Sleazeball Baltimore mayor quits after month on leave amid scandal

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
H.L. Mencken, known as the Sage of Baltimore.

In a way Baltimore, a failed city, and its disreputable former mayor, deserved each other.

From Fox Baltimore:

Catherine Pugh has announced her resignation as the Mayor of Baltimore, effective immediately.

Pugh has been on a leave of absence for more than a month as she recovers from pneumonia and bronchitis amid Healthy Holly scandal.

Her lawyer Steve Silverman made the announcement Thursday afternoon.

The first-term Democrat became mayor in late 2016.

More from AP:

Mayor Catherine Pugh’s resignation came exactly a week after her City Hall offices, homes and multiple other locations were raided by FBI and IRS agents. She is the second mayor in less than a decade to step down because of scandal. She came to office contrasting her clean image with her main opponent, ex-mayor Sheila Dixon, who was forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal for misappropriating about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.

"I am 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 said in a written statement read by her lawyer, Steven Silverman.

A federal grand jury has been empaneled and state and local inquiries are also underway into the roughly $800,000 Pugh made over the years in exchange for her "Healthy Holly" paperbacks about health and nutrition.

Since the book scandal erupted in late March, Pugh’s fractured administration has lurched from one crisis to another and various aides have been fired or left City Hall.