Baltimore Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway said yesterday that he will challenge Mayor Martin O'Malley in the next Democratic primary, making Conaway the first opponent of the mayor's to announce his candidacy.
Conaway, 69, a former state delegate who finished third in the 1999 Democratic primary for City Council president, said he is running because O'Malley has not made the city safe enough and because he does not hire enough local African-Americans.
"'Believe?' Believe in what? It's just not working," Conaway said, playing on the wording of an advertising campaign of the mayor's that is meant to uplift the spirits of the city and encourage addicts to seek drug treatment.
"The mayor's crime initiatives aren't working. We are suffering in our school system. And we continuously hire people from out of state when local people are just as qualified," said Conaway.
The primary is set for September. But the mayor and other local elected officials have said they would like the state legislature to move the date to perhaps March 2004 to prevent a 14-month gap between the primary and general election in November 2004.
"I am very proud of this administration," said O'Malley. "I promised that our government would reflect the diversity of this city, and I have kept that promise. I made a number of historic firsts in appointing African-Americans to top positions."
The mayor disputed the claim that his aggressive policing strategies are not working, saying that the city's violent crime rate has dropped 29 percent over three years. Although homicides have not fallen as much as he wanted - 241 this year, compared with 243 at this time last year - he said he has kept the total below 300 for three years running, after more than a decade above that level.
Conaway, an Ashburton neighborhood resident and grandfather of five who grew up in West Baltimore and graduated from what now is Morgan State University, has served as court clerk for four years, winning re-election by a wide margin last month.
He worked as a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation from 1989 to 1993. He was a state delegate from the 40th District in 1979 to 1983 and 1971 to 1975.
Conaway was soundly beaten in the Democratic primary for the 1999 City Council president's race, placing a distant third behind Sheila Dixon and former state Sen. Nathan C. Irby. Conaway also lost races for City Council, city comptroller and state delegate in the 1970s and 1980s.
Conaway announced he would run for mayor in 1984, then dropped out to support Billy Murphy, who lost.
Conaway's wife, city Register of Wills Mary W. Conaway, ran for mayor in 1999 but was defeated by O'Malley.
"I love this city. But this city is going down the drain, and I've got to do something about it," said Frank Conaway.