Talk:Sheila Dixon

Untitled
Can you explain the 2007 election thing further within the section? I don't understand why she's running for mayor if she's already mayor. Is she just a fill-in for O'Malley? Is the O'Malley-Dixon term due to expire in 2007? Is the 2007 election a scheduled mayoral election? -Taco325i 16:00, 25 January 2007 (UTC)


 * She's not a "fill-in", she's the real mayor, but the term that O'Malley started expires at the end of 2007 no matter who's in the office. To use a metaphor, if George Bush died tomorrow, Dick Cheney would become the real president, not a "fill-in"; however, Cheney wouldn't automatically get four years in office, and there would still be a Presidential election in 2008.  --Jfruh (talk) 16:23, 25 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Was she appointed by O'Malley, or is there an order of succession, or was there some other selection process? -Taco325i 16:55, 25 January 2007 (UTC)


 * She was the city council president, which is a citywide elected office. The city council president becomes mayor automatically if the mayor resigns or dies in the middle of a term. --Jfruh (talk) 16:59, 25 January 2007 (UTC)


 * aha... -Taco325i 17:06, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

This page does not have a NPOV. Shelia Dixon is a candidate in the upcoming election for Baltimore City Mayor. Some assertions have no references, such as the reduction in crime and leading the way for the smoking ban.

Election dates
Like most US jurisdictions, Baltimore holds its elections on a fixed schedule, even if an office-hold dies or resigns in the middle of his or her term. A mayoral election would have taken place in 2007 whether O'Malley had resigned to become governor or not.

The situation in Baltimore was somewhat confused by a very odd situation that arose during O'Malley's term. O'Malley was initially elected in 1999. During his first term, Baltimore voted to change its election date so that citywide officials would be elected during Presidential election years, in order to increase turnout and cut down on the costs of running elections; this had the effect of extending O'Malley's first term by a year, and setting the next mayoral (and city council) elections for 2004.

But as it turned out, the city could only change its general election date on its own; for reasons I was never clear on, the state legislature had to approve the change in primary election date. This was particularly important in Baltimore, which is so dominated by the Democratic party that the Democratic primary is, in effect, the real election. Unfortunately, different groups in the city lobbied for different election dates -- some wanted the primary to be in March, at the same time as the presidential primary, while others wanted it in September, which was the traditional date for city primary elections. With no clear consensus coming from Baltimore, the legislature chose not to change the primary date at all, which led to the bizarre situation in which there was a primary election in September 2003 that selected candidates for the general election in December 2004. Since all the winners of the various Democratic primary races (including O'Malley) cruised to victory in the general, this essentially meant that there were lame ducks for several offices continuing on in office for 15 months.

In the wake of this debacle, the City Council voted to restore city elections to their previous schedule, effectively reducing O'Malley's second term by a year. Thus, there would have been a mayoral election in 2007 whether he had resigned or not, and the schedule was unaffected by his election to the governorship. --Jfruh (talk) 19:21, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, Jfruh, for the clarification. I was aware of the anomaly that O'Malley's first term as mayor was for 5 years (1999-2004), but was unaware that his second term had been cut short by one year. Do you have a citation to that effect?

Danielb613 (talk) 20:04, 27 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Don't have a cite offhand but I lived here throughout the period and followed the news as it was happening. Will see what I can find out in the next few days.  Unfortunately the Baltimore Sun puts older stories behind a pay wall, for reasons I can't really understand. --Jfruh (talk) 20:35, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
Although possibly a bit trivial, there have been a number of comparisons drawn with certain plotlines in The Wire, especially given her now rather ironic comment about its negative portrayal of the city, i.e. Worthy of a mention? 86.137.128.23 (talk) 23:22, 7 January 2010 (UTC) mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ahmedon124 (talk • contribs) 21:46, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Is / Was Mayor ?
Shouldn't the article say she "is" mayor? To be changed on Feb 4 2010, of course. Right now it says was. --Omarcheeseboro (talk) 01:35, 19 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree. We did not say in the article about Barack Obama that he "is" president until 1/20/09, and we said in the article about George W. Bush that he "is" president until that date, when we changed it to reflect his departure. Sebwite (talk) 02:05, 19 January 2010 (UTC)


 * She is definitely still mayor. I fixed this. --Jfruh (talk) 13:40, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Dixon Resigns
Did the newspapers save headline ink by crossing out the "N" from "Nixon Resigns" and add a "D"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.41.204.3 (talk) 22:26, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Another One Thrown Under the Bus

 * by Obama 69.143.110.86 (talk) 03:16, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

This page is poorly organized.
The sections on this page seem to be ordered rather randomly. The events mentioned should probably be listed in chronological order. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.240.132.219 (talk) 19:34, 9 March 2010 (UTC)


 * The main purpose of this page is to tell about Dixon herself. There is a separate page called Sheila Dixon trial, and events pertaining to her corruption case should be only summarized here and mostly included there. Sebwite (talk) 21:04, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

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Controversial Comments about the Jewish Community in Baltimore
Hello, I would like to add this header and the following paragraph under her career:

"On the December 1st 2021 episode of 'Pop and Politics LIVE' the former Baltimore Mayor said at the 33:07 minute mark, that politics closed her high school, Northwestern High school because, 'The Orthodox Jews didn’t want those Black kids up there in the Upper Park Heights community.' (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVAJB92ydKM&t=1987s)

This sparked condemnation by many in the Jewish community. An alleged inside source claimed `The school board closed Northwestern and many other schools in the city to combine schools with low enrollment numbers and move them into new 21st-century school buildings. Northwestern is now Forest Park High School and is in a beautiful new building. This new school is located within the same city council district as Northwestern' (source: https://yidinfo.net/22253-2/)" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.64.76.209 (talk) 02:45, 16 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi, please make sure to provide reliable, secondary sources. The YouTube video is a primary source with your own commentary, and the second source is an opinion piece. Neither of these justify inclusion in their own (see WP:DUE). Politanvm talk 02:55, 16 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi, the first paragraph is a primary source and I made no commentary. The second is a report from a news site showing condemnation. However, I can remove the sentence "This sparked condemnation by many in the Jewish community." and perhaps add a different news site like: https://jewishnews.com/2021/12/15/former-baltimore-mayor-sheila-gift-card-steala-dixon-baselessly-attacks-orthodox-jews/ with similar condemnation. Clearly the allegation that "the Jewish community" shut down a school because they "didn't want to be around Black kids" is controversial because a) its making a generalization about a group of people and by definition is racist and b) is being contested. This is notable to her career, which is still active. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.64.76.209 (talk) 03:20, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Pop and Politics LIVE
Hello. Following Wikipedia's recommended protocol, I would like try to come to a resolution with you first. I am new to editing wiki articles and I did not realize there was a talk feature. I strongly believe this belongs in her career history and its omission would be a gross misjustice. I proposed an addition to Sheila Dixon's page with even more neutral language in the talk section along with different sources I hope you feel are acceptable.

I will work with you to reword it if you don't like the language before editing the page, but if I have to call or go in person to Wikipedia's headquarter to ensure Sheila Dixon's page accurately reflects her career, I will. Antisemitism is not something I or anyone should take lightly.

Thank you and I look forward to fixing this with you.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.64.76.209 (talk) 22:15, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Thank you for coming to talk about this. I am moving this from my talk page to the article's talk page to get more eyes on it. I think that this one comment does not merit inclusion on her article. That one source seems to be the only one that is discussing it, which suggests it's not that significant. The Baltimore Sun has no coverage on it, that I have found anyway. It appears to be WP:UNDUE. Also, that headline of that article, Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila "Gift Card Steala" Dixon Baselessly Attacks Orthodox Jews suggests that it is not a serious or neutral news organization. I've never heard of VINnews and do not know why we should use them. Antisemitism is bad, but we are not here to right great wrongs. – Muboshgu (talk) 03:14, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I only just noticed that you had posted on the talk page and had someone respond to you before I could respond myself. That "jewishnews.com" source is the same as the "VINnews" source. Someone (you?) is out there fear-mongering on this and we won't be playing into it. – Muboshgu (talk) 03:24, 16 December 2021 (UTC)


 * I provided the primary source and am showing that many Jews in Baltimore and me are upset. I don't see what you are "not playing into." I am trying to work with you and I appreciate your initial comment. Omitting this controversy is just plain wrong. I am trying to phrase this in neutral terms, as you can see above, but I believe it deserves at least to be mentioned.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.64.76.209 (talk) 03:37, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Please forgive my tone. Wikipedia is not about "right" and "wrong". Please click the links and read the policies, we don't right great wrongs here. There are restrictions on what goes into a biography of a living person on Wikipedia that you can get familiar with. This piece that you're citing seems to me, and I believe the other editor above, to unduly charge the former mayor with anti-semitism based on one comment she made. It uses incendiary language to denounce her. That is not acceptable for a biography of a living person. – Muboshgu (talk) 03:48, 16 December 2021 (UTC)


 * I appreciate your response. The truth is it is still recent (two weeks ago) and local Baltimore newspapers have not really reported on it yet. I will wait for an article from the Sun or other big news sources and comment on this talk then.


 * I actually found a follow up video that was just streamed 4 hours ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sft-9LOtus&t=590s. She apologizes in the video and I don't want to pursue adding the comment to her bio anymore. I will point out that they did mention how controversial it was and apparently several organizations put out statements condemning her comment. All the best

If it is added, it should be:

Controversial Comments about the Baltimore Jewish Community

"On the December 1st 2021 episode of 'Pop and Politics LIVE' the former Baltimore Mayor said at the 33:07 minute mark, that politics closed her high school, Northwestern High school because, 'The Orthodox Jews didn’t want those Black kids up there in the Upper Park Heights community.' (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVAJB92ydKM&t=1987s) Following backlash, Sheila Dixon returned to the show and apologized. (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sft-9LOtus&t=590s)" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.64.76.209 (talk) 17:36, 16 December 2021 (UTC)


 * It shouldn’t be included unless there is coverage in reliable secondary sources. Wikipedia isn’t the place for original reporting of primary sources. Politanvm  talk 18:54, 16 December 2021 (UTC)


 * A source to add could be https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=235012468772111&set=pcb.235012948772063. That is the letter directly referenced in the second 'Pop and Politics LIVE' interview and displayed in the interview at 7:33 by the Maryland Republican Jewish Council. I think the issue is you find any secondary source listed as "not credible" when the credibility in question is directly verified by the primary source. The credibility that either i) these events happened or ii)that her comments were controversial is evident in both primary sources, so I am not sure why the small Jewish new sites (which are the only sources covering the issue since Sheila Dixon herself is only a local figure) is not acceptable. A large portion of her constituents are Jewish and this is part of her career. The New York Times is not going to cover this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.64.76.209 (talk) 19:43, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * If it’s not getting coverage from reliable secondary sources, then that’s a good sign it isn’t WP:DUE . Wikipedia doesn’t need to cover everything a public figure has said in an interview. Baltimore has reliable local news sources. If it isn’t worth being covered by the Sun or any local news channel, then it doesn’t need to be covered by Wikipedia. Wikipedia isn’t for righting great wrongs. I understand it’s important to you, but it isn’t Wikipedia’s purpose. Politanvm  talk 20:04, 16 December 2021 (UTC)


 * As I said, it is a reliable secondary sources because it is being validated by the primary sources. It is not getting coverage (yet) from larger media sources. I thought wikipedia is not a newspaper. If Sheila Dixon went back onto "Pop and Politics LiVE" to clear up the controversy, clearly she feels its important. And, there is a statement from the Maryland Republican Jewish Council. As I said, she did make a public apology and hence I do not feel its omission would damage the integrity of the article. However, this is clearly a part of her career and an episode in the relationship with her and her pervious and potential constituents. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.64.76.209 (talk) 20:31, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * If you’ve already read the guideline on reliable sources and the others we’ve linked to, then there’s not much else to say, except perhaps suggesting reaching out to local reporters asking them to cover this. Best, Politanvm  talk 20:38, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * "Wikipedia is not a newspaper" means that we don't behave like the 24 hour news cycle. We need to consider the lasting impacts of events, and much of that is determined by breadth and depth of coverage. If the paper of record for her city isn't reporting on it, that doesn't suggest much regarding impact. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:45, 16 December 2021 (UTC)