Maybe “Sheila Dixon 2016” is different than “Sheila Dixon 2006-2009.” Or maybe she isn’t. Are you willing to bet your family’s, your city’s future on it?
Every organization, whatever its type, has a culture that defines its character and behavior. Sheila Dixon’s administrations, when she was President of the City Council and then Mayor, were no exception.
Comparing the Mayoral Candidates
You know how, sometimes, there’s something that’s so clear to you, crystal clear, but no one else seems to see? Take Donald Trump, for example. You and everybody you know agrees Trump’s a flaming jerk. So why is he doing so well in the polls? Who are all these people who believe his special brand of crap and think he’s God’s gift to the Presidency? What is it about this blowhard these people don’t get?
Preface.
This piece is, of necessity, longer than most of what we publish. Admittedly, it’s not for everybody, but should be of interest if you’re into technical issues that are germane to candidate competence and maybe integrity too, particularly as they relate to campaign financing. Just because something is technical and takes some time to figure out, doesn’t mean it isn’t important.
Friday, February 5, 2016 edition…
As you can see if you click on the link below, we’ve prepared a table, a 2 page PDF that you can blow up and read online and print if you’d like a hard copy. It’s stocked full of information, but one thing’s immediately clear. Everybody in Baltimore is running for City Council. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure seems that way. The February 3 filing deadline having just passed, there are now 79 people running for the Democratic nomination for 14 seats on the Baltimore City Council.
Today is the deadline for the annual campaign financing reports covering the period January 15, 2015 through January 13, 2016. The table below shows you the summary data for these reports for each of the 6 leading candidates for Mayor. (Clicking on the table makes it larger.)
There’s a new poll just out from the well-known and highly respected Gonzales Research organization. It covers the Mayor’s race and it’s an independent poll that is unaffiliated with any campaign, political organization or media. The PDF charts below will tell you everything about it that you need to know.
In the last 4 years – 2012 through 2015 – the Baltimore City Council has enacted only 13 ordinances (municipal laws) with the word “job” or “jobs” in them. Not one of these bills was intended to nor could it possibly effect any material increase in employment or reduction in the unemployment and poverty that have plagued our city for decades. Not one.
Except for this brief introduction, this entire post is quoted from an article dated Friday, January 15 by Jess Bidgood that was published in Sunday’s New York Times. We’re going to give you the section headings. You can use this link to see the entire article. No commentary could make these data more profound or urgent in their implications for what Baltimore needs to do.
Yesterday, we published an article entitled, “Beating Sheila Dixon,” in which we talked about her win in the 2007 Democratic primary for Mayor. Ms. Dixon won that race with 63% of the vote against 7 opponents. That’s impressive by any standard.
Understandably, Sheila Dixon is the early favorite to win April’s Democratic primary and become the next Mayor of Baltimore. Baltimore Rising doesn’t like that outcome because we feel that Ms. Dixon is a poor choice for a city in desperate need of economic recovery. There’s nothing about her record in office or about her campaign to suggest that she appreciates that jobs creation – as part of all-inclusive economic growth, particularly in the city’s disadvantaged neighborhoods – must be the highest priority of city government. She doesn’t get it and wouldn’t know what to do about it even if she did.