While all the candidates for Baltimore City mayor espouse plans to ease the growing crime problem in the city, one pledges to bring back a plan touted by a former mayor.

During Monday night’s televised debate candidate Mike Schaefer said he would push for a commuter tax to pay for more police officers, an approach that is reminiscent of his name sake.

“I would like to emulate William Donald Schaefer,” he said. “If I was mayor I would have an office for him. The public would get a good bargain with two wise heads for the price of one.”
But before the debating began, candidate Frank M. Conaway, clerk of the City Court, withdrew from the race and threw his support and campaign cash to Keiffer Mitchell Jr., who serves on the City Council.

“I’m pulling out of the race for mayor, and I’m throwing my support to Mr., Keiffer Mitchell - that means my money, my organization, and my time,” said Conaway to the obviously stunned moderator, MPT anchorman Jeff Salkin.

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“We appreciate you coming, but it probably would not make a lot of sense for you to continue,” Salkin replied.

The debate, broadcast live on WBAL, was sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Greater Baltimore Committee.

Mayor Sheila Dixon said the only way to solve crime was to take a “comprehensive” approach that included neighborhood alliances and business partnerships.

She also was asked if city taxpayers would be on the hook for the controversial pension awarded to former Deputy Police Commissioner Marcus Brown.

“The taxpayers as it stands now will have to pay this pension,” she said while placing the costly and much-criticized expenditure at the doorstep of her predecessor, Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Brown was named chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority when O’Malley took office and received a $55,529 annual pension from the city, though he did not complete the 20 years of service generally needed to receive a pension.

“This process began before I become mayor of the city,” Dixon said. “I have put changes in policy and procedures in place.”

Socialist candidate Bob Kaufman said the police department has been put “in a bad position” dealing with the city’s crime.

“We can’t expect them to solve the crime problem. As long as there is poverty there will be crime,” he said.

State Del. Jill Carter argued the city was in a state of emergency.

“People are bleeding and dying,” she said, laying the blame for the crisis on her opponents. “It is Councilman Mitchell and Dixon who have been sitting in silence while crime has escalated.”

And while Mitchell touted his plan to add 400 new police officers, Dr. Andrey Bundley reiterated his warning about over emphasizing enforcement.

“When we talk about 400 police officers, we’re going to create an occupied territory in Baltimore with no withdrawal strategy,” he said.

Baltimore City Schools activist Phillip Brown took issue with claims that criminal gangs are riding roughshod over the city.

“I don’t believe we have many gangs in Baltimore,” he said. “We have a lot of young men who are wannabes.”

Mitchell also faced questions about a campaign finance scandal involving the resignation of his father, Keiffer Mitchell Sr., over missing money.

“I love my father very, much. He is a good man,” Mitchell said. “We addressed it quickly and moved on.”

He did not provide further details.

Carter also touched on the Baltimore Gas and Electric rate increase, an issue that has been mostly absent from the campaign.

“We should re-regulate,” she said. “It has been done in other states.”

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com