Burns-pourri for July

Now the plethora of stories that makes for the big finish called “Burns-pourri.” Here is the July edition through alliteration.

Convicted: Hornsby
In my view, this is probably the second of two mistakes that was made by the appointed school board of Prince George’s County, which was in power from 2002-2006. The first one was letting go Dr. Iris T. Metts as superintendent of schools. The second mistake made, hiring Andre Hornsby as it’s schools CEO.

I am a Metts supporter and thought that she got a raw deal because the pre-2002 school board cared more about showing their authority than improving the school system. It’s doubly amazing that board considered Hornsby as a candidate after conflict of interest allegations ended his time as a school district leader in New York. He may have raised test scores in Houston and Yonkers, but sometimes you have to look for something in addition to doing the job, like character. After all, he is going to be a community leader.

Hornsby was convicted this week of six of the 22 counts of corruption federal investigators charged him with. Hopefully this will be a lesson to Prince George’s County residents and leaders that homework should be done before picking leaders and making appointments. (More on that soon…)

Compensated: Currie
Here is my quote from earlier this month, which was published in the Washington Afro-American.

“Maryland is basically a one-party state and he benefits from that. Besides, many people think that he is last person to anything that is unethical or unlawful…”

I also stated that barring anything catastrophic, Currie looked like he would weather the storm. Not to soon after that, Senate President Thomas Mike Miller (D-Dist. 27) stated that if this case were still around in January, he would have to make a decision.

TRANSLATION (with credit given to PolitickerMD’s Wally Edge for being spot on): Currie can either step down from his chairmanship of the budget and taxation committee or bow out gracefully with the predictable “more time with family excuse,” pull a “Duncan” or else. A Duncan is where you bow out for a medical reason that was unpredictable or seems out of character. I admit that I am still suspect to this day about the reason then Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan (D) stopped campaigning for governor in 2006.

Reading in The Baltimore Sun that Currie did not lie to the IRS about his income, there is hope for him as far as not going through the drastic measure of pulling a “Duncan.” At this point, I would not be surprised that the only casualty in his investigation would be his chairmanship. His senate seat (for the moment) seems to be safe barring even more disaster.

Choosing (lawyers, not shoes): Dixon
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) chose Arnold Weiner to be apart of her legal team. Weiner was the lawyer who defended former Gov. Marvin Mandel (D) and helped overturn his conviction on mail fraud and racketeering charges in 1977. The grand jury is set to expire in this coming month and several of Dixon’s aides were called back numerous times.

Let’s look at this situation. Dixon has been known for making an ethical lapse by not disclosing her connections, whether it’s family or personal. Much has been made about the discovery of the latter last month when it came out that Dixon had a relationship with Baltimore developer Ronald Lipscomb. So far I have to say, “so what.”

Now some lessons on what happens when a man and a woman date. They exchange gifts. Even a politician and a business developer when they date. If it turns out that Dixon has been receiving some gifts on the side because of her voting on contracts that benefited said date, then absolutely throw the book at her.

As it stands now, she is only guilty of being stupid with a capital S. How ANY politician can believe that they can escape such scrutiny by not disclosing their connections is naivety at it’s purest. Dixon should have disclosed that she was dating the person on the receiving end of the contract (Lipscomb) and refrained from voting on those matters (same for the votes involving the company that was employing her sister.)

My sticking point in this situation is when she and Lipscomb went on their whirlwind trips out of town, she paid for something on at least one trip. The Baltimore Sun last month reported that Dixon paid for the nearly $1,700 hotel bill in Chicago (this is excluding the $5,900 she spent shopping.) Admittedly, The Sun mostly reported that Lipscomb paid for a hotel bill in New York, while one of his company Vice President’s used his credit card to pay for airfare to Chicago. They also reported that the two traveled to Boston and the Bahamas.

At this point, I must ask how much did she in fact shell out. If the numbers are somewhat even as far as who paid for what, then the quid pro quo case that investigators seem to be building is a little flat. Between Currie and Dixon, if anyone is more deserving of a “wait and see what happens” defense, it’s Dixon.

Condolences
In closing, I am breaking format as far as staying with politics. This past week has not been particularly kind to the broadcasting community in Maryland. I have to acknowledge two people who passed away last week, one I admired and one that I worked with.

Khia “D.J. K-Swift” Edgerton died in a swimming pool accident in the beginning of the week. The 29-year-old was a mainstay on WERQ (92.3FM) “92Q” in Baltimore for over a decade working up from intern, to producer, to night show host. In addition, she was a music industry legend known as “The Baltimore Club Queen” and being the only female mix show coordinator in the country. As a fan of all music, it’s going to be hard not to hear K-Swift on 92Q. I respected her skills as a DJ and her work ethic as an all around professional. She had made an impact in Baltimore and Central Maryland, this was evidenced by the fact that Mayor Dixon and Governor Martin O’Malley (D) attended memorial services for K-Swift.

The second person’s death hit close to home because I had the pleasure of working with him for nearly two years during my tour at WNAV (1430AM) in Annapolis. Paul Leibe, known on-air as “Paul Curtis” was the Sunday mid-day host for WNAV. When I accepted an offer to hold down a regular shift at the station, we started the same day in March 2005 (My show followed him in the afternoons.) I later became the Sunday Morning news anchor for the station and I became his news guy for the first part of his shift.

In addition to WNAV, Paul spent time at WPTX, WYRE, Bay Country 103 and Xtra 104. Outside of radio, he was Navy veteran, a former police officer and he spent the last two decades in print journalism at The Enterprise in Southern Maryland, first as a photographer and then ultimately as a military reporter covering the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

Paul, 60, was nice guy and a consummate professional. The guy you heard on the air was the same one when the mic was off. In addition to sharing the same first name with him, we also graduated from High Point High School in Beltsville. He was the class of 1965, while I graduated 34 years later. I invite you to look at my website kennyburns.com where I have posted some highlights of us bantering on air.

Paul and K-Swift will definitely be missed by a lot of people (including myself). My thoughts and prayers go out to their families.

kenny@kennyburns.com