Baltimore a den of thieves?

A lot of solid blue cities are getting raided by the FBI for corruption these days -Los Angeles, Taylor, Michigan, near Detroit, Chicago, the town of Harvey, Illinois, near Chicago, Edinburg, Texas... But none look quite so corrupt from top to bottom as Baltimore, whose mayor seems to be on the run from the long arm of the law (oh, wait, pneumonia) over a corrupt book deal, and now thieves are coming out of the woodwork like cockroaches. Here's the Baltimore Sun's description of the latest details:

The job training nonprofit raided Thursday by federal agents as part of an investigation into Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is run by an executive director who was convicted of stealing $852,000 from a previous employer, court records show.

The Maryland Center for Adult Training, also known as MCAT, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past decade from city, state and federal government agencies to provide training for men and women to become certified nurse assistants and medical technicians.

Since Pugh became mayor in December 2016, the city has awarded the organization $28,649 — mostly from a federal Department of Labor program and local casino money — to provide nurse training through last June. But MCAT’s approval to conduct that training expired in May, according to the Maryland Board of Nursing.

The nonprofit has not reapplied for certification. Nonetheless, Baltimore officials agreed in October to lease MCAT an office in the 4900 block of Park Heights Ave. — which federal agents raided Thursday. Documents prepared for the city’s spending board, which approved the lease Oct. 3, stated that MCAT was “certified by the Maryland Board” to train people to become nursing assistants.

Hiring a convicted thief. Using city funds to train people at an unaccredited school. Pouring money into the school even when there was no school. This is just one corner of the blue-city empire that Baltimore had become and there are quite a few others as this list of stories shows here. Any question as to why the city was so dysfunctional? It was a one-party city, its minions had the leftist contempt for rule of law, its denizens figured no one would ever be looking for it, and they were all convinced they were in to rule forever. Having zero changeover in government for decades, as was the case in Baltimore, was the perfect setup for corruption.

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