Voting Station

Catherine Pugh

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Mayor

The Resume

    (March 10, 1950- )
    Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania
    Birth name was Catherine Crump
    Served in the Maryland House of Delegates (2005-07) and Senate (2007-16)
    Mayor of Baltimore (2016-19)
    Democrat

Why she might be annoying:

    She campaigned in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour, but as mayor vetoed the bill that would do that.
    While she was head of a health committee in the State Senate, she accepted $500,000 from the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) to purchase copies of her self-published children’s book ‘Healthy Holly.’
    She did not disclose the payments and did not recuse herself from votes affecting the UMMS.
    The UMMS allegedly purchased 100,000 books to donate to schools, but the firm that printed the book confirmed it had only printed 60,000 copies.
    She claimed the UMMS sales were the only bulk sales of ‘Healthy Holly,’ but the Baltimore Sun revealed that health care provider Kaiser Permanente had paid $100,000 to purchase copies of the book.
    One day after being indicted, she pleaded guilty to two charges of tax evasion, one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one charge of conspiracy to defraud the federal government (November 21, 2019).
    She was sentenced to three years in prison, to be followed by three years of probation (February 27, 2020).

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was a dean and director of Strayer Business College in Baltimore.
    She was co-owner of the TV station WGTW, where she hosted the public affairs program ‘Another View.’
    She was an organizer of the inaugural Baltimore Marathon.
    Her ‘Healthy Holly’ book promotes exercise and healthy eating.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 27 Votes: 62.96% Annoying