AP Ignores B-more Mayor's Party Label, Worries Probe May 'Overshadow Her Successes'

Charm City has had Republican mayors before, but the last one was Theodore McKeldin, in the mid-1960s. His immediate successor was none other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) father, Thomas D'Alesandro III, so for native Marylanders like myself, it's easy to take for granted that the mayor of Baltimore is and ever will be a Democrat, and that mentioning the fact is redundant.

But the national news media have an obligation to clue in readers about such things are party affiliation, and that's where, surprise, surprise, the Associated Press falls flat in its coverage of the recent raid of Mayor Sheila Dixon's private residence.

But the missing (D) is not the only problem with the June 18 article by Ben Nuckols, who laments that Dixon's "successes" will be overshadowed by such a minor inconvenience as her alleged abuse of power (emphasis mine):

BALTIMORE - Sheila Dixon has reduced violent crime and gracefully handled a variety of crises since taking over as mayor in January 2007, but a two-year state investigation of her financial dealings as City Council president threatens to overshadow her successes.

Investigators searched Dixon's home for more than seven hours Tuesday, and five city employees were subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury.

She denies any wrongdoing, but experts say an indictment could derail Baltimore's progress. The city, the third most-violent in the nation in 2007, is on track this year to have its lowest homicide total since the 1980s.

Dixon's attorney, Dale Kelberman, said investigators seized documents from the mayor's house, but he did not know what they were and had not seen the search warrant.

Dixon told reporters she is cooperating with prosecutors but had no idea what they were seeking.

Nowhere in his article does Nuckols entertain the notion or find experts to offer that a one-party monopoly on political power in Baltimore may be a greater factor in impeding the city's progress than a criminal investigation into corruption.

After all, one party rule creates a risk-free climate for the party in power and makes graft, corruption, and abuse of power much more likely to go unanswered and uncorrected.

(h/t e-mail tipster Amy Treacy)