Mayor

Times are so tough in Baltimore that Sheila Dixon was shamed into giving at least part of her 2.5 percent pay raise to charity. But apparently not so tough that the city can't spend a total of $120,000 a year on two "special assistants" to the mayor and consider giving each of them 5 percent raises. One of them is a potential witness in the state prosecutor's case against Dixon. Today the Board of Estimates will consider raises for Bobby Potts and Howard Dixon, two retired city police officers who essentially serve as the mayor's body men. They do not act as the mayor's drivers or security guards, duties performed by current cops.

They set alarm clocks to stake out early risers on street corners and at subway stops. They waved and paced and gripped the hands of people on their way to work. They pressed stickers onto work shirts and marched signs around busy lunchrooms. They wiped sweat from their faces over the long, humid afternoon and then chugged caffeinated beverages, hoping to keep it up as long as they needed to - because it was all the time they had left. Candidates hoping to attract Baltimore's vote in today's city primary wrung everything possible from the waning hours of the campaign yesterday.

Mayor Sheila Dixon apologized yesterday to the parents of the 7-year-old boy whom police arrested after seeing him ride a motorized dirt bike, saying that officers had "better options" available than handcuffing and detaining the child. "Arresting a 7-year-old is not consistent with my philosophy of community policing," Dixon said at a City Hall news conference. "I know that many people in the community are outraged at this, it was a bad choice." The arrest, first reported in The Examiner, occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday when a city police officer reported seeing a 7-year-old riding a blue-and-white Yamaha dirt bike on the sidewalk in the 2100 block of E. Federal St., said Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman.

In a move that could quickly change the tone of Baltimore's primary election, Mayor Sheila Dixon fired back at her leading opponent yesterday with a negative television commercial questioning her adversary's commitment to fighting crime. Dixon's new television advertisement, which criticizes City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. for voting against a pay raise for police officers in 2001, is a sharp departure from the more genteel, above-the-fray approach her campaign has taken to date.

Two months ago, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon - then 36 days into her term - walked into a silent conference room on the second floor of City Hall, filled with a dozen cameras and a palpable feeling of uncertainty over how the new mayor would handle her first crisis. Days before, 29-year-old fire cadet Racheal M. Wilson, a mother of two, had died during a live-burn training exercise in a vacant rowhouse. As early reports of what happened emerged, it became increasingly clear that the Fire Department had ignored safety protocols.

The murder rate is an unfair measure of a police commissioner's performance. Mayor Sheila Dixon acknowledged as much yesterday, after canning Leonard D. Hamm. But she appears to have calculated that with the murder rate on track to return to 1990s levels, something dramatic was required - if only to show that she was taking notice - and Mr. Hamm didn't have enough positives after nearly three years in the top job to offset the nightly News at Eleven killings. His firing was a symbolic act, then, a promise by a mayor running for election that she's ready to do something about crime in Baltimore.

Eight Democratic candidates are running for mayor in the Sept. 11 primary election and most have released a plan to deal with crime. They were asked about the three most important changes they would make to reduce crime. Here is a summary of their responses: Andrey Bundley To address the rift between residents and police, Bundley would organize church members and community organizations to visit neighborhoods en masse. He envisions 1,000 people knocking on doors in troubled neighborhoods at a time.

Ratcheting up the cute factor several more notches, Mayor Sheila Dixon is airing a new television ad that focuses on her family, specifically her children. The 30-second spot is Dixon's sixth and the 11th overall in the race. What the ad says: Dixon's children, Josh and Jasmine, are seen talking on a porch. "I'm Josh, the mayor's son," he begins. "Mayor?" Jasmine teases, "You mean ma?" Josh continues: "At home, Mom always asks us a lot, makes sure we rise to the occasion." Dixon is seen standing in the front yard of the house and says, "If you don't ask much of people, you can't expect much."

With the city election over, Mayor-elect Martin O'Malley says it's time to party.The northeast city councilman, who bested 27 candidates to succeed Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke next month, will be throwing two huge parties over the next two weeks.The first will take place tonight in Lexington Market for O'Malley campaign supporters.As many as 2,500 O'Malley backers are expected to attend the invitation-only event being billed as: "Giving Thanks: A Celebration of Community."The affair will include international food stations, and supporters will be given $10 in vouchers to purchase goods.

FinancesProjected shortfalls make cutting waste, seeking outside aid essential.IT'S THE unspoken issue of the mayoral campaign. Baltimore's taxes don't produce enough revenue to pay for the delivery of services to city residents. How can the new mayor find more money for schools, police and housing?Over the next four years, city leaders must come up with an extra $153 million just for existing services. Closing this gap will be a post-election priority.Reorganizing government departments is vital, but politically difficult.

Annapolitans head to the polls Tuesday to elect a new mayor. This year's race has had its ups and downs, with one primary candidate accused of sexual misconduct and another dropping out after revelations of debts and other personal financial problems came to light. The Baltimore Sun profiled each candidate before the primary. Here are summaries of those profiles for the three remaining candidates. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Josh Cohen Democrat Josh Cohen is an Annapolis native who studied music at the University of Maryland before switching majors and graduating with a degree in economics.

Should Mayor Sheila Dixon sign a City Council-approved bill expanding the areas of Baltimore where restaurants and bars can offer live music and other types of performances? Yes 74% No 23% Not sure 3% (882 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Do you agree with legislation before the Baltimore City Council that would require pregnancy counseling clinics that do not provide abortion services to post signs indicating that policy? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

Racism is racism, even from the NAACP I am astonished that the Maryland NAACP is calling for a change in the state constitution because the governor might appoint a "white or Republican leader" ("Call for help on mayor," Oct. 13). That is a racist statement if I ever heard one. If the state GOP came out and said they wanted to change the constitution because an African-American or Democrat might be appointed, they would be lambasted in the media and their leader hounded into resigning.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon should stand trial on charges that she perjured herself by not disclosing gifts from a developer boyfriend, a judge ruled Monday as he rebuffed objections from the mayor's defense team that the accusations rest on faulty evidence. The decision sets up the prospect that Dixon will face a pair of trials in the months ahead - one scheduled for November on charges that she stole gift cards intended for the needy, and another later on two perjury counts. "It is not good news from the standpoint of her being able to govern," said Donald F. Norris, chairman of the Department of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The city's new recycling plan is exceeding expections, officials say, with trucks picking up 53 percent more recyclables since July, when Mayor Sheila Dixon increased collections to once a week. "I really thought it would take a little bit longer to get to this point," Dixon said in an interview. "People have taken heed. People are really getting into the groove of this process." The mayor's plan also reduced garbage collection to once a week and now city garbage trucks are hauling less trash to the landfills.

The new criminal indictments hand- ed up Wednesday against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon guarantee one thing: The legal questions that have been hanging over the mayor for the past three years will not be settled by September, when a jury trial on the original charges was scheduled. A longer legal proceeding could also vastly increase the cost of the mayor's defense, and questions about whether Dixon or the taxpayers will pay for her top-flight lawyers remain unanswered. The nine new charges, which include perjury for allegedly failing to report gifts on city ethics forms and theft for allegedly stealing gift cards intended for needy families, will trigger a new round of discovery, new motions to dismiss and likely new legal squabbles between the mayor's attorneys and the state prosecutor's office.

An Annapolis municipal employee who oversees the city's minority and small business outreach has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city alleging she is the victim of sexual harassment and racial discrimination at the hands of her supervisor. Ruby Singleton Blakeney, the city's director of small and minority business enterprise, said that her direct supervisor, Mike Miron, director of economic affairs, has engaged in "petty, retaliatory behavior" since she filed the suit in federal court in Baltimore.

As a young girl, Zina Pierre said, she watched her pastor tackle social issues in Annapolis. And by high school, she had an idea of what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. "I grew up understanding that helping someone else was more important than helping yourself," said Pierre, 44, a Democrat who's channeling that spirit in her candidacy for Annapolis mayor. "It's about serving above oneself. My grandmother, Edna Weems, taught me that. We did it from a church perspective, not from a political perspective."

A Baltimore man petitioned Tuesday to have Mayor Sheila Dixon removed from office, arguing in court papers that Dixon "holds power unlawfully" because she was sworn into office by Gov. Martin O'Malley instead of by the city's clerk of the court. The petitioner, David A. Wiggins, also wants a Baltimore judge to install him as the interim mayor. "I had other names, but they backed out," said Wiggins, a paralegal and drug rehabilitation counselor. Wiggins fears that his case, which he filed without the assistance of a lawyer, will not be taken seriously.

In City Hall, there's a term sometimes used to describe a Baltimore City Council member who votes to reduce a mayor's budget: road kill. It's long been understood that such offenders would be put on "the list," and woe unto them if they ever wanted a pot hole repaired or a phone call returned from a city department head. Simply put, the mayor wields great authority over city government spending. Conversely, the council's chief role in budget matters has usually been to wield a mighty rubber stamp.