Since March, a trash bag full of 20 to 30 copies of “Healthy Holly” children’s books has appeared every so often at the Maryland Book Bank.
“Every time they’ve come in, it’s never been just five or six,” Kim Crout, program manager for the book bank, told The Baltimore Sun. “It’s always been a trash bag of 20 or 30, and they’re always just left here when we get in.”
The book series was written by scandal-plagued former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh. Pugh resigned in May, claiming she was suffering from health issues. Her resignation coincided with investigations from the FBI, the Maryland state prosecutor’s office and the Baltimore city ethics board, according to the Sun. The main crux of the scandal involved Pugh’s deals with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of her books, which the Sun said suffered “from editing mistakes.”
It was the Sun that first began investigating the deal, which came under scrutiny because the UMMS had other business contracts pending with Baltimore.
The books keep appearing at the book bank, but no one knows why.
Pugh’s attorney, Steve Silverman, told the Sun that the former mayor wasn’t sending the trash bags full of books to the book bank.
“No one associated with Healthy Holly LLC or Catherine Pugh has any knowledge that this is occurring, and if true, who is doing this and the source of the supply of books,” he told the outlet on Tuesday.
Pugh had said the books were supposed to go to Baltimore City Public Schools, but officials told the Sun they never asked for the books and hadn’t received a recent installment.
The people who run the book bank are stumped.
The other interesting part of the equation is that children have no interest in the books, according to Crout.
“It’s like they have a nose for the fact that they’re crap,” she told the Sun.
More
She ran a good game, or tried. Corruption at it's finest.
ReplyDeleteThere never was an intent to have anyone read these books. This was a money laundering scheme at it finest to pump nearly a Million Dollars into Pugh's bank account. My question is why Elijah Cummings, the most powerful Baltimore politician knew nothing about this. We now hear that Cummings' wife was moving money around amongst her businesses. It's only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down.
ReplyDeleteBurn them!!
ReplyDeleteWell, like the lyrics from Queen...Another One Bites the Dust!
ReplyDeleteMaryland is such a joke! and an embarassment
ReplyDeleteWhere in the world IS Catherine Pugh?
ReplyDeleteHopefully in jail but I doubt it.
ReplyDeletethe crook is in hiding. Most like long gone out of Md. Many business's have cameras now days. There are No cameras around to capture a image of the litter bug? Guess they need to get rid of the books somehow, i would have opted for the dump to get rid of the stash but i guess somebody thought they would get them out to some kids to pollute their minds some more.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteDumping this toxic waste near children should get the EPA on the case. Sad joke; even those burdened with a stash of them know how truly worthless they are.
Charm City, baby!