BOSTON – Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, warning that America remains “needlessly vulnerable” nearly three years after the Sept. 11 attacks, told Democrats Wednesday night that John Kerry will help cities eliminate the “shameful backlog” of rescue and emergency equipment desperately needed to protect the nation.
O’Malley predicted the Massachusetts Democrat would lead the “long-stalled effort to improve America’s homeland security, not with words, but with action – and with funding.” He said local governments cannot raise money for improved rescue gear and intelligence on their own.
“John Kerry knows today that we cannot fund America’s homeland security on local property taxes and fire hall bingos,” he told a packed audience at the Democratic National Convention.
“When citizens dial 911, it’s a local call. The phone doesn’t ring at the White House. . . . We do (our duty) proudly, and we can do it well, but not without the support of the federal government,” he said. “Where is the urgency, Mr. President?”
O’Malley said Kerry is a leader who will provide for common defense “no matter the sacrifice.”
“We must choose to defend the brave and generous America that our parents and our grandparents were courageous enough to choose for us,” the mayor said. “Sadly, and unforgivably, almost three years after that fateful day when thousands of moms and dads, sons and daughters, didn’t come home from work on September 11, America’s cities and towns, America’s ports and borders, and America’s heartland remain needlessly vulnerable.”
O’Malley, a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2006 whose address to the convention was the most prominent of any Maryland politician at this year’s national convention, said evidence of the nation’s vulnerability can be seen throughout America’s cities.
“John Kerry understands that if graffiti vandals can still paint rail cars carrying hazardous materials through our communities, then terrorists can attack those same rail cars just as easily,” he said. “John Kerry recognizes that if the deadly foreign chemical attacks of cocaine and heroin can still flow unchecked through our ports and borders, then biological, nuclear and chemical weapons can be smuggled through the same unprotected ports and borders just as easily.”
The speech, which O’Malley had said the day before went through five drafts as well as edits by the Democratic National Committee, could help raise his political profile nationally, an advantage for fund-raising and any future national ambitions.
But some Maryland delegates missed O’Malley’s speech because they were on their way back from a reception for U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer. Delegates were told in the morning that O’Malley was to take the convention podium at 7:32 p.m., but his speech began about 15 minutes earlier.
Maryland delegates who were there applauded the address.
“O’Malley hit all the right notes,” said James Kraft, a convention delegate and a candidate for the Baltimore City Council.
“O’Malley clearly understands what local governments need,” said Guy Guzzone, a delegate and chairman of the Howard County Council.