Where was the Mayor during all of this illegal activity? Doing the same thing he's doing as governor. Nothing.

There are more shoes to be dropped. (It was kind of interesting that "they" would toss in this little Holton-Surprise!)

a "corrupt relationship" existed between Dixon and Lipscomb, and City Councilwoman Helen Holton. Assumption?

Baltimore needs to get on with what is really important. We got so many problems. We have to concentrate on the big issues instead of whining about things like this. Dixon has shown that she can do the job. Let her get on with it. Let's cut the crap. If there is some giant evil that she has done that will send her to hell, prove it. Otherwise shut up and let her get to work. Make our city a better place to live.

Just proves Sheila is better at covering her tracks. But nonetheless these folks are leading the city right down in the gutter. Police overtime cut, crime went NUTS and continues on.

I hope they get Sheila she is doing just running Baltimore City into a hole so deep they will never get out. I don't see a thing she has done OH yea she gave back her raise BULL she gave it to the church and with a cut to the church got it all back. Please we are not stupid.

That Lipscomb must be some type of playboy!! Two high level city women. I wonder which one got the axe??

Somehow Dixon is like teflon. Any other city or state employee that strung together purchases under $5,000 to avoid bidding them out would be fired (let alone prosecuted). Throw in the fact that they went to her boyfriend's company and it's pretty unbelievable when she says she had no idea she should have been bidding those things out (though she knew enough to make sure they were under $5,000). This is also the same boyfriend that bought her a $4,000 fur coat if I'm not mistaken and of course once the projects got underway they break up.

"Corrupt relationship" is the best way to describe it. There's no other way really. Based on the abrubt ending, it obviously wasn't some true love that was so strong that it was too pure to be corrupted by greed or money. It was a relationship of mutual convenience.

I do hope they clean house since the city is so hesitant to initiate any kind of sweeping change. My councilman is asleep at the wheel and no one in my district seemed to mind all that much. I haven't been in the city too long, but do incumbents ever lose?

I also don't blame O'Malley for staying out of this mess. It's a job for prosecutors to stop corruption, not another lawmaker. President Bush isn't following around Patrick Fitzgerald, it's not his job to.

You know if may be that the State Prosecutor is doing one of two things. The first is that he may be stepping back so the Feds can indict Shoe (Sheila's nickname) for tax evasion, filing a fraudulent tax return, etc., or he may shock us all tomorrow with an indictment of Old Shoe tomorrow. Then of course indicting Boyfriend Shoe he may be hoping that this is a man who kisses and tells, and tells, and tells! The problem is that when these people are indicted they should be made to step aside. While Old Shoe is as incompetent as any pol in America, much of the blame goes to the gutless, idiots that she has working for her ... espcially Andy Frank! David Scott spends all his time dressing himself to attact the ladies or the boys (I pity either group) and Paul Grazziano is lazy and indifferent to the Citizens of Baltimore. But one question ... is the Mayor's Office big enough for Stephanie's Super-Sized body and ego?

After so many years of this investigation proceeding in fits and starts -- an indictment and guilty plea, then nothing; a search of a house or office; then nothing --

three straight days of leaks all over the front page, then nothing.

Simple sleuthing leads to a pretty good guess as to Company Z.

According to Holton's campaign finance reports, she had previously used The Democracy Group -- Herb Smith, the late Art Murphy, Don Lamb-Minor, Terry Taylor, et al. for campaign consulting. One of the people who then worked for Democracy, Terry Taylor, is a longtime W Baltimore political activist; Art Murphy was known to be close to Holton.

Reputable polling firms like Mason Dixon, et al, would never be part of a conspiracy and agree to send the bill to a third party. Democracy Group is a bunch of operatives who know how to work the system and would easily do so.,

VRB, do you actually live in the city? I'm a bit of a reluctant fan of hers (Republican-leaning libertarian, supported Kiefer in the primaries), but Dixon has clearly achieved more good in the last 2 years than O'Malley did in 7. At this point, I don't even care if she's getting a cut on the back end -- she's good for the city.

"Make our city a better place to live."

Graft makes the city a worse place to live because it has to be paid for somehow. It means public work paid for that is not done, or done shoddily. It means everyone else's taxes go up because the illegal favorites don't have to pay. You want roads paved? You want people and businesses to move into the city? You want the police to be able to afford overtime?

Then toss out the grafters.

While the State Prosecutor is dutifully bringing to justice a county councilman who disclosed a $4,000 lapse in judgment that he repaid and a city councilwoman and developer who made no effort to conceal a $12,000 payment for a poll, let's put these matters in context:

Washington developer, Kindon Gould, the principal beneficiary of The Road to Konterra, otherwise known as the ICC, gave half a billion dollars in contributions to campaign committees directly benefitting Gov. Ehrlich, including the funding of a tv ad abhorantly trashing the City of Baltimore.

Convicted felon Alan Fabian, the recipient of a $2.2 million no-bid state contract from Gov. Ehrlich, gave $277,330 to Ehrlich committees, more than half of his total political contributions. He also provided air travel for Lt. Gov. Steele's campaign.

The State Prosecutor reprimanded Baltimore developer and Ehrlich friend Edward St. John for making $17,000 in illegal conduit contributions to the O'Malley campaign, but he ignored the $60,000 Mr. St. John apparently gave to Gov. Ehrlich in the same way through a stealth account.

A shell company owned by Lt. Gov. Steele’s principal backer, Sandy Roberts, was paid $400,000 in campaign funds never publicly accounted for in the final 60 days of the 2006 campaign. The same Sandy Roberts is presently under investigation by the Maryland Department of Transportation suspected of posing as a front man so a mega-concessionaire at BWI could qualify as a minority business enterprise during the Ehrlich administration.

Gov. Ehrlich's re-election campaign skirted Maryland campaign contribution limits by using a federal account to pay the salary of his campaign spokeswoman and other state campaign expenses.

- Steve Lebowitz

ALI BABA AND HER 40 THEIVES

She's just been indicted. Pedal faster!

When are the voters of Baltimore (heck, all of the Balto-DC corridor) going to realize that as long as you keep voting based on race and/or party affiliation only, that you get what you deserve; crooks that think they can do whatever they want because the electorate is too stupid to think before they vote.

Sorry, Joe, I ain't seen a Maryland Republican who I'd vote for yet. They all seem to be little clones of Grover Norquist or Dr Gingrich.