Pulitzer is bittersweet: Good for The Sun but reminder of city’s political corruption

The Baltimore Sun is to be congratulated for winning the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting (“Baltimore Sun wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Mayor Catherine Pugh’s ‘Healthy Holly’ book scandal,” May 4). This is indeed a well deserved honor for the paper’s team effort covering the Mayor Catherine Pugh scandal.

At the same time, with pride for our paper, the award is a bittersweet reminder of the dysfunction of our beloved city. Egypt, Herodotus wrote, is a “gift of the Nile.” The Pulitzer is a gift from Baltimore, a very great and very dysfunctional city. Sadly, no one can top our local corruption in government or the police. The killing fields are in our town, and it is normal. But it does makes good copy. And the story of Mayor Pugh is a uniquely Baltimore story. The sheer audacity of the scheme is unlikely to occur anywhere else.

Some Sun employees may get better postings on the basis of this prize. Perhaps it will be Los Angeles or Chicago, but don’t forget Baltimore. It could not have happened anywhere else.

This is a great example that proves democracy can not exist without a free press. Perhaps, the best thing about the Pugh story is that it puts our elected officials on notice. Dishonest deeds will be discovered and there will be a price to pay. Be hopeful that the story is a warning sign to political aspirants to stay honest and stay true if they want to represent the people of our town.

Dudley Thompson, Girdletree