The campaign of Ben Jealous removed a “like” this week by its Twitter account of a six-month-old tweet that characterized corrupt police officers in vulgar terms and mocked #BlueLivesMatter.
A spokesman for the Democratic candidate for Maryland governor said the “like” by @BenJealous was an “accident” by a staffer and that the former president of the NAACP“disavowed” it.
“This tweet was not liked by Ben and certainly doesn’t reflect his views on law enforcement,” Jealous campaign spokesman Kevin Harris said. “As Ben has said on several occasions, he values and respects law enforcement, including the several members of his own family who have worn the badge or are currently serving.”
But Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s campaign seized on the issue Thursday, the same day it announced that the statewide Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed his re-election bid.
“This sort of vulgar and divisive rhetoric is beyond troubling; it’s dangerous,” Hogan campaign spokesman Doug Mayer said in an email to The Baltimore Sun. “It’s outrageously unbecoming for a candidate for governor and an insult to the brave men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line every single day. Ben Jealous owes the law enforcement community an apology.”
