The dust-up over raises to Mayor Sheila Dixon and other city elected officials raises the question:
Could mid-term raises happen here?
The short answer is no, because the two jurisdictions set raises for their respective elected officials differently. (more…)
It was reported here last week that Ronald Lipscomb, through four companies he controls, donated $11,000 to County Executive Jim Smith on Dec. 9, 2005.
The question is: Why?
Lipscomb is the Baltimore developer and former boyfriend of Mayor Sheila Dixon. A state prosecutor’s investigation of Dixon appears to be centering around the pair’s relationship and gifts that she may have received while she was City Council president and votes she may have made on city contracts that went to Lipscomb’s companies.
In Baltimore County, Lipscomb’s relationship (if one can use that term) with Smith is less clear.
Lipscomb and Doracon, his company, didn’t donate a dime before that time and haven’t donated anything to Smith since, according to state campaign finance records.
Rachel Rice, a Belair-based consultant, organizes fundraisers for both Smith and Dixon. Lipscomb donated to both, but Rice said she never shares donor lists of one client with another.
No county contracts have been awarded to Doracon or related companies, according to Don Mohler, a Smith spokesman.
There appear to be no special connections with the 2005 date of the donations either.
In 2005, Smith attended his first International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas. The convention is billed as the place to see and be seen if you’re a developer or government official looking to woo a developer.
Again, nothing. Mohler said he did not know if Lipscomb or other representatives of Doracon attended. If they did attend, no one met with Smith or other county officials.
The best Mohler could come up with was that the two had met at an event of some kind and hit it off.
“It’s probably casual meetings,” Mohler said. “(Smith) would be at an event and meet and chat.”
“Ronald Lipscomb is a well-known leader,” he said. “I think it would be hard to move in those circles and not meet him. It’s probably impossible to find someone who didn’t know Ron. That’s really about the extent of it; he’s around.”
Lipscomb was not immediately available. A message left by a reporter seeking comment was not returned.
Ronald H. Lipscomb, a Baltimore developer who is tied to an investigation of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, donated $11,000 through four companies to County Executive Jim Smith.
Smith’s campaign received a $1,000 donation from RHL Strathdale, $2,000 from Arizona Crossing, and two donations of $4,000 each from RHL Development and Doracon Development LLC on Dec. 9, 2005, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections. All four companies list an address at 3500 E. Biddle Street, the headquarters of Doracon Contracting, the company founded by Lipscomb. (more…)