Suspicions grow as Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh's leave drags on.
BALTIMORE — Viewers of Baltimore newscasts are getting used to seeing images of embattled Mayor Catherine Pugh's lawyer pulling up to her three-story house and vanishing inside. He later insists that her health is too fragile for her to think clearly enough to make decisions about the future.
While the first-term Democratic mayor still has some supporters with a wait-and-see attitude, numerous citizens who had been willing to give Pugh the benefit of the doubt now perceive her indefinite leave with suspicion. It's something her main attorney, Steven Silverman, is acutely aware of as calls for her resignation accumulate."It's very hard when someone is not able to think clearly and feel physically up to task to make major decisions such as this.
"I imagine she is under tremendous strain which has only exacerbated her health problems. We have to take Mr. Silverman at his word, as he is an officer of the court," Carter said. But"at the very least, he should produce a statement from a doctor as to her actual medical diagnosis, mental and physical."
A search warrant affidavit is under seal and Pugh has not been charged with anything. But there's no shortage of suspicions that she might have leveraged access and influence or perhaps used her"Healthy Holly" children's book sales for some kind of personal slush fund. One of her homes that was raided by federal agents has no traditional mortgage, suggesting the purchase, a week after her swearing-in as mayor, might have been a cash transaction.
John Bullock, a Baltimore City Council member and a former political science professor at Towson University, said he understands clearly that Pugh is in a"sensitive situation," but he believes it's"a bit of a stretch at this point" to say her ongoing leave of absence is entirely health related. But Council member Ryan Dorsey disclosed that it's been"widely murmured" in City Hall that Pugh has acted erratically for a while now. He said he's heard about"wild swings of mood and demeanor."
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