Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh Takes Indefinite Leave Of Absence Amid Book Controversy

Fox News ^ | 4-2-2019 | Nicole Darrah

[blam]

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh announced on Monday that she's taking an indefinite leave of absence from office after it was revealed she received $500,000 from the University of Maryland Medical System in critics have called a "self-dealing" book sale.

Pugh's office in a statement said the mayor, a Democrat, has been "advised by her physicians that she needs to take time to recover and focus on her health," and said she felt as though she was unable to fulfill her obligations as mayor due to deteriorating health brought on by a recent case of pneumonia.

City Council President Jack Young will take over Pugh's day-to-day responsibilities, according to the statement.

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In a letter released earlier Monday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of self-dealing by Pugh. State Comptroller Peter Franchot, a Democrat, urged the mayor to step down immediately.

Hogan and Franchot's calls came hours after health care firm Kaiser Permanente disclosed to The Baltimore Sun that between 2015 and 2018, it paid $114,000 for roughly 20,000 copies of Pugh's self-published "Healthy Holly" children's book series.

Since 2011, Pugh has received $500,000 for selling the books to the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), The Associated Press reported. The $4 billion hospital network, one of the largest private employers in the state, reportedly paid Pugh for 100,000 copies of her books between 2011 and 2018.

Pugh, who sat on the system's board since 2001, became Baltimore's mayor in 2016. The next year, Baltimore's spending board, which is controlled by the mayor, awarded a $48 million contract to the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States Inc. Kaiser previously held that contract.

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[silverleaf]

Indefinite leave
Full pay no doubt
Working on another book
Gawd we miss the olden days when Mayors just stole gift cards donated for poor chillun

[EQAndyBuzz]

#ALLDEMOCRATSMATTER

[LittleSpotBlog]

Here’s a book idea for you: a series on the corrupt mayors of Baltimore!

I’ve worked in publishing for nearly 20 years and not once have I worked on a book that sold that many copies, let alone one that ever had that many printed. This is corruption on a serious scale.

[LittleSpotBlog]

Johns Hopkins is the largest private employer in MD.

[cyclotic]

bout ten years ago, I had to move to Maryland for work. On my first day, as I was driving into the office I heard a news story about the Baltimore Mayor. She had been convicted the day before for stealing Christmas gift cards meant for poor children. She was replaced by Mayor Space to Destroy, then by Mayor Clueless, Cathy Pugh.

You wonder why Baltimore is a cesspool.

They are stuck on stupid and keep electing whacko progressives

[Catmom]

"It Takes a Pillage." Thanks for my first good yuk of the day🤣

[blam]

Unhealthy Holly: Baltimore Mayor Taking Time Off As Children's Book Deal Comes Under Scrutiny

[hanamizu]

They are stuck on stupid and keep electing whacko progressives

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I believe the key factor is that a majority of Baltimore’s voters primarily base their votes on whoever will provide the most free stuff. Since any money the people elected might steal isn’t the voters’ money why should they care? “Getting over” by selling 100,000 copies of a semi-existent book is likely a good thing in their eyes.

[dowcaet]

Another corrupt Black Rat politician. I can’t think of one who isn’t!

[VietVet876]

That would be three. Dixon, Rawlings-Blake, Pugh.