O'Malley stumps for votes at senior living community

EXETER — Former Maryland governor and Baltimore mayor Martin O’Malley continued his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday at a town hall-style event held at the RiverWoods active retirement community. RiverWoods has hosted many of the 2016 candidates, including, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Dr. Ben Carson.

O’Malley was warmly received by the crowd, many of whom stated in their questions for the governor that they intended to vote for him. O’Malley told attendees that what his campaign may lack in the way of cash-in-hand when compared to his rivals have, it makes up for with “passion, idealism and energy.”

O’Malley is currently trailing front-runner Hillary Clinton as well as Sanders with three percent of registered Democratic support, according to the most recent ABC/Washington Post poll.

In his brief remarks before taking questions from RiverWoods residents, O’Malley focused on the income inequality facing the United States. “Our middle class is shrinking. Poor families are becoming poorer even as they work harder,” he said, then adding that the Democratic Party is not immune to the unfair concentration of wealth and power — a thinly-veiled swipe at Clinton.

O’Malley said that, while “a lot of us like (President) Barack Obama, we elected a president not a magician.” After 68 months of positive job growth, O’Malley said, he plans on building on Obama’s progress and “taking it to the next level.”

“We need to leave behind this false theory of trickle-down economics … that is not how an American economy grows,” he said.

O’Malley expressed support for a $15 minimum wage, “overtime pay for overtime work,” equal pay for women, and the ability of labor unions to engage in collective bargaining.

“We must restore common sense labor policies,” he said, adding that the United States now faces “growing economic injustice that we haven’t seen since the Gilded Age.”

Addressing the War on Terror, O’Malley said that the changing nature of the conflict requires an equally adaptive strategy on the part of the United States, including a move from a “need to know” intelligence mindset to one of “need to share,” between government agencies.

“(We need to do this) so we can disrupt these plots before they strike,” he said.

When speaking with reporters afterward, O’Malley forcefully addressed the opiate addiction crisis that has landed New Hampshire in the headlines nationally. According to the former governor, defining and tackling the epidemic as a public health crisis and not a criminal justice one is a start. O’Malley also stressed the importance of public health centers and a partnership between them and state and federal legislatures, as well as a continuum of care after detox.

“What if all of these people were dying of Ebola?” O’Malley mused, then added, “The federal government can play a role in partnering with states for stronger continuum of care. We also need to do a better job of educating doctors on the dangers of prescribing these (opiates).”

O’Malley minced no words in reacting to some of the recent remarks by Republican candidate, former television personality Donald Trump regarding refugees of the Syrian conflict and Mexican undocumented immigrants.

“Some leaders, out of fear, apprehension or ignorance of the screening process already in place (for refugees) … some are seizing on this to capitalize on the politics of hatred and fear,” he said.

Regarding Trump’s apparent support for some sort of national registry for Muslim-Americans, O’Malley said, “We’ve seen this before in history and it doesn’t end well.”

“We need to push back against this as Americans. We cannot allow ourselves to surrender our values … all of this is a real and present danger to our own Democracy,” he said. “The truth can damn well defend herself, but she has to be stated, and hopefully more leaders will state the truth.”

For more on O’Malley’s plan to address the opiate epidemic, visit https://martinomalley.com/policy/addiction-treatment-and-prevention/