article from which Ehrlich quotes himself says: “no evidence has surfaced of a systemic manipulation of crime statistics.�
In contrast to Bob Ehrlich’s increasingly desperate lies, the truth is:
- Violent crime has been reduced to its lowest level since the 1960s, according to FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics.
- Murders have been reduced below 300 for 6 years in a row – after rising as high as 353 during the 1990s, when more than 300 people were murdered each year.
- For 44 consecutive months, Bob Ehrlich’s Maryland State Police – which is required by law to collect crime data and has the power to audit crime statistics at any time – has “carefully validated� and accepted Baltimore’s crime statistics.
- Independent records from Baltimore four trauma hospitals and from Emergency Medical Service transports to hospitals prove that the Baltimore Police Department’s crime data is accurate. The Chief of Epidemiology at the University of Maryland’s Medical School – perhaps our state’s leading expert – wrote, the data demonstrates: “…there were actual decreases.�
Bob Ehrlich is lying because he’s losing.
- For months, virtually every poll has shown that Bob Ehrlich is 6% to 9% behind Martin O’Malley – including this week’s Baltimore Sun poll, with only 40 days left in the campaign. Every statewide Democratic candidate is over 50% – in a strong Democratic state and in a strong Democratic year.
- His false attacks on Baltimore’s schools failed – the race didn’t move. Now, he’s trying to mislead voters about Baltimore’s progress in reducing crime – which will fail, because people have heard it all before. They’re sick of his monotonous attacks on the people of Baltimore.
The truth is Crime Is Down In Baltimore:
- For 44 consecutive months, Bob Ehrlich’s Maryland State Police – which is required by law to collect crime data and has the power to audit crime statistics at any time – has reviewed and accepted Baltimore’s crime statistics without raising any concerns.
- Just three months ago in June, in submitting the 2005 crime data to Governor Ehrlich, Maryland State Police Superintendent Thomas Hutchins wrote: “The crime data, submitted monthly to the Central Records Division, is carefully validated, and every effort is made to authenticate the accuracy and completeness of the reported data.�
- In 2003, former Superintendent Edward Norris wrote: “The crime data is submitted monthly to the Maryland State Police, Central Records Division, and goes through a strict verification process where every effort is made to authenticate the accuracy and completeness of the reported data.�
- Bob Ehrlich didn’t raise his baseless attacks until an election year. The State Police still never has questioned the Baltimore Police Department’s crime data. After 9 months of political attacks, as the Washington Post has reported: “no evidence has surfaced of a systemic manipulation of crime statistics.�
- Independent data proves that the Baltimore Police Department’s crime data is accurate. Not only have the Maryland Police “validated� it, but Police data tracks with Emergency Medical Service transports to hospitals and gun shot wounds treated at Baltimore’s four trauma centers.
- Dr. J. Glenn Morris, Jr., Chairman of the University of Maryland Medical School’s Department of Epidemiology – perhaps our state’s leading expert – reviewed the data and wrote:
- “In assessing the data, the Police Department numbers show a striking drop from 1999 to 2000, with some further decreases, but a general leveling off in subsequent years. A similar pattern is seen in the EMS and Trauma Registry data. Overall, the presence of this same trend in all three data sets supports the idea that it is ‘real’ – that there were actual decreases and that we are not simply dealing with reporting artifact.�
Bob Ehrlich: You have no right to wag your finger, if you won’t lift a finger to help.
Bob Ehrlich has done nothing to improve public safety. And last year, while crime was down in Baltimore, it was up in the rest of the state.
- He cut State funding to the Baltimore Police Department by 42% from $11.3 million in FY 2002 to $6.6 million in FY 2006.
- He cut State drug treatment funding in Baltimore by $3 million – from $52.2 million in FY 2003 to $49.2 million in FY 2005.
- He broke his promise to reform Juvenile Services – and instead, it has gotten worse, with children sleeping in bathrooms near toilets and riots caused by understaffing, according to Maryland’s Independent Juvenile Justice Monitor.
- He broke his promise to implement Project Exile – which calls for all eligible gun crimes to be prosecuted in federal court. Federal gun prosecutions went down sharply under his handpicked U.S. Attorney, and he never delivered on his promised public/private advertising and outreach campaign.
- He broke his promise to end parole for violent criminals – and in fact, parole of criminals has increased on his watch.
- He has flat funded the State gun prosecutors grant to the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office at the same $1.7 million that his predecessor began in 2001 – failing to account for inflation – as the city has increased it’s funding for the SAO by 50% since Mayor O’Malley took office (from $16.6 million in FY 2000 to $24.9 million in FY 2007).
- His much hyped “Hype vs. Reality� campaign, launched at a press conference with Carmelo Anthony in May 2005 produced, literally, nothing.
- And under his watch, prisons are out of control, with corrections officers being murdered and nearly 20 times more violent incidents involving weapons than the larger Pennsylvania prison system – 257 compared to 15 for the first six months of 2006.
BOB EHRLICH: CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO FIGHT CRIME;
CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO FIGHT FOR MARYLAND FAMILIES
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Friends of Martin O’Malley – 2400 Boston St., Suite 203 – Baltimore, MD 21202 – 410-814-4206 – fax: 410-814-4218
Authority: Friends of Martin O’Malley, Martin F. Cadogan, Treasurer
