Jun 29, 2008 4:32 pm US/Eastern
Dixon's Tax Records Become Part Of Probe
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
The corruption probe of Mayor Sheila Dixon continues to expand.
Eyewitness News has learned investigators have subpoenaed records from the State Comptroller's Office.
Mike Hellgren reports grand jurors were let go early again Friday after their fifth day of meetings at the Mitchell Courthouse.
WJZ has confirmed the state prosecutor contacted the Comptroller's Office and subpoenaed tax records for Mayor Dixon. The office has turned them over, but will not reveal for which years.
Court documents reveal the prosecutor is looking at Dixon's relationship with prominent developer Ron Lipscomb and whether he gave her gifts in exchange for votes on tax breaks for his company, Doracon.
"It's going to be hurtful to her one way or another. It just depends on how much," said political analyst Matthew Crenson.
Earlier this week, when asked about her lavish spending on a trip she and Lipscomb took to Chicago, the mayor challenged reporters to look at her tax records.
"If you want to see my budget and what I do, you can just look at my tax returns and other information," said Mayor Dixon.
The mayor's office says she filed her taxes jointly with her then-husband and can't release them without his permission.
Also in question, the mayor's voting record on the Board of Estimates.
It reveals this year she abstained from voting on anything relating to Lipscomb. In 2006, she abstained from votes on Doracon.
By contrast, the mayor listed neither in 2004 when the two had their personal relationship.
The head of the Board of Estimates at the time was Governor O'Malley.
"I don't believe that I was aware of any relationship at the time," said O'Malley.
Crenson says the Dixon investigation could hurt the governor politically.
"The line Republicans will take in 2010, one Republican in particular, is if he didn't know what was going on, then he's not very observant, and if he did know what was going on, then he's an accomplice," said Crenson.
"All of those deals were among the most thoroughly and heavily scrutinized in the city's history," said O'Malley.
The governor has declined further comment on the Dixon investigation. Dixon is charged with no crime.
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