News and Media
Best Use of Taxpayer Funds
Getting rid of Sheila Dixon
Published: September 22, 2010
Investigators spent months poring over seized computers and financial documents, tracking purchases made through gift cards, linking prominent developers to those cards, and sweating witnesses. Prosecutors spent months more preparing the cases, parrying legal thrusts by the mayor’s defense team, and dodging legal landmines like the state’s brilliant interpretation of legislative immunity. It had to cost millions, and in the end, Sheila Dixon left office with her pension intact. So was it worth it? Yes! Of course, we’d have liked to have seen more substantial corruption uncovered and jail terms for the perps. But even this small gesture has put The Fear into the eyes of city leaders, who for generations have often done business, well, the way they’ve always done business. State Prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh didn’t clean up this town, but he did disrupt some of City Hall’s traditions, and fighting that kind of crime is at least as important as curbing the drug-fueled action on the streets.
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