Oct 28, 2009 5:45 pm US/Eastern
Mayor's Trial May Affect Baltimore City Government
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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The criminal trial against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is slated to begin Nov. 9. It's a trial that likely could take weeks as prosecutors and her defense team lay out their evidence.
CBS
The criminal trial against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is slated to begin Nov. 9. It's a trial that likely could take weeks as prosecutors and her defense team lay out their evidence. When the trial's in session, the mayor will be in the courtroom.
Derek Valcourt reports on how that will affect city government.
As Mayor Dixon faces charges that she stole gift cards intended for the poor, she'll be in a courtroom as many as eight hours a day. But even with that distraction, she says she'll continue to run Baltimore and sees no reason to turn the reins of city government over to someone else--even temporarily--during the trial.
"Well, you know, I work long hours every day. Yesterday, I probably worked 18 or 19 hours, so that's not going to stop," Dixon said.
"The mayor has very able deputy mayors who make all kinds of decisions on behalf of the city," said City Solicitor George Nilson.
Nilson compared the mayor's circumstances to those of former Maryland governor Marvin Mandel, who stood trial for mail fraud and racketeering during his term as governor in 1977. But Governor Mandel made his lieutenant governor serve as the acting governor during the trial.
WJZ called Governor Mandel, who said he stepped aside then because he felt the trial would be a distraction to running the state.
But that's not the case with every politician on trial. Birmingham mayor Larry Langford continues to run his city and he's spent a week and a half in court already. Closing arguments in his criminal trial were Wednesday morning.
"Although it may be a psychological distraction to the mayor to be on trial, it's probably not going to interfere with the city's business in any way," said political professor Matthew Crenson.
Crenson says Mayor Dixon has likely been preparing for her trial for weeks.
"There are people there to take care of things when the mayor is not around. She goes to conventions, conferences all the time, so when she is not in the office, things still get done," he said.
The mayor's first trial starts Nov. 9, but it likely won't be her only one. She may face a separate trial on perjury charges sometime next year.
If the mayor is convicted of criminal wrongdoing, the law says she must step down. The city charter requires she would be succeeded by the president of the City Council, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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