BALTIMORE MAYOR SHELIA DIXON, INDICTED ON CHARGES

// January 10th, 2009 // Hott Look@Politics

rob from the rich and steal from the poor …?

“I am being unfairly accused. Time will prove that I have done nothing wrong, and I am confident that I will be found innocent of these charges.”

BY John Charles Reedburg

What’s up with all of these crooked politicians?

Now I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger, but Baltimore Mayor SHEILA DIXON ain’t messin’ with no broke contractors — at least according to an indictment filed against her today. According to the Baltimore Sun,

Dixon has been charged with four counts of perjury, three counts of theft and four counts of fraud and misconduct. She is accused of accepting massive payments and gifts from Baltimore developer Ronald H. Lipscomb (known as Developer A in the indictment). She was seeing Lipscomb romantically from 2003-2004 while both were married to other people, though they were separated at the time. Dixon, a 55-year-old Democrat and mainstay of the Baltimore political landscape, is accused of giving him preferential treatment in handing out contracts.

But it doesn’t stop there.

What’s worse is that Dixon is accused of culling gift cards that were donated to her office to be distributed to impoverished families and using them to buy videogames, CDs, DVDs and a whole bunch of other crap she picked up at Toys R Us, Circuit City and Old Navy.

The indictment, issued by the Maryland State Prosecutor, asserts that from 2004-2007, Dixon went on annual Christmas-time shopping sprees with the donated gift cards. 2006, in particular, must have been a banner year for Dixon. That year, Dixon’s office had 18 gift cards each from Best Buy, Circuit City, Old Navy, and Giant Food grocery store.

Dixon used 11 of the Best Buy cards, five of the Circuit Citys, two of the Old Navys and one of the Giants. The indictment doesn’t say whether any of the cards actually made it to any needy families, but it does mention that Dixon packed up several of the cards and gave them away as gifts. Among the items Dixon purchased that year: XBox 360 Need for Speed bundle, iPod USB adapter, PlayStation Portable, iPod Nano clear silicon case and a pink and silver iPod Nano Bling.

Personally, I’d like to know what she was doing at Old Navy. The indictment goes on to explain one situation where she emptied a $2,000 gift certificate at a local furrier. Does she really need to steal needy families’ Old Navy cards so she can pick up some sensible jeans and a fleece jacket?

This has been a rough couple months for Democrats. I’ve watched the last eight years pass by with mostly Republican scandals popping up, but after Edwards, Blagojevich, Richardson, and now this, I think it’s abundantly clear that political corruption is a bipartisan affliction.

After finding out Blagojevich shook down an orphanage for political contributions and now that Dixon stole from needy families so she could buy an X-Box, Larry Craig doesn’t seem so bad. I’d much rather have a closeted, gay Republican (who happens to be into anonymous men’s room encounters) in office than someone who robs orphans and poor families.

Dixon has decided not to stay silent about the scandal. Instead, she issued the following statement today: There is something I want to tell the citizens of this great city about the charges that the State Prosecutor has brought against me today.

”For the past two years, I have done my best to serve the City of Baltimore as Mayor, and I will continue to do so. I will not let these charges deter me from keeping Baltimore on the path that we have set, or from carrying forward the significant progress we have made thus far.

I am being unfairly accused. Time will prove that I have done nothing wrong, and I am confident that I will be found innocent of these charges. But, for the moment, I cannot comment further on the allegations that have been made against me. Instead, my attorneys will address these matters on my behalf.

I want to make it clear, though, that I will continue to put all of my energies into running the City of Baltimore during these perilous economic times. And with God’s grace, I am confident that the city, my family and I will weather this storm.”