By Mark Kobzik
STAFF WRITER
Grace O’Malley, the daughter of Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, dropped by the University of New Hampshire this past Saturday to talk about her father’s campaign for president and his vision for America.
Martin O’Malley served as Mayor of Baltimore for eight years, then another eight as Maryland’s governor. During his time in office, he ended the death penalty, approved same sex marriage, raised taxes on the wealthiest families, toughened guns laws, and passed other progressive leaning laws.
O’Malley has been running on these accomplishments ever since he joined the race earlier this year, but New Hampshire and Iowa voters seem unimpressed. O’Malley is at the bottom of polls in New Hampshire and Iowa, polling at around 1-4 percent. Senator Bernie Sanders is now leading the polls in New Hampshire and has closed the gap in Iowa.
Grace said that during her father’s terms as governor he was able to show that he is a strong political leader.
“He isn’t just someone who has talked about these issues, or just in the halls of congress voting on these issues, he’s seen these issues at a grass roots level as a big city mayor of Baltimore and then governor of Maryland. He’s been able to build bridges with people across the aisle, and forge public opinion around important issues,” Grace said.
What may be O’Malley’s biggest problem is his record on how he treated crime during his tenure as mayor of Baltimore, according to many critics like David Simon, longtime Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of the television series, The Wire. O’Malley’s zero tolerance policy towards drug crimes meant an influx of black prisoners in the state of Maryland and a continuing struggle between police and the poor community. State’s Attorney for Baltimore, Marilyn Mosby agrees with this claim, saying ”There’s a number of old policies that we are seeing as a result of that distrust among communities where communities don’t want to step forward and say who killed a three-year-old Mosby said. It’s a direct result of these failed policies.”
Grace O’Malley discussed about her father’s plans as president, “He has been lauded as of one of the candidates who put out the most detailed policies. He’s put proposals on debt free college and immigration reform, and the environment, which he wants the United States completely reliable on renewable resources by 2050. He sees the industry of renewable resources as a source of job growth.”
Martin O’Malley recently attended the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting where he criticized the limited amount of debates.
O’Malley said, “While the Republicans put their backwards ideas forward before an audience of more than 20 million Americans, we put our forward-thinking ideas on the backburner, and try to hide them from the airwaves.”
The limited amount of debates is what O’Malley has blamed partially for his low polling numbers. On Sept. 13, there will be a Democratic debate between the nominees, and then on Nov. 14, and Dec. 19.