Judge Sweeney has sharp words at Dixon sentencing; Rawlings-Blake sworn in

Posted: 7:37 pm Thu, February 4, 2010
By Brendan Kearney
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

Sheila Dixon accepted her sentence in court Thursday morning, and just a block away a few hours later, former City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was sworn in at City Hall as Baltimore’s 49th — and second female — mayor.

Both proceedings were brief: the sentencing because the particulars of Dixon’s punishment had been hashed out a month ago, and the swearing-in because of the circumstances of Rawlings-Blake’s ascension.

Dixon declined to address the court at her 15-minute sentencing. State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, who criticized Dixon’s lack of contrition in his sentencing memo this week, also held his tongue. But Visiting Judge Dennis M. Sweeney, who presided over Dixon’s trial, summed up the case in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

The jury that convicted Dixon of one misdemeanor embezzlement count had been “generous,” he said; and, had the plea deal not resolved the untried perjury counts, “a conviction on one or more counts would have been a virtual certainty.”

“Simply put, Ms. Dixon leaves the office in total disgrace,” Sweeney said, a “well justified” result that is a “badge of dishonor” she will wear the rest of her life.

The judge imposed the agreed-upon sentence of four years’ probation before judgment, a $45,000 charitable contribution and 500 hours of community service.

Later, outside the courthouse, Dixon defense attorney Arnold M. Weiner said everyone, including Dixon, can now move on. As for Sweeney’s comments, Weiner said, “The good thing about being the judge is that no one responds to you.”

Observers said Sweeney’s comments, while unusual, were appropriate.

“Generally the powers that be have tried to discourage judges from being … judgmental, stating opinions on matters of public concern when they arise in their cases,” said retired Baltimore City Circuit Judge John M. Glynn; but Sweeney “makes some points in there that oughtn’t to be forgotten, that ought to be kept in mind by politicians and citizens alike.”

Sweeney had also criticized City Solicitor George A. Nilson for submitting an affidavit that supported Dixon’s defense to the perjury charges. The affidavit asserted that developer Ronald H. Lipscomb, who dated Dixon and showered her with gifts during her city council presidency, technically was not “doing business with the City” or “regulated” by it for purposes of ethics board disclosure.

“The fact of the matter is the city ethics code is, quite frankly, badly written on this point,” Nilson said when asked later about Sweeney’s comments. “It would be ostrich-like to say everything’s fine with the ethics code.”

He pointed to a five-page March 2009 memorandum he sent to Baltimore City Ethics Board Chair Dana P. Moore — reportedly on the short list to replace Nilson — in which he identified many problems and proposed changes to the current code.

At that time, clarifying the status of subcontractors or people with minority interests in joint ventures would have been awkward and inappropriate, Nilson said.

“Now it’s neither awkward nor inappropriate,” he said, “and somebody should do it.”

Official beginning

Minutes later, all the people who would have a hand in such revisions were gathered in the warm, second-floor ceremony room for the official start of the Rawlings-Blake administration. A fainting spell by the mayor’s aunt — Rebecca, the sister of Del. Howard P. “Pete” Rawlings — interrupted the proceedings but the show went smoothly otherwise.

With her family to her right and the City Council to her left, Rawlings-Blake, 39, pledged to “keep what works and fix what doesn’t in city government.”

Baltimore City Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway Sr., who felt slighted when Dixon had the governor swear her in three years ago, was clearly pleased to administer the oath of office to Rawlings-Blake, with whose father he served in the legislature.

“She starts off following the law,” Conaway said.