The board of directors of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, which represents 5,000 current and retired city police officers, unanimously selected Ehrlich over Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend two weeks ago. The full union membership ratified the board’s decision at a meeting last night.
The union becomes the first major labor group to line up behind Ehrlich, but the political significance of the endorsement is unclear. The lodge endorsed then-City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III in the 1999 Democratic mayoral primary; he finished third behind Martin O’Malley and Carl Stokes.
Gary McLhinney, lodge president, said the union is supporting Ehrlich because of his opposition to a death penalty moratorium and to gun control. He said rank-and-file police officers overwhelmingly oppose gun-control laws and consider the issue when deciding which candidate to support.
“We want gun laws that penalize the criminals and not the private citizens,” he said. “It is generally the chiefs who are appointed by elected officials that support gun control.”
McLhinney also pointed to Townsend’s feud last summer with Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris over the state’s Hotspots program, which she founded. He accused her of “political grandstanding” when she stepped in to stop Norris’ plan to redeploy some officers assigned to the program. “We are not going to return to the days where politics guided our police departments,” McLhinney said.
He said the union also supports Ehrlich’s attempts to bring a federal crime-fighting program to Baltimore.
Focusing on bad guys
Ehrlich said the endorsement is a testament to his efforts to fight crime through support of such programs as Project Exile, a federal initiative designed to impose harsher sentences on criminals who use guns.
“It reflects my view that the focus should be on bad guys and guns, which has been my philosophy on law and order, criminal justice and gun control,” Ehrlich said.
Townsend spokesman Michael Morrill discounted the effect of the union’s decision. “We are very pleased when we get endorsements, but the only endorsement that counts is the voters’ endorsement, and she is very pleased with the support she is getting,” Morrill said.
‘Strongest involvement’
McLhinney said the lodge – the state FOP’s largest – would devote “substantial” resources to help Ehrlich, including organizing officers to work on his behalf. The union’s political action committee will pay for advertising in support of Ehrlich’s campaign, he said.
“This will probably be our strongest involvement ever in terms of resources, both workers and financial,” McLhinney said.
Representatives of each of the FOP’s 64 lodges will meet Saturday to decide which candidate the statewide organization will endorse. Some lodge presidents say they expect a contentious debate before one representative from each lodge casts one vote – a different procedure than past years, when all union members were allowed to take part in the balloting.
More than labor issues
Unlike other labor unions, police unions often weigh candidates’ stands not just on labor issues – which tend to favor Democrats – but also their positions on criminal justice issues.
McLhinney said the city union endorsed Ehrlich in part because members think he would work better with Norris and O’Malley.