The Mayor, the Man and the Alford Plea

On Wednesday, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned as Mayor after accepting a plea deal with prosecutors. Dixons resignation takes effect February 4 with the current City Council President, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake taking over. Dixon has been Mayor of Baltimore for nearly three years. She became the first female mayor for Baltimore in January of 2007 when Martin O'Malley was elected govenor of Maryland. Prior to being mayor, Ms. Dixon had been on the City council since 1987 and was City Council president in 1997.

　

Dixon's first of two trials was in November for charges of stealing gift cards of nearly $500.00 that had been donate to the city and to be given to the needy. The theft occured while Dixon was still the president of the City Council. Her second trial WAS scheduled for March for two counts of perjury. It was claimed the the Baltimore mayor accepted gifts of furs, travel, money, etc. from a developer by the name of Ron Lipscomb. Lipscomb, in return received tax breaks from the city. Dixon and Lipscomb dated in 2003 and 2004.

So, on Wednesday Mayor Sheila Dixon entered an Alford plea to a charge of perjury. Now, this means the Ms. Dixon admits that there is enough evidence to convict her of charges but does not, however, acknowledge the guiltiness For all of this Dixon received probation before judgement. IF she follows the conditions set before her, Dixon will do no jail time. She was also given 4 years of probation, 500 hours of community service, plus she makes a charitable donation of $45,000.00. Some of her furs will be sold. She will pay her own legal fees and cannot seek employment in the city or state for two years. However, she will keep her pension of $83,000 She returns to court on February 4 to oficially accept her probation before judgement.

WOW!

And on Monday, on the good old easter shore, the famous Billy Burke, owner of the Pocomoke Tattler, went to trial for taping a conversation with the mayor of Pocomoke City on the steps of city hall. He faced felony wiretapping charges but accepted the Alford plea resulting in lesser charges. For years Mr. Burke has tried to prove corruption and other types of wrong doings within Pocomoke's city hall. His fashion of "pounding the pulpit", to convince the citizens of Pocomoke that there is actually corruption in Pocomoke City, has resulted in NO proof of corruption in that town even after months and months of his "preachings" that (according to Burke) it is indeed there.

　

What a twist. Here we have a "big town" mayor going to trial for being a thief by taking from the citizens of Baltimore and at the same time accepting wonderous gifts for the exchange of tax breaks. It has been proven that this occurred.

Then we have the "small town" citizen being drug into court by the towns mayor for a taped recording. But the "small town" citizen, Billy Burke, did try to get his message across about corruption in city hall the day of his trial with the playing of the tape (recorded that day) in which Mayor admitted and laughed about the city manager destroying public government documents. It has NEVER been proven that this occurred. Further more, it has never been proven that anything Mr. Burke "preaches" about ever occurred.

Just seems to me that if Mr. Burke wants to take the mayor serious and move, that Baltimore might be the place to go. If it's corruption, true corruption, you're still looking for I'd say that might be the place.