In 2003, the Anne Arundel County auditor challenged County Executive Janet S. Owens' use of tax dollars for holiday cards. Owens responded by reimbursing the county from her campaign fund. Also that year, then-Mayor Martin O'Malley spent nearly $12,000 in city funds to send 22,241 cards. An O'Malley aide told The Sun at the time that the city traditionally had paid for such cards. The newspaper also reported that O'Malley's predecessor, Kurt Schmoke, had tapped tax dollars to mail holiday greetings.
Dixon's cards included an invitation to an open house and "Santa's sock drop" at City Hall, to which citizens were invited to bring nonperishable food items as well as new hats, scarves or socks. "Have your picture taken with the Mayor," the invitation said.
Peterson said the holiday cards fit in with the Jewels of Baltimore theme because the open house honored the "diverse cultural community of Baltimore." The mayor's office said Rachael Rice, whose firm Dixon hired as a fundraiser for the inaugural, originally approached M&T's foundation for a contribution to the inaugural fund in late 2007. Rice said she asked for no specific amount.
But M&T Bank spokesman Philip Hosmer said the charitable foundation's rules prohibit it from contributing to nonprofit groups such as Dixon's inaugural committee, which could take part in political and lobbying activities. Instead, the bank foundation donated to the Baltimore City Foundation, he said.
Peterson said an M&T official who works with both the bank and its foundation told him that the donation was made "in the mayor's honor."
Hosmer said the bank foundation understood that the money was intended for a series of events that were "part of the Celebrating the Jewels of Baltimore week."
"We are not aware of the holiday cards," said Hosmer. "The Baltimore City Foundation allocates those funds based on their guidelines. They would not come back to us and say, 'Hey, we are going to spend this amount on this.' "
Borochoff of the American Institute of Philanthropy said the legal question is whether Dixon used Baltimore City Foundation dollars for her personal or political benefit to send out holiday cards, or whether the open house invitation with the request for nonperishable items fit under the category of "relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged."
"Is the canned goods thing incidental or the reason to do it?" he asked. "That is the question the IRS would need to figure out."
