Sheila Dixon Guilty of Embezzlement

So, herroner may not be herroner much longer:

Jurors in the theft trial of Sheila Dixon convicted the Baltimore mayor Tuesday on a single charge of taking gift cards intended for the city's poor.

Although Dixon was acquitted of a felony theft charge, her misdemeanor conviction could force her from office.

Jurors deliberated more than six days after hearing the Democrat was accused of using or keeping $630 worth of gift cards. She allegedly solicited most of the cards from a wealthy developer and then bought electronics at Best Buy, clothes at Old Navy and other items at Target.

The jury convicted her on one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and acquitted her on two counts of felony theft and one count of misconduct in office. Jurors failed to reach a verdict on another count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary. The conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but prosecutors have not decided whether they will seek jail time.

Is it just me, or is this a remarkably small bit of graft with which to sink one's own career?

Also note that some point she gets removed from office:

Under state law, Dixon would be suspended at sentencing if the conviction is related to her official duties. She would be removed permanently if she loses all her appeals. City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is in line to be elevated to the mayor's office, and remaining council members would pick a new president.

I kind of figured that there would be a conviction when she did not testify. Notwithstanding the constitution saying that refusal to testify cannot be used against you, Juries generally do convict when the defendant does not testify.

Local Pol Goes Full Maryland

Former Baltimore, Maryland States Attorney Maryland Mosby was found guilty of 2 counts of perjury.

She lied on forms to get Covid relief to buy a home in Florida.

Before that, then Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh was convicted of corruption charges related to selling her self-published children's book.

Before that, then Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon was convicted of corruption charges related to stealing over $3,000 in gift cards intended for poor families.

Do you see a thread here?  I do.

It's all incredibly skeevy, and incredibly low rent.

This is some seriously low rent corruption.

I get that the state that gave us Spiro Agnew, Marvin Mandel, Ruthann Aron, and Stevenson Archer can't always swing for the fences, but lately this has been some pretty penny-ante corruption.

Step up your game.  At least 6 figures, or, as in the case of Aron, hire a hitman.

Dixon, Pugh, and Mosby are an affront to Maryland's proud history of corruption.

The next corrupt pol needs to bring their A-game.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's Former Campaign Chairman Pleads Guilty to Tax Charges

Maryland is not Sweden, and the plea by Dale G. Clark for not reporting computer consulting fees is no surprise.

Clark is a close friend and frequent staffer of Dixon.

He will also "cooperate in the state prosecutor's probe into no-bid contracts at City Hall", which implies that her honor is at least being looked at.

Seeing as how she has been reprimanded by the ethics commission at least twice for improperly employing relatives, we may be approaching a "pass the popcorn" moment in Baltimore City Hall.

I'm rather dubious about any involvement by Martin O'Malley, as they already tried to dig up stuff in his race for the Governor, and the best they could come up with was making up rumors about marital problems, and that was with a political hack in the US Attorney's office up here.

New Mayor in Baltimore

Sheila Dixon's resignation as Mayor of Baltimore became effective yesterday, and she was sentenced to probation by the judge, while she was replaced by City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as mayor.

As to my take on this: Dixon appeared to be an effective mayor, but she was always small scale corrupt, it seemed that every 2-3 years, you had her getting caught putting relatives on the payroll or steering work to firms that employed her friends and relatives.

As to Ms. Rawlings-Blake, she has always seemed kind of a non-entity, somebody who is where she was because her father, the late Howard "Pete" Rawlings, was a major power in Maryland politics.

Well, seeing as how we have what could be one of the largest blizzards on record for the area rolling in on us, she gets a baptism by fire.

It's a Primary Night

There was a general election in Ferguson, Missouri, and they have elected their first black, and first woman, as mayor.

Maybe now, they will stop preying on their poor black citizens for revenue.

Also, in a development that leaves me with mixed emotions, racist dirtbag Steve King lost his Congressional primary in Iowa. I'm glad that he's gone, but it will make it harder to flip the seat to the Democrats in November.

Finally, in the "I'm so glad that I no longer live in Baltimore City," news, fresh from a probation stint for corruption plea, Sheila Dixon has apparently been elected again as Mayor of Baltimore.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the case, was caught using gift cards that were intended to be used for poor children's Christmas gifts.

Putting the "Petty" in petty corruption, I guess.

A Little Bit of Local Corruption

Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon is going on trial November 9 for theft and perjury.

I will have to say that this case, which is about the disposition of Best Buy gift cards, and failure to disclose gifts, is really kind of embarrassing.

In New Jersey, you have wide spread corruption involving envelopes of cash and the sale of human organs, and the best that Baltimore can manage is ...... purloined gift cards????

I mean really, this is kind of lame.....I understand that corruption is evil, and needs to be weeded out, but this is just lame.

Also, I understand the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing, but she has been repeatedly reprimanded by the ethics commission repeatedly, over a period of years for doing things like employing relatives, so I am disinclined to believe defense counsel.

Well, I Expected This....

Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon has been indicted on, "12 counts of felony theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office."

Considering the fact that she has been repeatedly reprimanded for granting favors to friends and family by the ethics board, and that she has been under investigation for some time, it was inevitable.

I Think that Herroner is Going to Jail

So the trial of Baltimore Mayor is over, with the defense resting today, so we have final arguments, juror instructions, and then it's in the Jury's hands.

I haven't followed it that closely, but I'm thinking that we will see a conviction, because Sheila Dixon did not testify.

I know that it's not supposed to happen, but when a political figure is on trial, and refuses to testify, your average jury does hold it against them.

Background here.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's House Raided

I was wondering when this shoe would drop.

My take is that she likely did something wrong, though whether it rises to the level of a major crime, I don't know, because she has a long history of nepotism and favors for friends and relatives, see here and here, and she has done this repeatedly.

It should be an interesting few months.