David Simon, the creator of “Wire,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “The Corner” and, most recently, “The Deuce,” has thrown his hat into the primary election for the Maryland State Senate seat in District 11, endorsing Democratic challenger Sheldon H. Laskin over the incumbent Sen. Bobby Zirkin.
On Twitter, Simon pointed to Zirkin’s comprehensive crime bill from the most recent General Assembly session that, among other things, would have instituted mandatory minimums for people convicted of a second violent crime. The bill failed, but a watered-down version still including the sentencing provision did pass.
Mr. Laskin is now running for state senate against Mr. Zirkin. who wants Maryland to return to our worst days of zero tolerance, mass arrest, mandatory minimum sentences. These things destroyed families, neighborhoods — and quality law enforcement in Baltimore. Join this fight. https://t.co/f8HM35vvfN
— David Simon (@AoDespair) April 17, 2018
The Laskin campaign will be holding an event on April 22 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Pikesville that will include remarks from Simon, Doug Colbert, a professor at the University of Maryland Law School and director of the Access to Justice Clinic; and former Maryland Attorney General Stephen Sachs, who the campaign says is also endorsing Laskin.
Laskin has pitched himself as a more progressive candidate, hammering Zirkin on the crime bill, backed by Gov. Larry Hogan, and for holding up a bill that would have prohibited local law enforcement from helping with immigration enforcement. Laskin has also joined a campaign calling on longstanding, highly powerful Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to “take a hike.”
District 11 stretches from Owings Mills to Hunt Valley in Baltimore County, with its southernmost point running along the city-county line outside Northwest Baltimore. But as advocates and lawyers have said, Zirkin’s crime bill would disproportionately affect the city.
Baltimore Fishbowl has reached out to the Zirkin campaign for comment.
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