Investigators at Sheila Dixon’s house
Posted by Jeff Quinton on June 17, 2008Investigators with the Maryland state prosecutor’s office are inside Mayor Sheila Dixon’s Southwest Baltimore home this morning, according to the mayor’s spokesman.
Two unmarked police cruisers are parked outside the home, in addition to her city police protection detail. An investigator wearing a polo shirt with the seal of the state prosecutor’s office was seen going inside, carrying a folder. He declined to comment to a reporter. A uniformed Maryland State trooper also was inside the house.
Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the mayor and city police department, confirmed that the state prosecutor’s office has “several people at the mayor’s house.” He said he did not know why they were there, but did add that Dixon was at home when they arrived.
For more than two years, the state prosecutor’s office has been investigating spending irregularities at City Hall, an investigation that has taken investigators to the city’s development agency, finance department and Board of Estimates.
From WBAL.com:
State prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh says his office does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.
No mention of Dixon’s party affiliation or who she endorsed for President has been mentioned in any coverage thus far.
Dixon left her home shortly after 10 a.m., dressed casually. She told reporters: “If you want to ask questions, ask them,” referring to the investigators. She climbed into her black Chevrolet Suburban and was driven away.
Investigators from the state prosecutor’s office remained inside. As of 10:15 a.m., they had not yet emerged with any boxes or materials.
Dixon’s attorney, Dale Kelberman, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dixon apparently was not at her home in Southwest Baltimore when agents arrived around 6:30 this morning.
She had returned from working out at around 9 am.
Just over an hour later, Dixon emerged from her house, and got into her city owned SUV.. She only told reporters that “don’t ask me any questions, ask them,” referring to the agents inside her house.
During last year’s mayoral campaign, Dixon referred to the ongoing investigation as a “witch hunt,”
In November, state investigators raided the offices of a Dixon supporter, Ronald Lipscomb, president of Doracon Contracting Inc., on Biddle Street. Seized were computers and financial data as part of an ongoing political corruption investigation swirling around City Hall.
Dixon has attracted the attention of prosecutors during the past two years. The mayor, who previously served as City Council president, was dogged for approving a deal that provided financial compensation to a company that employed her sister, Janice Dixon.
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Comment by Tyldak
I know you don’t think highly of Democrats, especially local ones, and that you think that generally the local media establishment is in the tank for Democrats and such. I get that. I even get how, maybe, just maybe, there might be some confusion from readers outside of Maryland as to the mayor’s political party affiliation, so saying Dixon (D) might (just maybe) merit mention. But why are you of the opinion that her endorsement/support of Obama be an issue worth mentioning (which granted, I am just assuming at this point)? Granted, I am no Dixon fan by any stretch, and I’ll be following the story closely… but I couldn’t care less who she supports/endorses for President unless that somehow directly relates to whatever it is the state is investigating about her.
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Comment by Frank Keegan
Editorial
Indict Dixon or clear her
The Baltimore Examiner Newspaper
2008-06-19
BALTIMORE - Anybody surprised by the raid on Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon’s home Tuesday — including her honor herself — must have been in a bubble the past two years. Since at least November 2005, when the state subpoenaed Comcast for records related to Union Technologies, anybody paying attention knew Dixon must cough it up or be searched and seized at some point.
With two Dixon associates already pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate, State Prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh owed it to Dixon and the public to drop the other shoe quickly or declare she was not a target. Tuesday, he dropped the other shoe.
Now he owes it to the people as well as the former City Council president and currently encumbered mayor to indict her and secure her testimony against others or cut her loose. Do not let us all drag on forever in limbo.
As the chief state investigator of public corruption, Rohrbaugh sought charges in seven of 84 cases last year. Those are grinding through the criminal justice mill.
Public corruption is among the most difficult of crimes to investigate, prosecute and convict. The criminals are powerful, well-connected and have great lawyers.
Plus, no matter how slimy they are, they have a host of supporters, unindicted co-conspirators and uninformed members of the general public backing them.
Another downside of public corruption probes is they distract and disrupt leaders and routine government operations. That is a small price to pay for keeping those who govern us honest, but it is a price prosecutors must keep at a minimum.
That is especially true for beleaguered Baltimore. It is a city in crisis. Even Dixon’s most fervent critics grudgingly concede she is a forceful, dynamic leader who by just about every measure is moving the city forward.
Supporters who claim the cloud around her tenure as council president merits no scrutiny demean themselves. If any raise the cry of racism and sexism over this investigation, they undermine the centuries-old ongoing struggle against those evils. And given the multitude of examples — remember Spiro T. Agnew, Marvin Mandel, Parris Glendening, Nathan A. Chapman Jr. and Tommy Bromwell, to name a few — a stronger case could be made for prejudice against old white guys.
We owe support and thanks to Rohrbaugh and the determined, courageous prosecutors who throughout our nation’s history have taken on the most powerful, elusive criminals.
What they owe us and the defendants is speedy justice.