Several Democrats sharpen positions

Impeaching Trump, disbanding city police suggested in debate

Several of the Democratic candidates for Maryland governor staked out brash positions during a televised debate Wednesday — supporting such actions as impeaching President Donald J. Trump, disbanding the Baltimore Police Department and ordering state troopers to confront federal immigration agents.

Those calls came during a nine-candidate debate on WMAR that will be aired on Channel 2 at 8 p.m. next Wednesday, the evening before early voting begins on June 14. The winner of the June 26 Democratic primary will go on to challenge Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in November.

The fourth debate featured continuing attempts by candidates to stress their differences rather than continuing to present voters with a field that largely agrees on most major policy issues.

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III called for the president’s impeachment, staking out a more aggressive opposition to Trump than his progressive rivals. No other major candidate backed Baker’s call for impeaching the Republican president. “This president has to go,” Baker said. Candidate Valerie Ervin took a similar stance on a separate topic: the Baltimore Police Department.

The former Montgomery County councilwoman said the department’s “corruption is so deep and far-reaching” that residents no longer trust police officers.

“We should scrub the whole police department and have police officers be rehired based on certain criteria,” said Ervin, who had been the running mate of former Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz before he died last month.

Meanwhile, author and entrepreneur Alec Ross revived a promise he made shortly after he launched his campaign last year that he would have Maryland State Police troopers intervene to “protect the rights of our citizens and guests” against agents from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

After the debate’s taping, Ross said he would expect troopers to stand up to ICE agents if they violate Maryland residents’ rights.

“If ICE officers break the law in Maryland, the ICE officers should be arrested,” he said. “That is how far I’m willing to go.”

Such an action would raise constitutional issues regarding federal-state relations, and some of Ross’ opponents suggested it would be reckless.

Krish Vignarajah, an attorney and former aide to first lady Michelle Obama, said Ross demonstrated a “lack of understanding of the law.”

The suggestions came near the end of a 90-minute debate in which the candidates were restrained by rules that allowed just 30 seconds to answer questions — a format Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. described as “political speed dating.”

Unlike many of the forums this year, the WMAR debate included two candidates with little money or name recognition: James Hugh Jones and Ralph Jaffe.

Jaffe, a perennial candidate, played a pivotal role in the debate when the question of immigration arose.

“The real answer is we need to impeach the president,” Jaffe said.

Then Baker, a pillar of the Democratic establishment, claimed he had beaten Jaffe to the punch by calling for Trump’s impeachment last year. His campaign later corrected the record, noting that he had called on Trump to resign, rather than be impeached, after last year’s white supremacist demonstration in Charlottesville, Va.

After the debate, Baker stood by his call for impeachment.

While opposition to Trump runs high among the Democratic rank and file, the party’s elected officials have been wary of getting ahead of the electorate on the question of impeachment.

But Baker said he would be happy to take his impeachment call into a contest against Hogan.

“I think that issue would actually galvanize the [Democratic] party,” he said.

The debate concluded with Baltimore lawyer Jim Shea criticizing Jealous’ plan for a single-payer health care system for Maryland. Shea said the costs would be too steep for one state to bear alone, citing the failure to launch such a system in Vermont.

Time ran out before Jealous could respond, but afterward the civil rights leader insisted Maryland is large enough to go it alone.