No justice, no peace, no tax payments [With Comment by John]

Marilyn Mosby burst into the nation’s consciousness when, following the death of Freddy Gray, she declared:

To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America. I heard your call for “no justice, no peace.” Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.

Mosby, Baltimore’s top prosecutor, purported to deliver justice by charging six Baltimore police officers with crimes. If that sounds to you like mob justice, you aren’t wrong.

Mosby was unable to convict any of the six officers. In some of the cases, an African-American judge, who had specialized as a lawyer in alleging police brutality, found the defendants not guilty.

Mosby is back in the news, along with her husband — incoming Baltimore city council president Nick Mosby. The IRS says the couple failed for three years to pay a significant amount of the federal income tax they owe. It has placed a tax lien for nearly $50,000 against them. Before doing so, the IRS made “multiple attempts” to obtain payment from the couple.

Non-payment of taxes is nothing new for this power couple. In 2013, the IRS placed a $5,000 lien on their property due to unpaid taxes.

I’m reminded of the case of Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s non-voting member of the U.S. House. Early in her political career, it was revealed that she didn’t pay any federal income tax for years. Norton blamed this “oversight” on her husband and divorced him. At least Mr. Norton got something beneficial from this episode.

Unlike the Nortons, Marilyn Mosby and her husband both have political careers on the line. Thus, blame shifting would be complicated.

We need not look to D.C. for other instances of city politicians disregarding their tax obligations. Jazz Shaw points out that Baltimore’s last elected mayor, Catherine Pugh, was prosecuted for tax evasion.

This, though, was only the tip of the iceberg of her graft. She is in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and two counts of tax evasion.

Shaw also reminds us:

Two mayors before [Pugh], Sheila Dixon wound up resigning and barely avoiding a stretch in jail via a plea deal after embezzling money from the city in the form of gift/debit cards intended to help impoverished children.

And don’t even get me started on the Board of Directors of the University of Maryland Medical System. Two-thirds of them resigned in a single week after the exposure of all the self-dealing and grifting that was going on in the scandal that wound up taking Pugh down.

How do crooks keep gaining high office in Baltimore? I believe they do it at least in part through their demagoguery on race. Baltimore voters are suckers for this, and they are not alone (think of Marion Barry’s success in D.C.). Their next mayor, Brandon Scott, fits the tradition.

One consequence is Baltimore’s rapid deterioration — soaring violent crime, garbage piled up in neighborhoods, etc. Crooked demagogues aren’t just indifferent to these problems, they contribute to them through statements and policies that cause police officers to quit the force in droves and by blaming “racial injustice” for the failure to pick up garbage.

Ultimately, Baltimore voters are responsible for the crooked demagogues they elect and the attendant deterioration of their city.

Take this year’s election. Kimberly Klacik, a Republican, is running for Congress in Baltimore. A charismatic black woman, she has raised more than $6 million thanks to an electrifying speech at the GOP National Convention and the support of President Trump. Her campaign ads highlight the trash and general blight in West Baltimore, and urge black voters to abandon the Democratic Party.

Klacik’s opponent is Kweisi Mfume, a longtime political hack. I assume Mfume has paid his taxes, but he fits the Baltimore Democratic establishment’s pattern of corruption. As president of the NAACP, he favored women with whom he had sexual relations for raises and promotions. To avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit, the NAACP paid $100,000 to one of Mfume’s victims.

Mfume is the overwhelming favorite to defeat Klacik.

Until Baltimore voters stop electing corrupt hacks and race hustlers to public office, the city has no chance of getting back on its feet. And there is very little chance that Baltimore voters will change their voting pattern anytime soon.

JOHN adds: While Baltimore’s voters are ultimately responsible for the lousy politicians they elect, we shouldn’t let the Left’s enablers of corruption off the hook. Like, for example, Vogue magazine. In June 2015 I noted that magazine’s adoring profile of Marilyn Mosby. It was leftism costumed as fashion, a weird combination of district attorney as style icon. You know you aren’t reading the usual article about a local prosecutor when the final credits read:

Sittings Editor: Kathryn Neale.
Hair: Tomo Jidai; Makeup: Rebecca Restrepo for Elizabeth Arden

It’s just one more cultural venue that the Left owns.

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