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)
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
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Comments Policy
It's a LONG story
June 19, 2008 - 09:45 ET by Ole_Sargethat the MSM will not cover. Ms. Dixion's City Council days are behind her, but the fall-out from some of her actions just might catch up with her.
Not that O'Mally is all that "clean" either, but he's white and the governor now.
It will be interesting considering how corrupt the city of Baltimore is and on so many levels.
I recently was in Columbia,
June 19, 2008 - 12:22 ET by HermanoI recently was in Columbia, MD outside of Baltimore and listened to the news on this topic a bit. According to Kelberman, Dixon's house has been searched several times and no indictment is forthcoming. I must say I know little about this situation and its history, but corruption is corruption, regardless of how well someone is dealing with other affairs of the government. If she is guilty, I am sure it will come out, but not her party affiliation.
Well, I think Sheila Dixon
June 19, 2008 - 10:36 ET by Roger the ShrubberWell, I think Sheila Dixon should be claiming there is one topic that she can claim could be her "legacy": Baltimore is no longer the Syphilis Capital of the USA!!!
(They are now #3)
Way to go, Baltimore!
a joke
June 19, 2008 - 10:46 ET by ZabReduced violent crime? Come now. Baltimore still has a ridiculously high homicide rate for its size and is the heroin capital. She's done nothing. She has no legacy to taint.
Rhetorical silliness
June 19, 2008 - 11:32 ET by KC MulvilleI live just outside the Baltimore city limits, so I have a stake in this story.
To argue that Sheila Dixon "reduced violent crime" is just rhetoric. That argument simultaneously implies that her predecessors (all Democrats, of course) increased violent crime. After all, if the mayor is respeonsible for bringing the rate down, she's also responsible for the rate being up. Her immediate predecessor, Martin O'Malley, is now the governor of this fine state, and under his mayoralty the city set record highs for murders and mayhem. Both are liberal Democrats who've addressed crime in virtually the same way, so the different crime rate must not be explained by a different mayor. I seriously doubt a mayor can make much difference in the crime rate, unless the mayor (like Giuliani) initiates a complete change to an aggressive arrest policy ... but Dixon's policy isn't much different than O'Malley's.
And to say that she has handled a variety of crises "gracefully" is to sidestep the fact that she's had a lot of crises, which is usually a bad thing.
Catonsville?
June 19, 2008 - 11:47 ET by Ken ShepherdCatonsville?
Other side of town
June 19, 2008 - 18:55 ET by KC MulvilleParkville - a magical place filled with amusement. But no cheeseteaks. Can't have it all.
Experts again -
June 19, 2008 - 12:02 ET by YahooWatcher"experts say an indictment could derail Baltimore's progress"
What "experts" are we talking about today? Must be Inner City sociologists that keep generating excuses why people do drugs, kill each other, and give each other diseases but never seem to offer any solutions other than “let’s throw more money at the problem” and see what happens.
Brownie Scout
June 19, 2008 - 12:40 ET by ScrapironIf she was a Brownie Scout the democrats will use that to excuse any crimes in the future.
Old, Retired and glad of it.