ROCKVILLE- Vowing to make Maryland “the national leader on education,” Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan officially announced his candidacy for governor Thursday, standing in front of the boyhood home where, he said, his mother instilled in him the values of faith and public service.
“Schools are the key,” the 49-year-old Duncan told a crowd of several hundred gathered in the typically suburban cul de sac where he grew up, one of 13 children in a four-bedroom house. “If you have good schools, the jobs will come.”
He said that he would make sure Maryland schools had the money to succeed. “With me as governor,” Duncan said, “education gets funded first – period. If education is our priority then the state’s budget must be a statement of our priorities.”
After making his announcement in the morning in Rockville, Duncan boarded the RV he is using as a campaign bus and made stops in Prince Georges County, at a large African American church in Baltimore, – where he picked up key endorsements from two popular former Baltimore mayors, – and, finally, in the gathering dusk at a boat ramp in an Annapolis park.
“I look at our state today and I see enormous potential – the best schools, quality jobs and a commitment to the environment that is second to none,” Duncan said. “But I look at our governor today and I see a single-minded focus on slots, and a public policy that is better described as public relations.”
Ehrlich has made legalization of slot machine gambling his chief legislative priority, but Duncan said, “Maryland, it is time to think bigger.”
Duncan made no direct references to O’Malley, but after highlighting his own accomplishments as chief executive of the state’s most populous county, he came to what he called “a discussion of the city of Baltimore.”
“We won’t move forward as a state while our largest city continues to lag behind – particularly in its schools,” Duncan said. “We wonÕt move forward as a state while our largest city continues to shrink, or while neighborhoods there continue to struggle, even as the downtown improves.”
Jonathan Epstein, a campaign spokesman for O’Malley, derided Duncan’s comments as the “negative attacks” of a candidate who is running behind and knows it.
“That’s not thinking big,” Epstein said. “That’s just a big disappointment for Maryland voters.”
Duncan generated easily the most excitement of the day in a packed gymnasium next Union Baptist Church in West Baltimore, where about 200 people cheered, clapped and punctuated his speech with Amens.
It was here that former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said he would not only endorse Duncan but rally his political organization to support and work for the Montgomery County leader. Schmoke preceded state Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, who called Duncan a good man and a strong leader who will not flinch from hard decisions. Schaefer served four terms as Baltimore mayor; Schmoke three.
“I’ll be there to say what is really going on in Baltimore City,” Schmoke said.
Like Duncan, O’Malley was born and raised in Rockville, and like Duncan, O’Malley kicked off his announcement with a morning appearance in Rockville.
In his announcement Thursday, Duncan dwelt at length on his upbringing and his family. He estimated that half his extended family of 12 siblings and 38 nieces and nephews were present.
“My mother taught me that religious service is the highest calling, and public service the next,” Duncan said. “My faith is a very important part of who I am, but it was public service that I chose.”
Duncan plans to announce a comprehensive education plan soon but gave those gathered a preview. Along with making higher education more affordable he wants to institute a “public private partnership to get more adults and more parents involved with my top priority-education.”
The partnership would give priority on state contracts to businesses that have programs allowing their employees to volunteer at schools. -30- 10-20-2005