Mayor Designee Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

Despite the latest corruption scandal that has finally gone to bed, Baltimore is more than just a conglomeration of pamper content.

We are resilient. We are loving and kind. We are resourceful. Hard-core to the bone, yet we have a sense of humanity and an affinity for that which is good … and genuine.

Yep, real recognizes real in this part of the world. And yesterday’s press conference by Baltimore’s new Mayor Designee Stephanie Rawlings-Blake gave – for those who attended – an inside peep at the true stuff we Baltimoreans are made of.

A day after Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned (http://www.bmorenews.com/video/baltimore-mayor-sheila-dixon-steps-down-1610.shtml), Rawlings-Blake took the stage as a true professional who has been groomed her whole life for a career of public service. I submit, it was refreshing to see the essence of Baltimore in action.

The legendary Mary Pat Clarke was in the house – showing her support ( http://www.bmorenews.com/video/baltimore-city-councilwoman-mary-pat-clarke-commen.shtml. Legendary? Yes! This is the woman who spent the night in the projects – and many of us will never ever forget that. Plus, she loves Bmore!

Another legend spoke to us (www.bmorenews.com). That would be Baltimore City Councilman Bobby Curran (  http://www.bmorenews.com/video/baltimore-city-councilman-bobby-curran-comments-on.shtml). Uncle Bobby gave it to us like only he can – a man with so much knowledge of this city and even more love for it. He said, among his thoughts on the mayoral transition, that the budget is still the beast to be slayed.

And there were others who gave their notions and hopes, including the new kid on the block – Baltimore City Councilman Bill Cole. A white guy running a black district, Cole certainly has his eyes – let’s say – on higher heights and deeper depths.

Ok, ok. Wanna know if he is running citywide in 2011? Click here  http://www.bmorenews.com/video/baltimore-city-councilman-bill-cole-comments-on-ma.shtml.

In short, the press conference demonstrated more than anything Baltimore is headed back on track … without missing a beat. Great job, folks!

Race, politics, sex and scandal

By Doni Glover,

www.bmorenews.com

(BALTIMORE – December 2, 2009) – Politics is the process of determining who gets what, when and where. Economics is the allocation of scarce resources. Hence, political economy is the study of the inter-relationship between politics and money, i.e. business.

On that note and in light of the devastating sequence of recent legal events surrounding the trial of Baltimore’s first woman mayor – who happens to be black – the interrelationship of politics and money once again arises.

Political scandal, sadly, is nothing new to Maryland politics. It is unfortunately a reality.

On Monday, April 26, 1954, TIME Magazine reported on the scandal involving Thomas Ludwig John “Tommy” D’Alesandro, Jr. and his involvement with Dominic Piracci, a contractor. At issue was the city’s garage building business, in which Piracci wielded much power.

Former Governor Marvin Mandel is another example of a politician getting caught up in ‘inappropriate behavior by a public official’. According to the Baltimore Sun’s website: “The negative highlight of Mandel’s governorship was his 1977 fraud conviction. He was found guilty on 17 counts of mail fraud and two counts of racketeering for allegedly accepting gifts and bribes from racetrack investors in return for his influence.” The track was Marlboro.

Such political scandals don’t stop here in Maryland. They happen all over, including the latest in Detroit with the city’s first “hip hop” mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, who will be forever known as the guy who was texting way too much information, and in Illinois with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Blagojevich’s charges, according to the Chicago Tribune, include “Pocketing money funneled through his wife through a phony real estate job. Shaking down a powerful congressman. Running the state as a racket.” Further, this happened just after the nation elected its first black President … also from Illinois.

So, while there has been progress in American politics, it appears as though political meltdowns are still a part of political reality. And they transcend race, party and sex. As Lord Acton penned in a letter in 1877 to Bishop Mandell Creighton, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Such was the case yesterday as the media went buck wild crazy in Baltimore. Reporters and anchors alike were scrambling to catch juror number 3 and juror number 11 – both of whom are women.

Consequently, the public finally got a taste of what it must have been like to serve on such a jury as the one faced by Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon as she was ultimately found guilty on one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary. The charge is spending $500 in gift cards. She could still serve as mayor for months to come.

The next trial, this time for perjury, is set for March.

ANALYSIS

According to a bmorenews.com poll, the majority voted correctly: 57% said she was guilty. 43% voted not guilty.

From an opinion standpoint, the trial was outrageous all the way around the board. Having been found guilty, it is clear that the Mayor failed to do the right thing. From the testimonies, former boyfriend and contractor Ron Lipscomb of Doracon used gifts to woo her. Given that Doracon does business with the city, he should have been smarter and had more respect for himself .. and women.

And the drama even goes on up the food chain to indict people like businessman and big time political donor John Paterakis with whom Lipscomb conducts business.

Another businessman and contractor involved was Pat Turner. Although he was not charged with any crime, his testimony ended up being the basis for the conviction against the Mayor. He said he sent her some gift cards in an unmarked envelope to her office at City Hall. The defense argued the Mayor didn’t know the wiser, and figured they were from Lipscomb since he had a pattern of sending unmarked gifts.

Interestingly, gift cards were found in the Mayor’s house in a raid one morning in the June of last year – along with items she purchased with gift cards, like a camcorder. By the way, the gift cards were supposed to be for needy children.

From another angle, the state prosecutor, Robert Rohrbaugh, has spent $2 million of tax payer dollars in the midst of the worst economic times when people are being furloughed and unemployed all to prove the Mayor clipped some gift cards. The total was under 2 grand.

On one hand, the argument from local leftist blacks is that Rohrbaugh is only after black Democratic elected officials – including Baltimore County Councilman Ken Oliver, Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen Holton, and Delegate Clarence “Tiger” Davis.

Others go deeper. Theirs is the prism of partisanship. They argue that Rohrbaugh is an appointee by former Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who became Maryland’s first Republican governor in 36 years in 2002 when he beat out Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D). The thought is that Rohrbaugh is actually geared to take down – or at least maim or injure Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) – so Ehrlich can win back the State House. (Boy, you gotta’ give it to those Republicans. They are relentless even in Maryland, a 2-to-1 Democratic state!)

After all, Ehrlich, who lost to Gov. O’Malley in 2006, is expected to re-run against him next year in 2010.

Finally, there are those who view this as a simple case of getting one’s hand caught in the cookie jar.

As for me, I don’t know. From U-Tech’s Mildred “Missy” Boyer’s indictment in 2006 to Dale Clarke’s indictment in 2007, this has been a 3-year sojourn through a field of crap. The word is that the Mayor’s sister (when the Mayor was City Council President) worked for Boyer and yet, Dixon was voting on contracts that would go to U-Tech. Clarke is a former boyfriend of Dixon’s and was said to have received a half-million dollars in contracts from the City on which he failed to file taxes. Coming in small increments of money, some suggest that Dixon could not have acted alone.

As a black man raised on the streets of Baltimore, I can see how some view this whole thing purely as a racial attack on black elected officials. However, I can also see where this is even more about what political party runs the State House. Yet, I can even fathom the notion of doing what you got to do so that your business can prosper – even at the expense of a political career … or two. It’s called “collateral damage.”

On the other hand, common sense suggests what my elders have always taught me: Because you are black, you have to be twice as good as the white guy, cross all your T’s and dot all your I’s. Therefore, you should know that you will be in the spotlight as an elected official no sooner than when the votes are tallied. You should know better.

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Lately, Robinson has been covering the trial of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon.

When asked his thoughts, he replied, “I’m disgusted with the trial.”

He said, “I think a politician’s gotta do better because the youth of the city are watching. They are taking their cues from the adults and to kind of air your dirty laundry in a public forum is sad.”

When asked to elaborate, he stated, “Basically, women are running the city. I’m not suggesting there’s some kid out there watching, listening and saying, I can do this … but without the role modeling, the challenge of being a politician is greater. At the end of the day, you either emulate someone or you blaze a new path. You decide that I can’t be like this man. And isn’t that tragic. The first African American woman mayor is under suspicion. You have to hold yourself to a higher standard. I go back to the Parren Mitchell’s of the world. He knew he had to set a different standard and a higher standard. To understand PJ’s mindset, know that he looked to his brother, Clarence, Sr. He was considered the 101^st US Senator because of his lobbying efforts.”

Robinson insists that adults in Baltimore have to do a better job. Even more, political leadership is slipping.

Robinson continued, “Elijah [Cummings] understands the importance of black political power. And that comes from not just emulating people, but finding people of like minds. Cummings came of age during the turbulent 60’s where black power was the new mantra and there was a new political paradigm. He is also in the hotbed of where black political power is being lived and debated: Howard University. He’s there when Stokely Carmichael is there. And those folks who came of age in that era made a conscious decision to not just go along to get along, but to stand up for African Americans without being afraid.”

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(BALTIMORE – November 22, 2009) – I was invited this morning to WBAL TV-11 (NBC) this morning to discuss the case of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. To say the least, it was a terribly uncomfortable conversation. To talk about a person’s future is not my favorite thing to do. However, as a political analyst, it comes with the job.

Hence, as WBAL’s Lisa Robinson proceeded with her line of questioning, the focus was on what will likely happen if the mayor emerges victoriously from the current trial and the perjury trial scheduled for the early part of next year.

“Can she be re-elected?”, asked Robinson.

My response: The mayor is a Christian and therefore knows that we “can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” So, the answer is a definite yes. However, there will have to be some critical changes.

For one, the mayor will have to redefine herself. The operative term is “damage control.” And in order to do that, in my best estimation, is going back to the things which got her elected in the first place, i.e. re-hiring Anthony McCarthy.

An incredibly brilliant spokesperson, I personally believe that McCarthy has enough of an understanding of what the people need to hear and also a great knowledge of how to translate Mayor Dixon’s message of hope.

Currently, an unflattering picture of the mayor has been painted.

With that, there appears to be two camps – as noted in prior columns: one is die-hard supporters; the other is full of critics – unbound by racial innuendos and the victim mentality.

Hence, Mayor Dixon would have to make an effort to reconnect with the citizenry, beginning with the black community.

Robinson also alluded to Mayor-for-Life Marion Barry in the District of Columbia.

With first-hand knowledge of Barry, I can attest that he is accessible, he is aware of the needs of the people – beginning in Ward 8 in Southeast DC, and he is still known as a champion for their causes. He got people jobs, he made new black millionaires, and is the lone political power that helped build a Prince George’s County – the richest black jurisdiction in the nation.

Mayor Dixon, in my opinion, has not scratched the surface in that realm. Yes, black contractors have gotten richer, but very little can be said of new, emerging black business owners. From black funeral directors to beauty salons to barber shops, the mayor must let black business owners know that she has their back and that she is, in fact, in touch with their plight. FYI, these three industries are the last bastion of black economic prowess in the black community and are all under attack in some way, shape or form.

From conglomerates to powerful Korean-owned monopolies, black business owners have more than their share of challenges.

Even more, one glance at the Inner Harbor and I cannot readily identify one black-owned business in this a majority black city. Further, there is the case of Tyrone Taborn and the loss of his $10 million Black Engineer of the Year Awards convention that has been shifted to DC over $20,000 for display space. For some, that was an incredibly low blow that is without ample reason. How pathetic and disgraceful can we get?

Marion Barry would not have such. He makes it his business to keep the doors of these businesses open.

Speculation uptown is that more emphasis is placed by Mayor Dixon on the majority community. Again, to her credit, many supporters find the city being run with the precision of a Swiss clock.

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True public servant or totally self-absorbed

By Doni Glover, www.bmorenews.com

(BALTIMORE – November 20, 2009) – Many of us knew when then-City Council President Sheila Dixon was campaigning to be elected as mayor of Baltimore that she had a cloud of suspicion hanging over her head. It was common knowledge that “they” were after her. At the very least, we knew prosecutors believed that they had something on her … AND it wasn’t going to be pretty. Eventually, she would be forced to confront her issues.

Nonetheless, she received the majority of the votes to become mayor. And since then, many see a difference in Baltimore. Crime is being checked, according to locals. The streets are being paved, including Monroe Street. A noticeable difference is clearly underway.

Yet still, people were watching her case unfold on television … intensely at times … all the while wondering if she, the chief exec of this municipality would, in fact, have to answer some otherwise intrusive questions about her decisions, her lifestyle, and everything in between.

To her credit, she has maintained better than the most aggressive of Titans. The city has been run with a precision that many Baltimoreans have not seen in a long time, according to many interviewed this week. Her emotional status appears determined to continue doing the best job possible, regardless of the pack of reporters in her face 24-7. Personally, I think the average person would have cracked a long time ago – including the strongest of men.

So, she indeed has the empathy of many who are otherwise disenfranchised. Many people believe that this whole Dixon case has been a witch hunt by an overzealous prosecutor who, after years of investigation, has only come up with some otherwise petty charges. For instance, when was the last time one can recall seeing a mayor’s home invaded with her personal business all in the streets along with a relentless character assassination such that everybody, including the dog, is wondering if she did take gift cards meant for needy people.

People are asking: How are you not going to know the gift cards in question were meant for the poor? Didn’t you solicit them? Didn’t you tell developers A, B and C that they were for people who might not otherwise have a Christmas?

As others have noted, this case boils down to a question of whether or not the mayor knew what she was doing.

This case is all about the mayor’s character. And the truth is, many people – whether they are influenced by the media or not – are puzzled as to why a person who is making good money and apparently living a good life would allegedly stoop so low. People interviewed this week said that if she did take the gift cards, then that is a cruddy thing to do.

Repeatedly, references have been made to a man just 45 minutes south of here who has been through his own hell: Mayor-for-Life Marion Barry. Has the mayor of Baltimore endeared herself to the people as has Barry? Can she re-emerge from the ashes and reclaim her dignity and her position as the city’s chief exec despite the barrage of criticisms and legal charges? Has she made new black millionaires – even in the midst of the worst economic conditions this country has ever seen?

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