BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Moments after Baltimore City’s top criminal justice leaders planned to lobby for the ouster of some members of the House Judiciary Committee — the mayor scrapped the plan.

“Those are not the plans of the Dixon administration,” said Sterling Clifford, spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.

After a long discussion at Wednesday’s Baltimore City Criminal Justice Coordinating Council meeting — in which city leaders lamented a series of failed criminal justice bills at the last session of the General Assembly — Baltimore City Solicitor George Nilson proposed creating a “criminal justice profile” of lawmakers who blocked reforms that would prevent violence and save lives.

Nilson told council members to “put together some information on how the votes are breaking out in this committee, where the big problems are.”

“We’ll take that directly to the speaker of the house,” he said.

But after The Examiner contacted House Speaker Michael Busch’s office about the plans, city officials quickly retracted the idea.

“We certainly wish our legislation would have passed,” said Clifford, Dixon’s spokesman. “What we need to do is spend the next year educating them and work with them in the future.”

Busch, who appoints all committee members, said he was surprised to hear of the city’s concerns.

“There are always people that are disappointed with legislation that doesn’t pass, regardless of the committee,” Busch said. “I don’t think changing the dynamic of the Judiciary Committee is going to change the outcome,” since it needs to have a broad cross-section of those who practice law.”

Committee Chairman “Joe Vallario has practiced law all his life” and understands the practical application of laws in the courtroom. His practice in Prince George’s County gives him “real life experience” to many issues similar to those in the city, Busch said.

At the CJCC meeting, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld and City State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy said they were treated “rudely” by committee members.

“Frankly, the way we were treated there, you would have thought we were an island, operating independently of the rest of the state,” Bealefeld said. “... The reality is, as all of us know, people from western Maryland come into Baltimore to buy drugs. They also are sometimes the victims of violent crime and sometimes the perpetrators of violent crime.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com