As junkets go, the shopping center meeting is widely viewed as one that pays off for the public, at least in an ordinary economy.
"I think now is a more important time than ever to bring business back here to Baltimore," said Dixon spokesman Scott Peterson. "I guess people will assume it's this [fun] conference in Vegas. It's meeting after meeting after meeting."
Dixon and Ms. Rawlings-Blake aren't the only local political figures out in Vegas. Former Gov. Bob Ehrlich is there representing his law firm, Womble Carlyle. Perhaps that's why his nemesis, Gov. Martin O'Malley, has stayed away.
Harford County Exec David Craig and Howard County Exec Ken Ulman also skipped the conference. The decision for Ulman was "mostly [for] budgetary reasons, and Costco Airlines doesn't fly into Vegas," said spokesman Kevin Enright.
Baltimore County Exec Jim Smith had planned to go - and to pick up the tab.
"He is going out as a personal trip, paying for himself," spokesman Don Mohler said last week, before a last-minute scheduling conflict kept Smith from going at all.
Anne Arundel County Exec John Leopold stayed away, but we shouldn't read anything into that.
"Mr. Leopold has never attended because of the expense to the taxpayers," said spokesman David Abrams.
That, and maybe Leopold didn't want to bump into anybody from that Nordstrom where he was parked.
A 'semi-notable' has his say
My recent column about a wedding that involved The Wire creator David Simon, mystery novelist Laura Lippman and director-preacher John Waters did not go over well with the groom.
"It is reassuring to know that despite the cutbacks in coverage, The Sun can still have journalists such as Laura Vozzella working on years-old matrimonial items involving local semi-notables," Simon wrote.
"The Sun's priorities rival those diligent crew members who achieved much with the Titanic's deck furniture in the vessel's closing moments."
Laura Vozzella's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
