• Background: American Democratic Politician and Attorney raised Roman Catholic
• Professional Positions: U.S. Senate State Field Director (Senator Barbra Mikulski), U.S. Senate Legislative Fellow, Assistant State\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Attorney for the City of Baltimore, Baltimore City Council Member (3rd District), Chairman of the Legislative Investigations Committee and Chairman of the Taxation and Finance Committee, Mayor of Baltimore, Governor of Maryland
• Accomplishments: the Urban Innovation Award from Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; the Innovations in American Government from Harvard University\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Kennedy School of Government; the Award for Public Service from the Center for Irish Programs of Boston College; the National Award for Local Arts Leadership from the U.S. Conference of Mayors; the National Association of Counties\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Multicultural Diversity Award for extraordinary outreach to ethnic communities. O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Malley received an honorary degree from Villa Julie College. In 2002, Esquire Magazine named Martin “The Best Young Mayor in the Country” and in 2005, Time Magazine named him one of America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s “Top 5 Big City Mayors.” In August 2005, Business Week listed O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Malley as one of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
• Criticism: Stat Accuracy, Taxes, and DUI Charge
• Additional Information: In addition to his current duties as Governor, Martin O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Malley is a member of the Board of Directors for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council and the Maryland African American Museum Corporation. O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Malley is a member of the Board of Visitors for the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical System and a Co-Chair of the Task Force on Federal-Local Law Enforcement of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
• Biography Links: http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/08conoff/html/msa13090.html

Background

• Bachelor's Degree from The Catholic University of America.
• J.D. from University of Maryland School of Law.

• Assistant State's Attorney for the City of Baltimore.

• Martin and his wife Katie, a Maryland District Court Judge, have two daughters, Grace and Tara, and two sons, William and Jack. They are members of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

Professional Positions

• State Field Director for Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski during her successful primary and general election campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 1986, while in law school. Later he served as a legislative fellow in Senator Mikulski’s office from 1987-1988.
• Assistant State's Attorney for the City of Baltimore, 1988-1990.
• Baltimore City Council Member representing the 3rd District: O'Malley served as a Councilman from 1991-1999.
• Unsuccessfully ran for the Maryland State Senate in District 43 in 1990. He lost by just 44 votes. [[source="Maryland State Board of Elections" link="http://elections.state.md.us/elections/1990/results_1990/passe.html"]]
• However, in 1991, he ran for a vacant Baltimore City Council seat to represent the 3rd District and won. O'Malley served as a Councilman from 1991-1999.
• Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, 1999-2007.
• Governor of Maryland, 2007-2011.

Accomplishments

• Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, 1999-2007: During his six years as mayor of Baltimore City, he has worked tirelessly with the city's citizens and public servants to make it a more beautiful, cleaner city where people want to live and businesses want to invest. Proof that the O'Malley Administration's drive to improve the quality of life in Baltimore is now bearing fruit is seen in the largest decline in violent crime of any big city in the country and in increased achievement and test scores across the board in city schools.

• Governor of Maryland, 2007-2011.

• Graduate of University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore, earned his JD in 1988 and passing the bar that same year.

• Baltimore City Council Campaign Win in 1991: This time he didn't just win ' he led the entire ticket. In his two terms on the council, Councilman O'Malley concentrated on housing and public safety issues, was a strong advocate for reducing property taxes, encouraged businesses to return to Baltimore, and protected the interests of the families of the 3rd District. He chaired the Legislative Investigations Committee and the Taxation & Finance Committee, and he became known for his outspokenness and the fierceness of his devotion to his constituents and the City. As a member of the City Council, O'Malley worked with the people of Baltimore on a daily basis and once again, he heard their calls for a new approach to combating violent crime in the City.

• Baltimore City Mayor Campaign Win in 1997: with over 50% of the vote and was then elected Mayor of Baltimore in 1999 at the age of 36, with 91% of the vote in the general election.

• Re-elected in 2004 as Baltimore City Mayor receiving 88% of the vote: Martin O'Malley takes particular pride in having made it easier for Baltimore's children to achieve and succeed in their education, a measuring stick in the progress of any modern society. For the past three years, elementary school students have posted higher scores in reading, language arts, and mathematics at every grade level. Three of the top 10 high schools on the Maryland High School Assessment were Baltimore City Schools. And Baltimore's elementary students' achievement on state assessment tests is at the top of the largest urban school systems in the United States. Per-pupil spending has increased 14% since 2000, and Baltimore schools have received an unprecedented 37% increase in per capita funding over the last few years, with significant credit going to increased, effective lobbying on the City's behalf at the State level. Under O'Malley, student achievement and test scores in Baltimore are improving for the first time in a generation, and he has rescued the city's public school system from bankruptcy.

• Created Citi-Stat - CitiStat has saved Baltimore residents more than $350 million.[4] In 2004, O'Malley's CitiStat accountability tool won Harvard University’s prestigious Innovations in American Government award.
• Left as the Mayor of Baltimore with a $38 million budget surplus ' the largest in Baltimore’s history ' and a 5 year, $75 million tax cut which has reduced property taxes to a 30 year low
• By the end of his second term, Baltimore experienced nearly a 40% reduction in violent crime, which led the nation.
• In 2006, Baltimore was ranked the twelfth most dangerous city in the United States; however, this ranking represents a substantial improvement from the previous year, when it was ranked the sixth most dangerous city.
• In 2005, Baltimore’s reported homicide rate was five times that of New York City, which had the lowest crime rates of America's largest cities. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Unified Crime Reports for 2000 and 2003, violent crimes (homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) in Baltimore declined from 16,003 in 2000 (O'Malley's first year in office) to 13,789 in 2003. In terms of homicides, there were 261 in 2000; 256 in 2001; 253 in 2002; and 270 in 2003. More recently, there were 276 homicides in 2004 and 269 in 2005.
• In 2002, Esquire magazine named O’Malley “The Best Young Mayor in the Country,” and in 2005, TIME magazine named him one of America’s “Top 5 Big City Mayors”. In August 2005, Business Week Magazine Online named O'Malley as one of five "New Faces" in the Democratic Party. Business Week said that O'Malley "has become the Party's go-to guy on protecting the homeland. The telegenic mayor has developed a detailed plan for rail and port safety and has been an outspoken critic of White House security priorities."
• During the 2004 presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry invited O'Malley to speak on the topic in Wisconsin. In 2004, O'Malley was one of the featured speakers at the Democratic National Convention in the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. In his speech, he focused on Homeland Security stating “Sadly and unforgivably almost three years after that fateful day when thousands of moms and dads, sons and daughters didn’t come from work on September 11th, America’s cities and towns, America’s ports and borders and America’s heartland remain needlessly vulnerable”. As the only mayor to speak at the Democratic National Convention, O'Malley demonstrated why he was called a "rising star” in the Democratic Party.
• O'Malley lauds many of his achievements in the Baltimore City Public School System, stating that his administration has greatly improved schools and that they “are on the mend for the first time in decades.” As one of his five most prominent achievements, O'Malley claims that his administration “improved student test scores across the board” while noting that much work remains
• O'Malley defeated incumbent Gov. Ehrlich in the November 7, 2006, gubernatorial election by a 6.5% margin. He was the only candidate to defeat a sitting governor in 2006.
• For the last two years, the Administration cites, among its accomplishments:

-- Reducing spending by $1.9 billion and eliminating 736 state positions to close an inherited $1.7 billion structural deficit

-- Proposing two consecutive budgets under the Maryland General Assembly’s spending affordability guidelines

-- Working to repeal the $200 million computer services sales tax, which O'malley originally signed into law

-- Raising the State Sales Tax by 20%

-- Passing the nation's first statewide living wage law

-- Closing the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, Maryland, an old and notoriously violent maximum-security prison facility.[25].

-- Expanding health care access to 100,000 low and moderate-income Marylanders

-- Closing the Medicaid loop-hole that left certain seniors without prescription drug coverage

-- Passing a foreclosure reform package and ending the creation of new grount rents

-- Funding fully Program Open Space, recreating the Office of Smart Growth, and creating the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund

-- Eliminating a backlog of DNA samples that were left unanalyzed and expanding the database

Criticism

• O'Malley and some Democratic Maryland lawmakers have passed and signed tax increases. Their claims that 83% of Maryland taxpayers would not pay higher taxes under the original plan's new structure were disputed by the Republican party, especially considering that an increase in the sales tax would effect everyone (Source: Tax Increases).
• In early 2005 Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich fired an aide, Joseph Steffen, for spreading false rumors of marital infidelity about O'Malley on the Internet. O'Malley and his wife had previously held a highly publicized press conference to deny the rumors and accuse Republicans of partisan politics. The discussions in which Steffen posted the rumors were initiated by an anonymous user going by the name "MD4Bush," later revealed to be Maryland Democratic Party official Ryan O'Doherty (Source: Baltimore Sun).
• Major land developer Edward St. John was fined $55,000 by the independent Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor. The Washington Times reported that following Mr. St. John's illegal campaign contributions to the Martin O'Malley campaign, the Governor and noted Administration officials posed for a photo-op at a new $28 million highway interchange leading to St. John's property. Governor O'Malley's spokesman said there was no "quid pro quo." To date Governor O'Malley has refused to return St. John's illegal campaign contributions (Source: Washington Post).

Additional Information

• Among the honors Martin O'Malley and his Administration have received include: the Urban Innovation Award from Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; the Innovations in American Government from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government; the Award for Public Service from the Center for Irish Programs of Boston College; the National Award for Local Arts Leadership from the U.S. Conference of Mayors; the National Association of Counties' Multicultural Diversity Award for extraordinary outreach to ethnic communities. O'Malley received an honorary degree from Villa Julie College. In 2002, Esquire Magazine named Martin “The Best Young Mayor in the Country” and in 2005, Time Magazine named him one of America's “Top 5 Big City Mayors.” In August 2005, Business Week listed O'Malley as one of "Five Fresh Faces" to lead the Democratic Party.

Biography Links

• Wikipedia
• Governor's Site
• Campaign Site
• Maryland Manual Online: Governor's Biography
• Office of the Governor
• Maryland Democratic Party