Legislation that would clear a legal obstacle preventing NAACP President Kweisi Mfume from running for mayor of Baltimore survived key votes in the General Assembly yesterday and appears headed for passage in coming weeks.
The bill would reduce the residency requirement for mayoral candidates from one year to six months, a time frame that would allow Mfume to run in the fall if he follows through with plans to purchase a home in Baltimore.
Mfume, a former Baltimore City councilman and member of Congress, lives in Baltimore County.
Baltimore legislators unhappy with the current group of mayoral contenders introduced the bill as part of an informal effort to persuade Mfume to run to succeed Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who is not seeking a fourth four-year term.
Mfume has said he is not a candidate for mayor, but legislators hope he will jump into the race -- provided the residency requirement is changed.
The measure won support yesterday from the House Commerce and Government Matters Committee and received preliminary approval from the full Senate. Legislative leaders support the effort and predict the measure will be enacted before the General Assembly adjourns April 12.
Under the bill, the Baltimore City Council could undo the General Assembly action by passing its own measure resetting the residency requirement to 12 months.
With Mfume out of the race for now, City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III appears to be the leading mayoral candidate.
It remains unclear if Bell could muster enough support on the 19-member City Council to overturn the legislature's action and bar Mfume, his cousin, from running. Schmoke would also have to sign the City Council bill, and he has declined to say whether he would do so.
In the House committee yesterday, a handful of delegates said the measure would inappropriately rewrite the rules in the middle of an election.
"We're setting a precedent here that we're going to constantly change elections when a group of people say the contenders aren't qualified," said Del. B. Daniel Riley, a Harford County Democrat.
Del. John S. Arnick said backers of the measure are engaging in "hypocrisy" by asserting that the legislation is not designed specifically to help Mfume.
Before the committee vote, the bill was strongly endorsed by the House delegations from Baltimore City and Montgomery County.The Montgomery vote was necessary as the bill also would change the residency rule governing that county's elections.
One senior Montgomery lawmaker, Democratic Del. Michael R. Gordon, said it was "pretty obvious" that Mfume would be a candidate and that county delegates were glad to help out Baltimore.
"The more we get strong leadership in Baltimore, the less reliant they're going to be on our tax base," Gordon said. "It'll be nice to have a mayor of Baltimore who'll be obligated to us."
Meanwhile, a group of African-American leaders from the Annapolis area said yesterday they are assembling a committee that will try to draft Mfume to run.
The group plans to raise money for Mfume and campaign door-to-door for him in the city if he decides to run, according to one of the organizers, Carl O. Snowden, a former Annapolis alderman and current aide to Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens.
"I think that he would be a great leader not only for Baltimore City, but for the whole state," said Snowden. "I think that you're going to hear the chants, 'Run, Kweisi, Run!' growing louder as we get closer to the deadline for filing for the race."
Sun staff writer Tom Pelton contributed to this article.
Pub Date: 3/20/99