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Baltimore Mayor’s Successful Children’s Books Have Landed Her In HOT WATER…

Her next series could be ‘Corrupt Cathy: Ethics Violations Are Bad.’

What?

I’ve been told that one key principle in writing a book is to ‘write what you know’ and that seems to be what the Baltimore mayor knows.

Mayor Catherine Pugh has made six figures on her self-published ‘Healthy Holly’ books in the last few years. With just 5 orders, 100,000 books were sold for a total cost of $500,000. According to one of Pugh’s aides, the net profit was around $100,000.

Still, that is quite the side-hustle.

Those must be some pretty amazing children’s books!

The collection includes such cerebral titles as, ‘Healthy Holly: Exercising Is Fun,’ one about Holly’s little brother, ‘Healthy Holly: A Healthy Start for Herbie,‘ and two about healthy eating, ‘Healthy Holly: Not all Vegetables are Green,’ and the not-to-be-missed, ‘Healthy Holly: Fruits Come In All The Colors Of The Rainbow.

So, how in the actual hell did she manage to sell those children’s books at $5 a pop and rack up a half-million dollars in sales? I mean, she obviously ain’t no Dr. Seuss.

The Baltimore Sun looked into it and it seems that there was a massive scandal underneath.

She used her connections while she was sitting on the Board of Directors of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) to sell the books to the hospital in large quantities.

https://twitter.com/rsanderlin/status/1106016866525339648

Apparently. I mean, do you really think that ‘P is For Potty’ could compete with those numbers? I don’t think so.

According to a timeline published by the Baltimore Sun, Pugh joined the Board in 2001. In 2011, she incorporated ‘Healthy Holly, LLC’ and the University of Maryland Medical System bought 20,000 copies of ‘Healthy Holly: Exercising Is Fun’ from her for a total of $100,000. They claim that they donated the books to local schools and daycares. (More on that later.)

UMMS then placed more orders for books in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018. In just five orders, Pugh had sold 100,000 books for a total of $500,000, one-fifth of which was pure profit.

And the product is, well…

But wait! There’s more!

Pugh didn’t properly disclose her ‘Healthy Holly’ business when she was a Maryland State Senator in 2011. (Why does that year sound so familiar…?) Anyway, Pugh also failed to disclose her ‘Healthy Holly LLC’ income on ethics forms.

It also seems that the University of Maryland Medical System classified the donation of the books as ‘grants’ on federal tax forms, and failed to mention that they purchased the books from Catherine Pugh — a State Senator who sat on their Board of Directors — as required by basic reporting rules.

But, don’t just think that Healthy Holly is just a huge money-maker for Pugh, Holly is generous, too. In 2015, according to campaign finance records, Healthy Holly LLC gave a $5,000 check to Pugh’s campaign when she ran for mayor of Baltimore.

In 2016, UMMS was involved in a $60 million dollar, decade-long agreement with the city to help pay for public safety and other city services. Pugh became mayor in December of that same year. This is why it’s so fishy that UMMS has purchased over 100,000 copies of children’s books written and privately published by an influential, local politician.

In 2018, Healthy Holly LLC continued donating to political campaigns. Through ticket purchases, Healthy Holly LLC gave $1,000 to Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s campaign in August and another $1,000 to state Sen. Jill Carter’s election committee in June.

After the scandal was revealed, it appears that 8,700 Healthy Holly books have been abandoned in a warehouse owned by the School Board. So, what about the other 71,300? According to Baltimore Brew, they’re still unaccounted for. 

Interestingly, the Baltimore School Board says that the books were ‘unsolicited’.

But you can’t actually see the books in the warehouse.

So, were the books ever donated as UMMS claims, or was this just money changing hands with no product? There are obviously physical copies of the Healthy Holly books available, but are there over 70,000 copies out there?

https://twitter.com/ljsmith3663/status/1107663882435346440

Maybe that should be Corrupt Cathy’s plan, too.

ClashDaily.com’s, Editor-In-Chief, Doug Giles how-to book:

Raising Righteous & Rowdy Girls

In ‘Raising Righteous and Rowdy Girls’, Doug Giles reinforces the notion that little women don’t need to be pampered by their fathers to turn out right. And having met his beautiful daughters, I know his philosophy works. As a strong-willed woman who thinks her daddy is the greatest guy in the world, I can tell you this is a must-read for every man who hopes to earn the same title. —-S.E. Cupp Best Selling Author & Fox News Analyst

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K. Walker

ClashDaily's Associate Editor since August 2016. Self-described political junkie, anti-Third Wave Feminist, and a nightmare to the 'intersectional' crowd. Mrs. Walker has taken a stand against 'white privilege' education in public schools. She's also an amateur Playwright, former Drama teacher, and staunch defender of the Oxford comma. Follow her humble musings on Twitter: @TheMrsKnowItAll and on Gettr @KarenWalker

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