Dixon indicted (Baltimore: city hall, loans, neighborhood)

[mrboltonman]

Those aren't pet projects and are to help the city with extra revenue.

It's not her fault the USA economy fell off a cliff (you can blame the Bush administration for that one in my opinion). Baltimore has done pretty well compared to other cities. It's a shame that there is a budget short fall and she had to make difficult choices.

I don't agree with her giving herself a raise and others last year "when leaders are freezing pay for midlevel managers and slashing overtime for police officers and firefighters". After people started complaining she said she would donate it but too late in my opinion and shows her character.
Dixon defends pay raise | Inside Charm City: Baltimore, Maryland blog

We'll see what comes out of this trial. It's costing tax payers a lot of money so I'm going to be pissed if it's just wasting time. What happens to the prosecution if she is found not guilty? I would like them to have some kind of punishment.

[emsgoof]

What revenue? Even people that already run urban slots parlors think Baltimore's plan is based in fantasy, not fact.
Analyst: City Slots Revenues Won't Reach Estimates - Baltimore News Story - WBAL Baltimore (http://www.wbaltv.com/news/21395574/detail.html - broken link)
It's very simple. Stop all the pet projects, go back to basics, fund the necessary infrastructure, put some of the remainder away for savings ("rainy day"), and then the left over can be used for little projects. Face it, the city had spent the money before it was even in their pocket, and it bit them in the butt.

[mrboltonman]

When the slots are built then the revenue will come. The location should work out nicely. I agree that the amount will be less most likely but could over time be more.

Government needs to be more fiscally responsible but projects do need to be supported for growth. It's a happy medium that is difficult to achieve.

[Tallybalt]

I write this as a long time Baltimore City resident:

I am not a fan of Sheila Dixon. She rubs me off in the wrong way, her endless cries of “I’m the victim!” when her hands were clearly in the till.

But she has been an excellent mayor for Baltimore, far more so than the predecessor O’Malley. Sheila has been committed to improving not only her financial circumstances but Baltimore as well. The quality of life in the city has noticeably improved during her tenure, and it’s more than just the physical appearances of paved streets and landscaping.

It comes down to that she actually can get things done in Baltimore. She brought in a police chief that is still the police chief (remember the revolving door police chiefs of O’Malley’s administration?). She brought in a school superintendent that has actually done wonders with the city schools. Remember that Alonzo’s first act was to tackle the North Avenue hierarchy and teacher’s union. For one week there were veiled threats in the papers made by the established bureaucrats and union leaders, then suddenly they disappeared without even a whimper. Why? Because Sheila Dixon stood behind Alonzo. Amazingly so, the schools have been on a steady upward swing.

Despite the discovery of missing monies and less than efficient bookkeeping, Sheila Dixon has kept the city finances in pretty good shape. This is a large, complex and dysfunctional city, and Sheila Dixon, Joan Pratt and Stephanie Rawling Blake form a very effective triumvirate that have been efficient at getting projects and policies accomplished. They haven’t caused racial problems. The city is not in excessive debt. City spending isn’t spiralling out of control. Dixon took the bullet and made unpopular financial decisions including cutting police funding when there just wasn’t the money for it (and that’s when crime started going back up, but it was a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation).

For a long time Baltimore had an honest mayor, Kurt Schmoke, who was a nice guy but who couldn’t get anything accomplished because he was unable to face the unions and the established city interests. Then we had O’Malley, who didn’t have a bad heart but his interests were clearly focused on higher offices and his governing style was geared towards flashy immediate results damn the long term consequences. With Sheila Dixon we found someone who was actually committed to Baltimore beyond the four or eight years of political office, and it has made a difference.

It saddens me that Dixon destroyed herself by resorting to petty unethical decisions regarding the gift cards and her lover, but she wasn’t embezzling from the city. She didn’t kill anyone. The sum of monies involved is incredibly minor. Had I lived in Howard County or Carroll County and she was my elected official, I’d be screaming for her head. Actually, she would have been forced out on the first day.

But this is Baltimore City. I am resigned to the facts: we have a very competent mayor who’s dedicated to the city in a way no other politician on the scene really is (come on, for those of you who want to see Dixon go, who are the alternatives?). There have been big city mayors in other places that committed far worse theft and criminal activities and got away with it. Sheila Dixon is baby fries by comparison and I would be satisfied if she had just admitted to making an error from day one, paid a nominal fine, and continued doing what she did fairly well: governing Baltimore.

[medfieldbum]

Tally---She cannot admit to any criminal activity and still be mayor. Should she be convicted of a crime, state law requires her to leave office---and I'm pretty sure she also forfeits her pension.

And, you know, I agree with what you're saying: most people feel she's been a pretty effective and engaged mayor. And, I think, at the end of the day, the jury (or at least one member of the jury) is gonna say: "yeah, what she did was wrong, but she's suffered enough humiliation, and I'm not going to vote to convict". I might be wrong, but at this point, I think she's going to have a hung jury this time around--at worst.

[Dbatiste]

Originally Posted by medfieldbum

Tally---She cannot admit to any criminal activity and still be mayor. Should she be convicted of a crime, state law requires her to leave office---and I'm pretty sure she also forfeits her pension.

And, you know, I agree with what you're saying: most people feel she's been a pretty effective and engaged mayor. And, I think, at the end of the day, the jury (or at least one member of the jury) is gonna say: "yeah, what she did was wrong, but she's suffered enough humiliation, and I'm not going to vote to convict". I might be wrong, but at this point, I think she's going to have a hung jury this time around--at worst.

If she leaves the office or resign from her position who will take her place?

[emsgoof]

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

[Tallybalt]

True, if convicted she would have to leave office.

What she should have done when the whole gift card scandal broke out was to issue some statement over "confusion," blame some poor intern, agree to pay some fine, and all done before formal charges were brought against her. Had she done so, this affair would have been mooted from the beginning. This type of scenario happens frequently enough in other places and I imagine it would have no more than a bad week in the papers for her.

Originally Posted by medfieldbum

Tally---She cannot admit to any criminal activity and still be mayor. Should she be convicted of a crime, state law requires her to leave office---and I'm pretty sure she also forfeits her pension.

And, you know, I agree with what you're saying: most people feel she's been a pretty effective and engaged mayor. And, I think, at the end of the day, the jury (or at least one member of the jury) is gonna say: "yeah, what she did was wrong, but she's suffered enough humiliation, and I'm not going to vote to convict". I might be wrong, but at this point, I think she's going to have a hung jury this time around--at worst.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by barante

I don't know what stellar means in politics, but Sheila Dixon's performance as a mayor has been quite remarkable. I have been a steady critic of her over the years -- and my newspaper articles prove that, but I never expected her to be this good. She and her administration have been able to perform under all this stress!
As to a mink coat and other stuff, I would be surprised if there is a jury in Baltimore City that will convict her. We'll see. Every woman (of various races) that I have asked about the criminality of receiving a mink from a boyfriend has declared her innocent. Many have said they always wanted a mink but no boyfriend/husband ever gave one. Vox populi.

That is my point..it would seem based on the charges that she is of these 'big city' politicians that have feathered their nest off of public funds. The charges are damning in terms of some character traits, but at the end of the day.. Northern Parkway is getting paved, the City is recycling, trails are being built and the City is exploring other opportunties such as soccer stadiums, possibly a new track, eventually a new arena etc....though we still have to find ways to pay for them. I am deeply disappointed on what has happened with the Mayor.. I can only hope that in her calling as Mayor is free of some of what has been uncovered when she was City Council President. She seems passionate and concerned about the City which is something that this town needs.

[emsgoof]

I honestly can't believe what I'm reading. She breaks the law, and people look the other way because of a few paving projects and recycling? This is why politicians think the law doesn't apply to them. Look at the basics here... the law applies just like every other person. Only when politicians realize they're responsible to the people, and not the other way around, will true reform begin.