LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND

KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND, Lieutenant Governor (Democrat)

State House
Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 974-2804
fax: (410) 974-5252

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Maryland's first woman lieutenant governor, has made it her mission to build safe communities statewide through a comprehensive strategy of effective crime prevention, policing, and punishment. The backbone of the strategy is to create new partnerships between citizens, police, the business and religious communities, and public agencies. To develop and oversee the State's anti-crime efforts, Governor Glendening appointed her Chair of the Cabinet Council on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, which consists of nine cabinet secretaries and the Attorney General.

Through the work of the Cabinet Council and 15 local crime summits she held across Maryland, Lt. Governor Townsend developed the State's first coordinated and comprehensive anti-crime initiative. Hailed by U.S. Attorney General Reno as a national model, the Maryland HotSpot Communities Initiative pulls together previously scattered State agency operations and grant funds to target 36 high-crime and at-risk neighborhoods across Maryland with an unprecedented array of resources for community policing, probation enforcement, nuisance abatement, youth violence prevention, and community mobilization.

Mrs. Townsend spearheaded the establishment of Operation Maryland Cease Fire and the Maryland Community Policing Academy. Cease Fire is the first State Police unit to target illegal gun traffickers. Since its inception in 1995, the unit has confiscated more than 600 assault weapons and other illegal firearms, and closed a gun store that sold weapons traced to a dozen murders. Also a national first, the Maryland Community Policing Academy trains police and citizens together to build the mutual trust that enables communities to shut down open-air drug markets and make lasting reductions in crime and fear.

Lt. Governor Townsend also is working to reform the juvenile justice system so that young offenders are held accountable for their actions. She helped craft and secure passage of legislation that delivers swift sanctions, requires police to notify schools when they arrest students for major offenses, and increases the amount of restitution juveniles pay their victims.

Mrs. Townsend and Governor Glendening have strengthened the adult criminal justice system as well. They pushed legislation to reduce delays in applying the death penalty and instituted a new policy of not granting parole for offenders sentenced to life in prison. The Lt. Governor also is expanding the use of effective intermediate punishments, such as boot camps, home detention, and mandatory drug treatment for nonviolent drug-addicted offenders.

Along with key legislators, Mrs. Townsend has led the campaign to tighten Maryland's drunk driving laws, working to pass legislation that makes it easier to convict motorists caught driving with blood-alcohol levels of .10 or above.

While tough enforcement and punishment are essential, Mrs. Townsend strongly believes that prevention must be an equal priority. Through the Cabinet Council's Task Force on Youth Citizenship and Violence Prevention, she crafted legislation to increase teachers' authority to remove disruptive students from the classroom and establish a statewide student Code of Discipline. Mrs. Townsend created the State's first Character Education Office to establish programs that teach honesty, respect, responsibility, and other ethical behavior. She also has tripled the amount of grant funding targeted to after-school activities for high-risk youth.

As co-chair of the Maryland Family Violence Council, along with State Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Mrs. Townsend issued a comprehensive report detailing legal and policy changes needed to protect victims of domestic violence, hold abusers accountable, and break the cycle of violence between generations. The Council drafted legislation to strengthen civil protection orders and create special probation units to supervise batterers.

Before becoming Lt. Governor, Mrs. Townsend served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice. She was responsible for a billion-dollar budget to support local law enforcement and establish community policing programs across the country.

Committed to providing quality education for all citizens, Mrs. Townsend has taught at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Essex and Dundalk Community Colleges, and the University of Pennsylvania. She was the first Executive Director of the Maryland Student Service Alliance, a public-private partnership she founded with the State Department of Education to inspire young people to serve their communities. Under her leadership, Maryland became the first state in the nation to require that all high school students perform community service. The Alliance also launched Civic Works, an urban service corps which puts young adults to work while teaching critical job skills.

In addition, Mrs. Townsend, a long-time advocate for children and families, serves as Chair of the Governor's Task Force on Children, Youth, and Families Systems Reform. She is a life-long champion of environmental conservation and a strong proponent of international trade and economic development. In all these areas, the Lt. Governor has been actively involved, privately and professionally, publishing articles in the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Washington Monthly, and in several law reviews. Mrs. Townsend is the founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the former chair of the Board of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation. She was elected Chair of the Southern Region of the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors, and the National Democratic Caucus of Lieutenant Governors. She is Chair of the Board of Advisors of Maryland's Character Education Initiative, and past Chair of the Peabody Institute Oversight Committee. Mrs. Townsend serves on the Advisory Board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank), The Johns Hopkins University Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the Institute of Human Virology of the University of Maryland. She also serves on the Board of Partners of Radcliffe College.

Born on July 4, 1951, Mrs. Townsend is the eldest child of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy. Mrs. Townsend is a cum laude graduate of Harvard University and a graduate of the University of New Mexico Law School, where she was an editor of the law review. She has received many honorary degrees. Mrs. Townsend lives in Baltimore County with her husband, David, a professor at St. John's College in Annapolis, and three of their four daughters: Maeve, 17; Kate, 13; and Kerry, 5. Her oldest daughter, 19-year-old Meaghan, is in her sophomore year of college.

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