© Baltimore SunBaltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh
It was the latest blow to the leadership of a city that's seen two mayors resign in scandal in less than a decade and a third one decline to seek another term after a riot over police misconduct and a soaring murder rate.
Pugh, a Democrat, submitted a letter of resignation with Thursday's date filled in by hand. Her resignation is effective immediately, her attorney Steven Silverman said at a 96-second news conference at his offices in downtown Baltimore.
Pugh did not attend, Silverman took no questions and there was no indication when she would emerge from the seclusion she's imposed on herself since her last news conference March 28.
"This is a sad day for Mayor Pugh and a sad day for the city of Baltimore," the lawyer said.
Silverman then read aloud from a prepared statement from the mayor, who has been holed up in her Ashburton home, suffering from pneumonia and emotional distress as her dream job slipped away, her reputation in tatters.
"I'm sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor," Pugh, 69, said in the statement. "Baltimore deserves a mayor who can move our great city forward."
She thanked new Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young - formerly the City Council president who has now ascended to Baltimore's top job for the duration of her term - for his "steadfast leadership in my absence."
While in isolation at her home, Pugh issued a defiant pledge last month to return to work. But that resolve gave way after federal agents raided her home and City Hall office a week ago. She became the second Baltimore mayor in a decade to quit in connection with a criminal investigation; Democratic Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned in 2010.
The mayor's staff was summoned to a Thursday afternoon meeting at City Hall to inform them of the news. Pugh's portraits will be removed from city buildings, and her signature will no longer appear on city documents.
"I saw a woman, a politician, an elected leader who was absolutely dedicated to this city," City Solicitor Andre Davis told reporters at City Hall as he held back tears. "I'm very sad. I didn't think I would get emotional."
Davis said he wasn't involved in her decision. Although Silverman had explained the delay in Pugh taking action on her future by saying his client was not lucid at times, Davis said he was confident she was able to make the decision to resign.
"Clearly, today she has done the right thing," he said.
Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who called for the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor to begin its investigation into the mayor's conduct, described Pugh's resignation as "the right decision, as it was clear the mayor could no longer lead effectively. The federal and state investigations must and will continue to uncover the facts."
Hogan said the city can "now begin to move forward."
Pugh, once seen as a more ethical option in a city with a history of wrongdoing by politicians, was overtaken ultimately by the public outcry over hundreds of thousands of dollars in deals for her "Healthy Holly" books. They were revealed in a series of articles in The Baltimore Sun that began March 13. Pugh's story shifted as she tried to account for the first deal to be disclosed, struck with the University of Maryland Medical System when she was a member of the hospital network's board. She nonetheless called continued questioning by reporters a "witch hunt."
Then, after being hospitalized for pneumonia, Pugh apologized for the UMMS sales at a March 28 news conference at City Hall. But in the process of apologizing, she disclosed that some 40,000 books UMMS paid for were never produced. And in a bizarre twist, the still seriously ill mayor showed off a line of Healthy Holly baby clothes.
The following week, it was revealed that other entities had paid for the books, including health insurer Kaiser Permanente, which made payments during the period it successfully sought a $48 million city contract.
Pugh, saying her health remained poor, announced April 1 that she was going on leave to recover.
No, it's not isolation. It's called house arrest while you're awaiting trial. Don't minimize this crooks crimes.