The Maryland governor’s race is heating up and at the heart of it are two election-year mainstays: race and crime. On one side is Baltimore mayor Martin O’Malley. On the other side is incumbent Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Between the two is a hot potato: Baltimore’s record of arrests of black residents.

In a new ad for the Ehrlich campaign, Baltimore attorney William H. “Billy” Murphy Jr slams O’Malley with claims that his police department has unlawfully arrest thousands of black residents in Baltimore.

“[O'Malley] sanctions and directs the arrests of thousands of Baltimore city people -predominantly black - without ever charging them with a crime,” Murphy says in the 60-second spot running on black radio stations in the Baltimore and Washington markets.

The sad part is that you have two people who are passing the buck. Mayor O’Malley heads a city with one of the highest murder rates in the country fueled by a huge drug trade. However, Ehrlich happens to be Governor of the state in which this city resides. So, wouldn’t an attack on the problems of a city in his state also reflect negatively on him?

If this is what passes for a legitimate debate of the issues, I am saddened for the people of Maryland today. In this case, you have people who are both at culpability for a problem playing political football with the lives and freedom of everyday people.

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