So Many Angles to the Dixon Probe
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon admitted that the reason she received gifts, such as fur coats, from Doracon Contracting was because the president of the company was her boyfriend. Despite being the boyfriend of then City Council President Sheila Dixon. Despite their “personal relationship”, which included overnight trips together even though both were married to others at the time, Dixon found it acceptable to vote on tax benefits for Doracon President Ronald Lipscomb.
The Baltimore Sun is reporting today that Governor O’Malley’s long time campaign treasurer Martin Cadogan is the resident agent of one of Lipscomb’s companies, bringing the Governor and past-Mayor into the scandal slightly. The story focuses mainly of the $500,000 that Doracon has donated to politicians one way or another. One of the often forgotten areas of donations are federal accounts, were Lipscomb has personally maxed out to just about every Congressional Democrat in the Baltimore area, including $28,500 to each of the Democrat campaign committees.
In the Examiner today there is a great article about the issue with the structure of the Board of Estimates for Baltimore City. The Baltimore City Board of Estimates, similarly like the Maryland Board of Public Works, makes all the decisions regarding contracts for their respective jurisdictions. Unlike the Maryland BPW though, the City Board is controlled by the mayor (having 3/5 votes) whereas the State is divided equally between the Governor, Comptroller, and the Treasurer (who is chosen by the House of Delegates). But moderating that division wouldn’t fix the corruption problem with Mayor Dixon or City Council President Dixon; however, it would make sense though because what is the point of having others vote if one person can control the outcome.
What would fix the problem? Tougher enforcement. A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about future Prince George’s County Executive Candidate Glen Ivey’s tough spot of not prosecuting all the corruption in his county. The point of that article was that politics enters too much into the equation of prosecuting corrupt politicians. I said in that article that Democrats would complain about Rohrbaugh being too political (sure enough David Paulson and Steve Lebowitz started jumping up and down claiming he’s too political) but the local State’s Attorneys, such as Mr. Ivey, are too closely tied to the political power within their county and the State for their future elections.
The sad thing is, when Rohrbaugh comes up with information about an indictment, he has to pass it off to the local State’s Attorney and can only act on it if the local State’s Attorney fails to… so I guess that says something about his acting on this case, and on the Ed St. Johns case.
The other question will be, if Lipscomb or Dixon are indicted or convicted for any activity classified as bribery, will all the money tied to Lipscomb be returned. $500,000 can make or break an election, as O’Malley’s last minute “loan” of the same amount showed. If Lipscomb is flagged as “corrupt” his donations to the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee will make it difficult for Congressman Van Hollen to make the corruption charge against the other party like he planned on. It will also put Frank Kratovil, who plans on accepting about $400,000 from the Committee in a tough spot. The DCCC has enough money though to easily return the $57,000 from Lipscomb and his wife though.
Let’s face it, Dixon claiming Lipscomb as her boyfriend makes it a lot less “criminal” appearing than if he was just a developer giving her presents and her voting favorably for his projects. The idea is that it is just un-ethical or nepotistic behavior, rather than criminally corrupt behavior, even though it is pretty much the same.
There are just so many angles to look at in this case and the early facts, just like the early facts in the Senator Currie case, do not bode well for the elected official.
Again Steve’s problem is–as he loves to boast–that he spins facts to conclusions beyond what they mean. He is also dead silent about Paulson’s malfeasance, which even Laura Vozella now admits.
6-26-08
Note to just the facts. If this website was not available, I would not know as much about the land deals, what is going on in Annapolis and what elected officials are up to.
Once again, if a Mayor, governor or other elected official, be it republican or democrat, is not living up to the promises he made to the citizens that elected him, I would like to know about it. That same official can come right out and explain his actions. If Shelia Dixon got a fur coat from a developer, then that should be in the public eye, this is why we have ethics rules.
You seem to forget the long list of officials that went down. Mandel, Agnew, Broadwater and many others. Do you defend them?
What is needed is accountability from elected officials and it is not being given.
John Gooch
My gosh
Justa had a really bad day.
It started early on Wednesday morning and did not stop until early Thursday morning.
His obsession with this subject is going to kill the old sailor.
Anonymous on June 25th, 2008 at 7:58 pm:
“And THAT is from someone who doesn’t post often and can’t stand the Snot Locker”
And THAT is from someone who lives their life on this board as a troll, nothing more, nothing less. A contarian, simple-minded, tool.
Sorry, Anonymous, I didn’t realize this was *your* board. I’ll be sure to follow *your* rules in the future! Just like a “progressive” liberal!!
Oh, and your vocabulary (Snot Locker?) is mind-boggling. Another product of the Democrat-lead public school system, no doubt.
Have a nice day, simpleton!
Kelly, Daniel, Toby and Tommy, as far as I am concerned (as well as any other person in the state with half a brain cell in their head), Ehrlich is running in 2010. Some of you may be coy and some of you may be idiots (the coy ones know who they are), but the rest of us have already made the assumption. Ehrlich running is not a “nightmare”. It is what everyone in the state expects. They day he says he’s not running is the day his past actions become irrelevant when judging the merits of our current governor. When O’Malley is criticized for doing something Ehrlich did also, I (and hopefully others) will continue to point out the hypocrisy. This way, the people who vote for Ehrlich in 2010 will have to confront their double-standard. Maybe it doesn’t matter to them, maybe it’s just about the politics. That’s fine as far as it goes, it’s what I’ve been saying all along about what to do when you’re confronted with two “politics as usual” choices.
Indy
Will Ehrlich be running for Governor?
If I were him, I’d run for a higher office………..Mike Miller’s job will be up for grabs.
TMA in # 151,
Please make sure you’ve scrolled through the thread carefully before saying I ignored one thing or another.
People accuse me of all kinds of things, but being “dead silent” isn’t one of them.
Please scroll to #105 and #106 above, where I replied to your comment about Laura Vozzella’s second take on the “Dee from Jarrettsville” question.
Again, my beef with the Ehrlichs and Prof. Vatz on that segment is that, giving them the benefit of the doubt, they flat out ignored an outrageous statement from the caller. In the discourse of talk radio, the host’s failure to address an outrageous statement is tacit assent.
There were three of them in the booth, and all three are smart and experienced in their medium of refuge, however marginalized that medium may be in the scheme of things.
All three of them had a comment when Gov. Ehrlich cut Dee off (obviously in an effort to stop her from continuing down this unscripted sidetrack of hers). Would ya think at least one of them would take 4 seconds to politely say they don’t think Sen. Obama’s election will cause a race war, and that we shouldn’t choose our presidents based on fear that extremists will react violently to such choice?
Yep, he will. In fact, I’m sure I can make a bundle by challenging those who think otherwise to put their money where their mouth is (or fingers are in this case).
I’m not sure what you’re getting about with respect to Miller’s job… you think he should move to PG County and run in his district? Then hope for the Senate to vote him in as president?
I actually think he’d be better off running for Congress again. I think he has a better shot at unseating Dutch than getting elected governor. No one wants a demotion, but not being in office is eating him up.
TMA in # 151 said,
“Again Steve’s problem is–as he loves to boast–that he spins facts to conclusions beyond what they mean.”
Would you take the next step?
You discounted the conclusions I’ve drawn from the facts concerning Gov. Ehrlichs relationship with Alan Fabian (and the questions I raised too, I suppose). Now would you share with us what conclusions you draw from those facts?
You’re a really smart and articulate fella with a better command of the facts than I in many areas, as I’ve said before on these pages. Here’s your opportunity to defend the man on whose radio show you’ve been a cordial guest.
Please give us your own conclusions based on the facts I’ve shared concerning Gov. Ehrlich’s relationship with Alan Fabian. What do you have to say about Fabian’s contributions bracketing Gov. Ehrlich’s Board of Public Works action to double his state contract? Do you think Fabian might have pressed Gov. Ehrlich to double his state contract to $1.5 million in May 2006 because he needed such an item to secure one of the letters of credit he was frantically pursuing at the time to cover for his scheme as it was closing in on him?
Did Gov. Ehrlich at best fail to ask him tough questions at that time? I know it’s hard to ask tough questions of a guy who’s busy lavishing $45,000 on the account from which you’re paying for essential parts of your re-election campaign and all.
And should Gov. Ehrlich have known better than to do state business with Alan Fabian at all in 2005 and 2006 when it was already a matter of public record from the 2004 Maximus civil suit that the guy was accused of the same crime for which he was ultimately indicted, and to which he pleaded guilty?
While I’m asking you questions, do you think the $60,000 to the Md GOP fed account from the St. John Six was a conduit contribution? Do you agree that federal prosecutors should investigate that $60,000 in light of Edward St. John’s admission to the Maryland special prosecutor?
You’ve been a guest on Gov. Ehrlich’s radio show, so I’m sure the Womble gang takes your calls. Why don’t you ring them up, ask them these questions, and report back to us.
Why not ask him flat out if he or his family or staff have ever flew on Air Fabian, or if they’ve ever been guests at his North Carolina estate. I don’t know the answer to that question, but it’s a valid question to ask in light of the information uncovered, including the fact that his Lt. Gov. buried such a flight in a 401 page FEC disclosure:
http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?_26020923478+0
(See page 349)
May I preempt you from deflecting by bringing up Ehrlich supporter David Sutherland of Kudner Farm fame who never contributed a penny to or even met Gov. O’Malley, or Ronald Lipscomb or any other O’Malley supporter who hasn’t been convicted or pleaded guilty to a felony?
We have acknowledged your contention. However that pales in comparison to the OBVIOUS omission’s Paulson employed in his smear. Like I said, any defense of that is endorsement of the smear.
Indy
What I am getting at is the fact that Mike Miller and Mike Busch have more power in the state of Maryland than the elected governor.
And if I were Ehrlich, I would run for Miller’s seat and WATCH O’Malley very close.
Indyprog on June 26th, 2008 at 9:18 am:
Kelly, Daniel, Toby and Tommy, as far as I am concerned (as well as any other person in the state with half a brain cell in their head), Ehrlich is running in 2010. Some of you may be coy and some of you may be idiots (the coy ones know who they are), but the rest of us have already made the assumption.
============================
It’s too late to apologize.
justdafacts 259
Balance yourself. As of right now you are stuck. How can we take you seriously anymore?
When you dare to open the mind and the heart, Balance can be achieved.
Silly me. I mentioned Alan Fabian’s $45,000 to Gov. Ehrlich’s Maryland GOP federal account without mentioning his total contributions Ehrlich contributions of $172,750:
Gov. Ehrlich - $59,450 (I found 2 more LLC contributions, $4,000 each, from 2 Fabian corporations, 889 OBW, LLC, and 8850 OBW, LLC on 7/26/2005. I’d bet he hosted a fundraiser for Gov. Ehrlich at his nouveau French country Cockeysville estate the day before and came up a little short, causing him to whip out these two checks.)
Lt. Gov. Steele - $24,000 (state account only)
Secy. Kristen Cox - $4,800 (She ended her brief Maryland soujourn and returned to Utah, but first her account was liquidated and the funds transfered to Gov. Ehrlich.)
Md GOP - $84,500 (state and federal account) Fabian shifted his giving to the Md GOP instead of directly to Gov. Ehrlich after the governor started giving him state contracts.
Daniel, I agree.
That leaves me as the local idiot.
Thanks Indy. With friends like you, who needs enemies.
And I really loved your balance in our talks.
Oh Well! Life goes on.
AVCC, you honestly don’t think Ehrlich is going to run for governor?
Indy
All I know is this;
I never believe in anything I hear and only half of what I see.
And until Ehrlich formerly announces, I’m not going to concern myself over it.
To be honest, I really don’t care. Who knows, we could all be dead and gone by then.
I’m too busy to worry about tomorrow, can’t do anything about yesterday, so I live my life today.
OK. I try to live my life with a little more forethought. I get paid to figure out what’s going to happen (economically, and financially) so that tendency creeps into my political outlook as well (personal life, too).
Let me clarify my last remark. Yes, the Ehrlichs and Vatz should have addressed Dee’s inflammatory remarks. However, to insinuate that their non response it tacit endoresement of strains the limits credulity and ignores their record.
Ok, Mark. I agree with your statement in # 169. Many times Gov. Ehrlich and Mrs. Ehrlich have cut off callers saying things such as Dee said about race wars or other clearly outrageous things and courteously made clear that they don’t agree.
You should also know I am in no way the type of liberal who believes Republicans or conservatives are racists, polluters, etc.
In fact, let me plainly state, having trained my telescope on Gov. Ehrlich for quite a while, that there isn’t a racist bone in the man’s body. Far from it. He’s a genuine egalitarian in my book.
Now will you reply to my # 159 above?
Indyprog 268
Well then there you go.
Getting paid to predict the future.
I save for the future with the understanding that the history will always repeat itself when political leaders are a day late dollar short on everything that affects me and my family’s lives.
I wonder if the State Prosecutor has looked at O’Malley’s alleged girlfriend’s questionable acquisitions of a high dollar condo downtown. Especially when she lives in New York. It’s odd that the developer was also the benefit of many Baltimore City land grabs and devleopment deals. Sounds like a payoff to me!!!!!
To DUKESHOOPFAN, Sheila resign??? Now thats funny!. Do you really think she would ever do the right thing? Look at Clinton, another Democrat. He didn’t do the right thing. Look at Nixon, a republican. He did! For the good of the Republican party and our country.
when dixon is indited she is going to sing like that fat lady in the opera,and martin knows it,i cant wait.can you