GOP Lawmaker Pat McDonough Warns About "Black Youth Mobs" in Baltimore // The Same Guy Made "Speak English" Signs

UPDATE: Yesterday a former Press Secretary for former GOP Congressman (and Maryland Governor) Bob Ehrlich published a blog post scorching Pat McDonough for his comments (see excerpt below):

Why Republicans Should Be Angry at Pat McDonough

There’s one thing, and not much else, you have to know to understand Delegate Pat McDonough: He craves attention.

I realized this in 1995, when he called me – then the newly-minted Press Secretary to Congressman Bob Ehrlich – and gently scolded me for not including him on my press list for his impending “newspaper,” Maryland Citizen....

McDonough has no substance as a policymaker, legislator, or opinion-leader, but like many low grade talk radio hosts, he has a need and a knack for self-promotion. He serves this need by locating the sweet spot on issues sure to appeal to the political fringe.

Among the go-nowhere causes which he has championed: support for so-called “English First” legislation, opposition to a resolution calling upon Maryland to apologize for slavery, and a bill to keep an alleged exodus of Washington, D. C. rats from entering Maryland.

While none of his efforts achieved any real results, he usually wound up with his name in the paper – his real objective all along....

Now, the supporters of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants have, in Pat McDonough, a powerful asset: A right wing, race-baiting, demagogic delegate with a vocal hatred of all people of color, including immigrants. 
The supporters of the in-state tuition proposal needed a bogeyman to advance their cause, and Pat McDonough just offered himself up to them.

People who had never heard of McDonough will remember his “Black Youth Mobs” comment. And if they don’t, supporters of the law passed by the legislation can be expected to remind them of it, and of his past nativist comments on the topic of immigration....

State Republicans should aggressively condemn McDonough’s actions as well as his words.

But they should not do this not just because McDonough’s behavior is potentially politically damaging.

They should do it because the behavior is wrong.

BACKGROUND: Periodically, Maryland Juice has the opportunity to highlight some of Del. Pat McDonough's racist outlandish commentary about Free State residents. As always, Mr. McDonough's colleagues in the Republican Party refuse to condemn his statements or otherwise distance themselves from the venomous ignorance and bigotry he spews. You may recognize Mr. McDonough as the nutjob with the "Speak English" lawnsigns:

Maryland Delegate Pat McDonough (Republican)

THAT GUY WITH SPEAK ENGLISH LAWNSIGN: "BEWARE BLACK YOUTH MOBS" - This week, Del. Pat McDonough created the latest racial blow-up by insisting that -- in spite of consistent drops in the crime rate -- visitors should beware of "black youth mobs" in Baltimore City. The Baltimore Sun reported:

BALTIMORE SUN: A Baltimore County delegate said Wednesday that the governor should send in the Maryland State Police to control "roving mobs of black youths" at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, prompting a colleague to label the message "race-baiting."

Del. Patrick L. McDonough, a Republican whose district includes part of Harford County, distributed a news release with the headline: "Black Youth Mobs Terrorize Baltimore on Holidays." In it, McDonough said he had sent a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley urging him to use the state police to help prevent attacks and to declare the Inner Harbor area a "no-travel zone" until safety can be guaranteed.

McDonough's message, which came on the last day of a General Assembly special session, offended some colleagues who thought it gratuitously highlighted the issue of race.

"It's a throwback to the '50s and '60s, and it's obviously race-baiting," said Del. Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a Baltimore Democrat who offered to take McDonough on a guided tour of the Inner Harbor on a weekend night....

McDonough refused to back down, saying he had heard from police that the crowds involved in several recent incidents were all black. Failing to mention the race of the participants, he said, would be "political correctness on steroids...."

The lawmaker said that his statement has brought attention from out-of-town news media and that he planned to give national television interviews warning visitors against traveling to the Inner Harbor. "A no-travel zone is an action that needs to be taken to protect lives," he said.

The Catonsville Patch carried follow-up commentary from Delegate McDonough from an interview this week:

PATCH: "If this was a bunch of skinheads doing this the reports would say it's a bunch of white skinheads," McDonough said in an interview with Patch. "I could have said Chinese youth but that would have been inaccurate. That would be dishonest...."

McDonough said there have been other incidents involving mobs of white youth in the Fells Point and Canton areas of the city.

When asked why he didn't put out a press release decrying youth violence in general, McDonough said: "Those incidents were a rarity...."

P.S.  Maryland Juice would also like to point out that the hysteria Del. McDonough is seeking to create in Baltimore seems little different from the hysteria caused by Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett after a single outlier stabbing in downtown Silver Spring. When such false policy claims come from Republicans, the reaction is swift and severe, but apparently if it comes from Democrats, it's okay. Except that it's not. 

Have we forgotten about the lessons from Trayvon Martin's murder already?