"As you may know, the mayor is in an Irish Rock Band, O'Malley's March," then-City Solicitor Thurman Zollicoffer wrote the board. "It is my belief that the gift was given to be worn as advertisement during one of his many public appearances as lead singer."
Zollicoffer asked the board to offer an exemption to the city's gift policy, writing that the jacket would not influence O'Malley and that it was "purely personal and `private' in nature."
The board didn't buy it, ordering O'Malley to return the gift. (He donated it to the police union.)
Time will tell if the personal/private defense flies better with Dixon's prosecutors.
It's on the record: Biceps need work
Former commish Ed Norris, never a big fan of Mayor Dixon, has finally found common cause with her.
The mayor did Norris' radio show on WHFS one day last week and it was more love fest than grilling. Lots of talk about the down murder rate. Nary a word about the favors-for-furs allegations that have turned the Board of Estimates into the Sordid Estimates.
Norris: "I'm a little sympathetic. ... I don't think people understand what it's like to be tried in the newspapers. It's a lot of fun."
Dixon: "Mmm hmm."
Maynard, Norris' one-named co-host: "Can we quote you on that, Mayor? 'Mmm hmm'?"
Dixon: "Yeah, you can quote me."
On the show, Dixon did express regret for one thing: letting her biceps go.
"My arms have gone down," she said. "I kind of built them too much and then reduced it, and I've got to build my arms modestly back up." Gotta be ready to wrestle with prosecutors.
They say it's crab; she says it's filler
On the Howard Stern Show for a couple of days last week, Baltimore-born sidekick Robin Quivers bashed G&M crab cakes, which had been brought into the studio as part of lunchmeat taste test.
G&M's cakes were voted Baltimore's best by Baltimore magazine in 2004. But Quivers said they looked awful and were full of "filler," The Sun's Justin Fenton reports.
Next day, a bunch of Baltimoreans e-mailed the show, saying she didn't know what she was talking about. But Quivers held her ground. She said she's from Baltimore and knows a good crab cake.
G&M manager John Zoulis said he'd heard about the flap but wasn't worried. "Our customers are the judge."
Connect the dots
In Baltimore magazine's "40 Under 40" list of young "rising stars," gubernatorial mouthpiece Rick Abbruzzese ranks No. 4 - two ahead of Howard County Exec Ken Ulman. The real injustice: Dixon spokesman Clifford is waaay down the list at No. 39, just ahead of some advertising VP you've never heard of. Camden Yards groundskeeper Nicole Sherry is No. 8, for crying out loud! Does Clifford think he'll move up next year, after all the exposure he's getting in the midst of Minkgate? "Uh, no," he said. ... OK, I know Minkgate is lame. We need a better name for this scandal. How about Got-Choo? City Mall? Somebody out there has a better name. Send it on.
