Politics & Government

McDonough Demands Debate with Mayor on 'Black Youth Mobs'

Republican delegate calls for Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to "stop pressuring Baltimore City's top cop Commissioner Bealefeld into leaving his job."

Del. Pat McDonough continues to press his complaints about what he has called "" in Baltimore by calling on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to debate him on television.

The Middle River Republican is also accusing Rawlings-Blake of forcing out Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld.

earlier this month.

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In a statement released late Tuesday night, McDonough called on the mayor to debate him on television.

He also released details of what he said was part of a bill he plans to introduce in Annapolis next year.

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"I acknowledge that I do not have all the answers," McDonough wrote in the statement. "At least I am making an honest effort to be part of the solution. The youth crime problem in Baltimore City and the state must no longer be ignored. I believe in a carrot and stick approach."

Neither McDonough nor a spokesman for Rawlings-Blake were immediately available for comment.

The delegate, in his press release, said he was preparing a bill that would create a "Maryland Youth Advocacy Fund" financed by special tax-deductible contributions.

The money would go toward job creations, youth leadership and mentoring programs, scholarships, police youth clubs and other programs.

The "stick," according to McDonough's press release, would include aggressive enforcement of a city curfew law and "zero tolerance, arrest, and penalty including mandated community service for youth crime."


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