Saturday, July 11, 2009

Will Reading K-9 dispute make a prophet of former District Attorney Mark Baldwin?


You may not know this, but the impasse between Reading police Chief William M. Heim and the Reading Fraternal Order of Police over staffing for the new K-9 unit is all my fault.

I've been accused in the past of having an exaggerated sense of self-importance, but I think I'm right this time.

This whole mess actually started five years ago this month.

Reading police seized $1.1 million from a drug dealer in the city in July 2004. A judge signed an order forfeiting the money in April 2005, but former District Attorney Mark C. Baldwin did nothing.

When Mayor Tom McMahon and Chief Heim went to Baldwin's office to demand the $1.1 million, you could almost hear the gears turning in Baldwin's Machiavellian mind.

After promising to give the $1.1 million to the city police in $200,000 installments, Baldwin pulled the rug out from under everyone, including me.

In June 2008, he gave it to the Berks County Community Foundation to create the District Attorney's Anti-drug Fund.

It all happened about five months prior to the election in which Baldwin was running for re-election.

I went on the attack.


I wrote that Baldwin and the city police had a long-standing written agreement to split forfeited funds 80-20 in favor of the city. The county prosecutor must file the court papers to legally seize the cash or assets, but that doesn't make it his money, I averred.

When Baldwin gave the money to the foundation, he said he did so in part because he knew that if he gave that much money to the city they'd find a way to screw it up.

The city cried foul.

Mayor Tom McMahon filed a lawsuit against Baldwin alleging that he violated the 1993 agreement on the split.

Truth be told, an 80-20 split might have worked for a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars in seized drug money, but once you get into seven figures even level-headed people start to lose their minds.

The lawsuit was settled when the foundation agreed to give $461,000 of the $1.1 million to the city in the form of a K-9 unit run by the city but available countywide.

Baldwin lost his bid for re-election, but his prediction appears to be coming true.

That's why even though everyone agrees we need that K-9 unit, it will probably be disbanded.

And it's all my fault.

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