Republican Maryland Delegate 'warns of black youth mobs' [View all]

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3:36 p.m. EDT, May 17, 2012

A Baltimore County delegate said Wednesday that the governor should send in the Maryland State Police to control "roving mobs of black youths" at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, prompting a colleague to label the message "race-baiting."

Del. Patrick L. McDonough, a Republican whose district includes part of Harford County, distributed a news release with the headline: "Black Youth Mobs Terrorize Baltimore on Holidays." In it, McDonough said he had sent a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley urging him to use the state police to help prevent attacks and to declare the Inner Harbor area a "no-travel zone" until safety can be guaranteed.

McDonough's message, which came on the last day of a General Assembly special session, offended some colleagues who thought it gratuitously highlighted the issue of race.

"It's a throwback to the '50s and '60s, and it's obviously race-baiting," said Del. Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a Baltimore Democrat who offered to take McDonough on a guided tour of the Inner Harbor on a weekend night.

McDonough, a radio talk-show host, is best known in the legislature for his relentless and sometimes confrontational efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in Maryland.

"I'm not surprised at this inappropriate behavior," said Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez, a Montgomery County Democrat. She said that in her 10 years in the legislature, she hadn't seen such a racially tinged statement released by a colleague.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-mcdonough-race-20120516,0,101275.story