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Insider Access

Hi, my name is Tom Loveland. I’m a fellow citizen who, purely by chance, has had uncommon access to City Hall. I’ve become friends with many of Baltimore’s power brokers, and seen inside this mayoral campaign.

Many of you wish you had more information as you prepare for the voting booth on Tuesday. I’ve been privileged with a front row seat. So I feel a responsibility to share what I’ve seen.

First, your vote REALLY matters in this election. I’ll explain why. Next, the current mayor is not the answer. As the Baltimore Sun wrote, “It seems she’s working to manage the city’s decline rather than to spark its rebirth.” And though the mayor is known at least as a solid manager, I think you’ll be shocked by what I have to share. Finally, Otis Rolley is an outstanding candidate. Not just “the best we can find,” but truly outstanding. I’ll talk about him, too.

So let’s get on with it!

Four years ago, during the Tech Tax repeal, I hired, and became friends with, key operatives in this city who shape public opinion, raise money, and get chosen candidates elected. They’re very good at what they do, and I learned firsthand how articles, editorials, even endorsements, show up in newspapers. It’s no accident. And it’s certainly NOT all straight, uninfluenced opinion.

Later, when the mayor came into office, she named me to her Economic Transition Team and later appointed me Google Czar. I worked closely with the most loyal members of her inner circle. And I still collaborate with senior members of her team on efforts to bring high-speed broadband to Baltimore.

How the Game is Played

Last November, when my power broker friends wondered about my own loyalty to the current mayor, they sat me down and explained how Stephanie was going to win.

Understand that they also are very good at filling campaign war chests. They know where the money is and how to get it – in bulk – trading on understandings about access, influence, and more.

They had already lined up developers, contractors, and others who are dependent on City Hall for their livelihood, to raise an intimidating amount of money, and send a message that “the race for mayor is all but over,” even before it began.

Well, despite all the mayor’s advantages – and they are formidable – this election is nowhere near decided.

Your Vote REALLY Matters!

In fact, entering this past weekend, as many as HALF of all likely voters remained Undecided! Tuesday’s outcome is unclear. And with voter turnout expected to be low, each vote matters even more than normal.

So vote! It REALLY matters!

What else do the polls say?

Well, the Baltimore Sun reported two weeks ago that the Mayor has a very strong lead. But extensive, professional polling by her challengers doesn’t match up. It’s weird. Both Otis’ and Catherine’s campaigns show 50% Undecided.

And we aren’t seeing support for the mayor on the street. Some citizens readily tell Otis and Catherine to their faces that they support another challenger. But almost nobody speaks up for the mayor.

So I don’t know what to tell you about the numbers. I guess it comes down to who shows up at the polls on Tuesday.

Elect the Change You Want to See in Your City

And speaking of who shows up, more than one senior staffer has quit this mayor’s team, listing aloofness, lack of imagination, and lack of ideas as contributing to their decision.

I believe Stephanie simply is incapable of being the change Baltimore needs. As the young daughter of a respected politician, and then through her own seventeen years in office, she has become intimate with all the players of Smalltimore. The politicians, the developers, everybody. She dined with them at her father’s table. She still knows them today, their agendas, how it’s all supposed to go down. She’s personal friends with everyone whose interests might be ruffled if any part of “how we do things around here” changes. Again, she’s simply incapable of being the change Baltimore needs.

Yesterday some friends of mine said, “She didn’t sweep house when she took office; she kept some good people. So she seems like a good person for the job.”

Yes, she did keep some excellent people, like Deputy Mayor Chris Thomaskutty. But she also saw to the departure of widely-respected Deputy Mayor Andy Frank, and installed her friend since kindergarten. And she passed up superstar Health Commissioner Peter Beilenson for another candidate who has left many people shaking their heads.

You Call That an Endorsement?

The Baltimore Sun’s endorsement of the current mayor I find ludicrous. The Sun agrees that, “…she has failed to display a compelling vision for how to move Baltimore beyond the crisis mode it seems to perpetually be in…,” and “… [she] gives the impression that she is working to manage the city’s decline rather than to spark its rebirth.”

Her saving grace? She “…has remained steady, calm, and focused.” So she gets the nod. Wow. What a sad endorsement.

To be fair – and this is the remainder of their case – The Baltimore Sun also points out her strong relationship with Governor O’Malley (thanks to her father helping O’Malley get elected mayor,) and her “managerial ability.”

First, let me assure you, Governor O’Malley will work closely with whoever becomes mayor: He doesn’t want any bad news coming out of Maryland’s largest city these next few years as he looks toward national office.

Management 101

And about Stephanie’s managerial ability, well, she may not have pizzazz or vision, but at least we all can agree she’s a solid manager, right? Right?

What about the $6M of Federal healthcare funds for Baltimore’s HIV population that’s gone missing? The Baltimore City Health Department told providers, like Johns Hopkins and Moveable Feast, that the money didn’t come this year. These providers began cutting services, and complained to the press. The Fed saw the articles and started an investigation, because it HAD sent over the money. Nineteen million dollars! $6M is missing and unaccounted for, so the Feds rightly froze the rest. This is money that many of our fellow citizens’ very lives depend on. Money for medical care, child care, transportation, food services, and more.  But it’s all held up now, due to City mismanagement.

What about the $4M of Federal grants for lead paint abatement that HUD shut off this year? Baltimore has received these funds for many years. But this year HUD shut us off, because the Baltimore City Health Department mismanaged the most recent grant. So potentially we’ll have more poisoned children who can’t learn entering our classrooms and even the juvenile justice system.

These are management catastrophes! $23M fumbled. The result of hiring, and keeping, weak people.

One City Hall insider quoted in the City Paper, said, “These are old friends of hers since forever, now in high positions. She can’t fire them—an effective leader can fire anyone.” And the mayor admits that she has never fired a friend.

Even after the HUD debacle, all she did was transfer the program to another department.

How is this accountability?

Intro to Management

Let’s look at simpler things: Timeliness and Transparency.

What about the school rehabilitation report? Last fall, the ACLU determined that our schools need serious rehabilitation. The mayor formed a commission and promised a report by February. It’s September now, almost a year later, another school year begun with bad schools. She still has not released the report, and provides no meaningful response when asked about its progress.

The mayor is celebrated for her ethics reform and transparency. So why has her spokesperson stonewalled questions from multiple reporters going on 12 days now?

I certainly hope none of the mayor’s challengers ever do “match her managerial ability” if this is what it looks like.

Come on, Baltimore! We can do better than this!

Otis Rolley

Now, about Otis Rolley, The Baltimore Sun says, “Of the challengers, Mr. Rolley comes closest on [vision and specifics.]” His thesis, “…that Baltimore needs to change the way it’s doing things, if it is ever to stop stumbling from one crisis to the next, is appealing.” “He has released the most detailed and comprehensive set of policy proposals of any candidate.”

This doesn’t surprise. As the country’s youngest city planner, Otis produced this city’s first comprehensive citywide plan in nearly 40 years. He knows ALL our neighborhoods. He’s also a celebrated and proven executive who’s managed major city departments with thousands of employees, firing people who needed to go, and hiring others where efficiency called for it.

And it’s not just me and the Baltimore Sun who see promise in Otis. Polling shows nearly HALF of likely Decided voters support Otis.

So did three very different mayors: Schmoke, O’Malley, and Dixon all hired Otis and gave him more and more responsibility because he got stuff done!

And last summer, Otis sat one-by-one with the 200 or so influential people in this city who cared a year ago who the next mayor would be. People who know the current mayor, mayors before, and Otis. They repeatedly said, “Of course, you’re the better mayor. But it’s Stephanie’s turn.” Well, Otis and I and many others don’t believe in turns. We believe in excellence. And I hope you do, too.

Baltimore’s Brighter Future

Otis is a student of cities, not just a daughter of one. He knows what is keeping people from living and working in Baltimore: bad schools, unsafe streets, and property taxes that are too high. Otis is the only candidate discussing real plans to take these on, even as others have avoided them for generations.

If we’re going to move ahead and claim a brighter future for Baltimore, we need to change the way we do things. And it CAN work!

• Remember Philadelphia in 1985? The police firebombed MOVE headquarters, and the city was considered unsalvageable. A few years later Ed Rendell became mayor, attacked the crushing poverty, and today Philadelphia is a different city.
• Remember New York City in the 1980’s? Rampant crack and crime, and unsalvageable. Giuliani became mayor in 1993, began turning it around, and today New York is a different city.
• Think of Newark, New Jersey, and all the good that young Mayor Corey Booker is doing. Newark, too, is making strides toward becoming a better city.

One man, one mayor, the RIGHT mayor, CAN make ALL the difference.

Vote for a Better Baltimore. Vote for Otis Rolley for Mayor.

And urge others to do the same! Remember:

Friends don’t let friends vote status quo!

Tagged as: Otis Rolley