A group largely financed by the chair of the Sinclair Broadcast Group has submitted a petition to the city’s Board of Elections with more than the 25,000 signatures needed to get on to the ballot. The petition is for a charter amendment that would slash the Baltimore City Council in half, taking it from 14 to eight.
Charter amendments are changes to what is essentially the city’s constitution. They must be approved by voters, and in Baltimore, they almost always are approved.
The petition reads:
“To reduce the number of Baltimore city council districts from 14 to eight, reducing the number of council districts will save significant taxpayer dollars and risk and resources for Baltimore City… The mayor shall prepare and present a plan for council redistricting to the city council based on the most recent census in time for the next municipal election.”
The group circulating the petition is called PEACE, the People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement.
PEACE says their mission is to promote “accountability, transparency, and equity in local government” and to serve people over special interests groups. PEACE is mostly funded with nearly a million dollars from David Smith, the chair of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, that includes WBFF-TV known to most locals as “Fox 45”. Smith gave PEACE $340,000 in 2023 and $560,000 in 2022, according to the state’s campaign financing records.
Smith, who lives in Cockeysville, is nonetheless active in city politics. In the most recently available campaign filings, Smith contributed $100,000 to a super PAC that supports mayoral candidate Sheila Dixon.
Through his David D. Smith Family Foundation, The Baltimore Banner reports that Smith has given to numerous far-right causes such as $581,000 to Young Americans for Liberty, $536,000 to Project Veritas, $150,000 to Turning Point USA, and $121,000 to Moms for Liberty.
PEACE, using Smith’s money, successfully passed a charter amendment in 2022 that puts term limits on the mayor, comptroller, and council members. That effort was popularly referred to as “Question K.”
In a meeting with staff at the Baltimore Sun this month after purchasing the media outlet, Smith called that effort a “test.”
“People who want to invest in Baltimore and want to invest in a positive way are always welcome on board but the focus of this organization is and always has been in the residents of Baltimore,” said Yuripzy Morgan, an attorney and spokesperson for PEACE, when asked about Smith’s involvement with the organization.
Jovani Patterson is chair of the group circulating the petition, PEACE, the People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement. Patterson says they came up with the plan after holding community town halls.
“One of the things that have come back is that elected officials aren't being really responsive when contacted by those that they represent,” said Patterson, who is also a defendant in a case brought against Baltimore City Public Schools. That case argues that the schools are failing to provide an adequate education for students while also wasting and defrauding taxpayers. Also last week, The Baltimore Banner reported that Patterson filed the suit after meeting several times with Smith and the law firm Thomas and Libowitz; in that report Patterson said he was not paying his own legal fees but that another ‘entity’ was.
“Patterson’s attorney said Smith represented the ‘entity’ in question, Election Law Integrity LLC, and that the company and Smith were clients of the firm in ‘this context,’” Lee O. Sanderlin reported for The Baltimore Banner.
Patterson did not immediately respond to WYPR’s questions on the lawsuit. Smith did not return any comments through his representation.
Patterson also ran as the Republican City Council president candidate in 2020 but lost to Democrat Nick Mosby.
Thanks to a newly passed redistricting map, in May each councilmanic district will represent around 42,000 people: this plan puts that number at around 70,000.
Morgan argues the proposed amendment would make council people more responsive.
“They (council members) cannot simply rely on that one slice of the population that they picked out, put them in office, they are now going to have to be responsive to a much more diverse community, or else not get reelected,” she said.
Like the city’s current redistricting process, this proposal still puts the power to draw councilmanic districts almost solely in the hands of the mayor. The mayor’s plan would then have to be approved by the council within 60 days, as is currently stated in the charter.
The group says their proposal sizes the council like Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, which each have seven representatives. Baltimore County, however, is having conversations about expanding its council to meet a growing population. Baltimore city’s population is declining and as of the last census, sits at around 585,708 people.
Roger Hartley, the Dean of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore, says he sees merits in the argument to downsize but also concerns that it may not actually be cost-effective.
“Many of us would be arguing if this happens, that those Council offices will need more funding, more staff, and more infrastructure to serve,” said Hartley.
Hartley also worries how shrinking the council could shift demographic representation in historically racially segregated Baltimore. Then, he wonders how a smaller council works with the city’s strong mayor system.
He said it could potentially give the mayor more power, “... Meaning fewer representatives to press the mayor's office on issues when they disagree. On the other hand, fewer would allow them to target their voices and consolidate their voices from Council.”
Others disagree.
Kurt Schmoke, a former Baltimore mayor and current University of Baltimore president, thinks the council size should be evaluated every ten years after the census (the last time the council size was changed was in 2002 when it was reduced down from 18 members).
“The real issue has to do with the powers of the council, not the size,” Schmoke told WYPR. “If this amendment passes and the council size is eight, but their powers remain the same, that should not have an impact on the Mayor.”
The Board of Elections is verifying the signatures on the PEACE petition. Then, the question goes to voters in November.
