Burns-pourri for September

Falling into another month, a quick hit of highlights gone by or highlights to be endeavored.  In any event, here we go for another helping of Burns-pourri.

Jackson Still Must Resign
First things first, as a public service to common sense, I am going to continue making the call for the resignation of Prince George’s County Sheriff Michael A. Jackson.  I am not going to rehash all that he has done this time, including releasing the internal review of the botched police operation on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo clearing his SWAT team to counter the examination of Calvo’s dogs by the state Agriculture department showing that each dog was shot two times.  By the way, Calvo paid for those necropsies performed on the carcasses.

Calvo spoke at the CATO Institute last month and the video of his account of what happened was posted to YouTube last week.  I have it on my website, marylandpolitics.us.  Jackson’s actions, let alone the actions of those involved, are unacceptable.  I am still calling publicly for his resignation and his apology to Calvo and his family.  I will also continue to call for it as long as Jackson is in office.

Again with the subpoenas
We are learning that the Baltimore City Hall along with the offices of four city agencies are having their records subpoenaed as the prosecutor investigating Mayor Sheila Dixon continues his fishing expedition.

I have to be honest with you.  This has been going on for two years and there have not been any smoking guns in this case.  The subpoenas, in my view, are nothing but press fodder.  The grand jury expired last month and there wasn’t any activity since Dixon’s home was raided over the summer.

It’s time to move on and stop wasting everyone’s time and money.  I would normally insert a well-known saying, but because I try to keep this a family-friendly page, I will move on.

Clean Slate


In Prince George’s County, School Superintendent John Deasy is leaving to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  I am sad to see him go because frankly he was the first person to give a damn about the students since Iris T. Mets.  His tenure should be remembered as someone who was able to set in place reforms that will send the district on the right path…as long as no one meddles with it.

The positive is that this gives the current school board an opportunity to finally set policy through a leader they believe is right for the county.  I hope that the playbook which was used with the pre-2002 and the appointed school boards has been lost….I hope.

We will be fine
I wanted to take this final section of the roundup to give a pep talk and remind you that this is America, the most resilient nation in the world -- something that I believe makes us the best nation in the world.  Keep this in mind as we are going through these rough economic times.  We have gone through stuff like this before and came through with flying colors.

I understand that this is a scary time.  I will be the first to tell you that media and economy often do not go together as evidence in the recent job cuts being planned at newspapers across the country in addition to some broadcasting companies like Metro Networks.  Let this be a lesson to kids that they need to be careful of the decisions they make because you do not know the people their decisions will touch.

So take heart and know that America will get through this.  We did it before, and we will do it again.

P. Kenneth Burns is a broadcaster and journalist who blogs at Maryland Politics Today and blog.kennyburns.com. His email is kenny@kennyburns.com.