So many readers question why the Sunpaper continues to downplay Baltimore city’s homicide statistics. But the answer is really pretty clear, isn’t it? The Sun downplayed the statistics so that Mayor O’Malley could be coroneted as governor, which is the same reason O’Malley’s office manipulated the statistics. It was not dead teenagers that the Sunpaper or the mayor were concerned with, it was the mayor of Baltimore’s political ambitions. Now that the coronation is complete, neither the Sunpaper nor the mayor’s office have any idea how to backtrack on this issue. It pretty difficult to tell everyone that the city is in great shape in November, then to admit in January that it is a total disaster. Yes, Baltimore is the most violent city in the nation. And yes, it is little improved under O’Malley, but ssssshhhhhhh, let’s not tell anyone and maybe nobody will notice the body’s piling up.