“I am running for mayor of Baltimore in 2024,” former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon announced Sept. 7 in a free political advertisement presented as a “guest commentary” piece in The Baltimore Sun.
“Former.” She’s held the seat before and offers a sanitized explanation for why she gave it up:
“Despite these accomplishments, many of you will remember my time as mayor based primarily on the way that it ended. I have truly made mistakes in my personal life, one of which resulted in a misdemeanor charge that forced my resignation from the job I loved the most.”
What kind of “mistakes”? Were they exclusively in her “personal life”? And why would a mere “misdemeanor charge” “force” her to resign?
“Prosecutors are investigating whether Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon received thousands of dollars in gifts – including fur coats – from a prominent developer whose projects benefited from tax breaks and zoning changes she supported as City Council president,” The Sun reported in 2008. That doesn’t sound like a “mistake.” That sounds like a calculated pattern of sustained behaviors, and while “personal life” benefits are obvious, her decisions were made in her professional life.
It sounds like somebody’s still gaming the system.
After charges against her broke, Dixon, a member of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (itself rife with criminal members convicted of or pleading guilty to charges including “embezzlement, perjury, bribery, extortion, fraud, money laundering, attempted child molestation and child pornography”), set about distracting everyone from her shady dealings with a highly publicized visit accompanying a “police task force” to “homes of gun offenders” (Baltimore under Dixon created a “gun offender registry” along the lines of a “sex offender registry,” ostensibly to reduce violent crime, which, of course, didn’t work.)
It was a brilliant political illusion. Surrounded by police, she created a solid-looking mirage of standing on the side of law and order. And by centering her act on the emotionally charged issue of guns in the community, she kept the audience’s rapt attention focused right where she wanted it–and away from where she did not, which was that:
“[A] grand jury indicted Dixon on 12 counts of theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office… Prosecutors allege that Dixon received more than $15,000 in gifts from [Ronald H. Lipscomb, a developer doing business with the city who pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws and] her one-time boyfriend, while she was City Council president. Dixon is also accused of taking $3,400 worth of gift cards intended for needy families for personal use, as gifts to herself or to staff.”
“In December 2009, a jury found Dixon guilty of embezzlement for misusing gift cards that had been donated to City Hall for charity,” the Associated Press recalls. “Instead of using them to serve the poor, Dixon spent about $500 at Target and Best Buy to purchase things for her family and staff.”
She took from “needy families” and “the poor”…the same ones she’s counting on slick-talking into voting for her again. That was not the end of things.
“The mayor’s lawyers were scheduled to argue for a new trial … but instead reached a deal in the case regarding her recent conviction and her future case involving perjury charges,” Baltimore’s 11 News I-Team reported in 2010. “The mayor entered an Alford plea in the perjury case, meaning she didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged the state has enough evidence against her.”
Dixon will face incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott in the Democrat primary. As she was once a Bloomberg favorite and he is now a MAIG “co-chair,” seeing how the gun prohibition group straddles the endorsement issue will be telling.
The only foregone conclusions:
In spite (or because) of what Giffords calls Maryland’s “strong gun safety laws,” Baltimore’s youth will continue being shot at growing rates and Baltimore’s citizens will continue to get exactly the kind of government they vote for.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
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