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.... she stole holiday gift cards intended for needy families, and used them for shopping sprees for her own enjoyment.

Not exactly…

Ronald Lipscomb, a “minority” developer/general contractor with a lot of lucrative city and state contracts, “Developer A” in the Dixon indictment, was Dixon’s former boyfriend. And as I understand, they were having an extra marital affair when they first started their relationship.

Lipscomb had his employees “donate” the gift cards supposedly for needy families, but the intended recipient was always Mayor Dixon. The gifts were never intended to go to needy families – the cards were payoffs for preferential treatment by Ms. Dixon for Lipscomb’s bids and work for the city of Baltimore. Dixon and Lipscomb were “friends with benefits” and I’m not just talking about sex.

The gift cards and other gifts from Lipscomb, many of them funneled and laundered through his company, were nothing more than payoffs to Dixon starting from when she was on the City Council, to when she was City Council President and continuing after she became mayor.

While Lipscomb is not named in the Dixon indictment (but he is widely acknowledged to be “Developer A”); earlier this week, Lipscomb was indicted on a bribery charge related to payment for a political poll for City Councilwoman Helen Holton, who was also indicted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/us/10baltimore.html?ref=us

City ethics laws require elected officials to disclose gifts from people doing business with the city. Mr. Lipscomb’s company, Doracon, a minority subcontractor, often works on developments that receive city tax breaks.

Here is some interesting background on Lipscomb and his political ties:

http://www.presidentsroundtable.net/member_profile/lipscomb.htm

And could Governor Martin O'Malley be part of wider investigation of corruption? I could only hope so, but then Martin is known as the “Teflon Leprechaun”.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.biddle27dec27,0,1040819.story

A plan to raze a city eyesore and replace it with a gym is strangled by red tape

It seemed like a good idea then, and state lawmakers secured $800,000 in two state bond bills to pay for the gym. The administration of then-Mayor Martin O'Malley got on board, buying the building for $200,000 in taxpayer dollars in 2002, selecting Ronald H. Lipscomb as the developer. Over time the city spent an additional $411,000 - including $75,000 in state money - for studies and architectural drawings.

But nothing was ever constructed, or even demolished. Instead, neighborhood youths hang out in clumps on street corners and residents continue to scowl at a hulking brick eyesore surrounded by a rusted fence and filled with trash.

This is not about Dixon just stealing some holiday gift cards from the needy. This is a much bigger investigation about the widespread corruption regarding how city officials award contracts and tax breaks and the failure of Dixon and others in city government to disclose gifts and close personal ties with contractors bidding for work with the city.

Corruption in Baltimore city government runs very deep.