http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.council08dec08,0,4599333.story
From the Baltimore Sun
Dixon shows 'soft, emotional' side at last council meeting
By Doug Donovan
Sun reporter
December 8, 2006
Baltimore City Council President Sheila Dixon cried at a live,
televised public meeting last night.
Yes, that is news.
Dixon, who becomes mayor next month, has a reputation as a tough
leader. But at her final council meeting as president, Dixon's steely
exterior melted as her colleagues gave her a surprise sentimental
sendoff in the form of a resolution thanking her for 20 years of
service.
Even the two-term president - who will be Baltimore's first female
mayor and the only one with a black belt in karate - was taken aback by
her emotions.
"I was great until Mary Pat Clarke mentioned my mother," Dixon said.
Dixon, who represented West Baltimore as a councilwoman for three terms
starting in 1987, added that people think she is "hard" but that she is
really a "soft, emotional person."
Dixon will serve as mayor until next December, the end of Gov.-elect
Martin O'Malley's current term. To secure an elected four-year term,
she will have to prevail in the 2007 Democratic primary election over
some of the very people who sang her praises last night.
All of the 13 council members present last night read a prepared part
of a playful and touching resolution.
Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. thanked Dixon for letting him turn
her office into a day care center for his son, Jack. Later, he added
that Dixon scared him when he first was elected in 1995.
"I'll never forget my first experience with the president's temper,"
Mitchell said.
He said she came into his office in a sweat suit and told him she was a
black belt who would kick his butt. "I joined the Downtown Athletic
Club because I was scared," he said. But the downtown fitness center
was no safe harbor: That is where Dixon is well-known for her workouts.
Then he, like many other council members, praised Dixon for using her
office to end years of typical acrimony on the council.
Even Councilman Nicholas C. D'Adamo Jr., whom Dixon stripped of his
budget committee chairmanship, praised the president. "She goes to bat
for you," D'Adamo said. Then he put his name in for a job with her
administration if he loses what many expect will be a run for city
comptroller in 2007.
Councilwoman Paula Johnson Branch cast Dixon's move to the mayor's
office in historical context. She put Dixon's name in the same league
as Victorine Q. Adams, the first elected councilwoman in 1967, and with
Clarke, the first elected female president in 1987. "I am proud to be
part of this history in the making," Branch said.
Clarke's part in the resolution struck Dixon the hardest when the North
Baltimore councilwoman said, "Baltimore's grandmothers are helping
raise our next generation in numbers without precedence."
"In honor of them on this historic occasion, let us lift up the name of
Winona Dixon," Clarke added, referring to Dixon's mother, who was a
well-known civic activist in Baltimore. "God bless the care she
provided in helping her daughter do right by city and family alike."
Tears sprang to Dixon's eyes as she thanked her colleagues.
"This really touched my heart and my soul," she said. "It is going to
be a very challenging year for all of us. We will all be victorious in
whatever our goals are."
doug.donovan@baltsun.com
Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun