A former U.S. Treasury Department official in the Obama administration and T. Rowe Price executive has entered Baltimore City’s crowded mayor’s race.
Miller, 64, told Baltimore Fishbowl she hopes to use her experience in urban development and finance to tackle the city’s thorniest issues — boosting the economy while reducing poverty and crime. She plans to outline her vision and unveil her campaign team tonight at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.
“I’m quite concerned about Baltimore at the moment,” Miller says. “We’re at a point now where we’re losing population. Crime is the number one issue. That’s creating so much apprehension.” Baltimore last year witnessed its highest per capita death rate on record.
Miller was the first woman to hold the title of Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the U.S. Treasury, where she developed and coordinated Treasury policies. She also spent more than two decades at T. Rowe Price, where she was director of the fixed income division and ran a municipal bond fund that gave her a “window into local governments.” She is currently a fellow at the 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins University and has a graduate degree in city and regional planning.
While the 33-year Guilford resident and Ivy League-educated mother of two has worked in the public sector, she realizes she faces an uphill battle as someone who hasn’t held public office in Baltimore and as a white candidate in a majority-black city. She says she plans to meet with community groups to reach as many people as possible and boost her name recognition.
Mary Miller will face off in the Democratic primary against Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young, City Council President Brandon M. Scott, former mayor Sheila Dixon, state Sen. Mary L. Washington, former police spokesman T.J. Miller, former state and federal prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah among others.
“I have to be on the ground for the next four months. It’s a sprint,” she said.
You had me at “… has a graduate degree in city and regional planning.” That’s exactly the kind of person that Baltimore needs as mayor. It sets her head and shoulders above every other candidate.
Mayor Jack Young has come across as shockingly unqualified and not ready for the role of mayor — his response to the city’s violence by saying it wasn’t his fault and that he didn’t commit the crimes speaks to how closely he holds himself accountable (or not) for the city’s crime issues. Sheila Dixon she was once a great and promising mayor but I feel she never really explained herself over the scandal. It’s been all downhill since she left office and I partly blame her for that — her undoing left the city without a strong leader through some very tough times. She kept saying the truth was going to come out but that ever happened. I want to vote for her but I feel the city deserves better.
Thiru Vignarajah seems to want the job more than anyone else and while he has a reputation as a tough prosecutor, tough prosecutions won’t solve all of our problems. Our issues are wide-ranging. We need someone who really knows what they’re doing and can clean house. I don’t know if Mary Miller can do that but at least her background speaks to finance, economics, and policy, which is something the other candidates barely discuss beyond throwing money at something. Ms. Miller will need to have an aggressive approach to crime if she wants to stand a chance.
Very good comment.
Is this candidate willing to address the real issue in Baltimore City which is The Baltimore City Master Plan. Taking money from neighborhoods and pouring it into downtown has created the crime problem and the decline in population.