Md. Senate Unanimously Approves Emergency Bill To Overhaul UMMS Board, Prompted By Mayor Pugh's Book Deals
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — By a unanimous vote, the Maryland Senate has approved an emergency bill to overhaul the board of the University of Maryland Medical System- prompted by Mayor Pugh's book dealings with the organization.
Mayor Pugh continues on her leave of absence as investigations dig into her business deals.
It's been three weeks since the story broke that Mayor Pugh sold her "Healthy Holly" books to the University of Maryland Medical System.
Since then, at least six other buyers may have done business with the City.
At least three companies who have been payments to Catherine Pugh either directly or indirectly in her time as mayor of Baltimore.
Carefirst, Kaiser Permanante and Ariel Investments, all with millions of dollars in contracts approved by the Board of Estimates in recent years, where Catherine Pugh is a voting member.
WJZ has obtained a copy of her fourth book published, "Healthy Holly: Vegetables Are Not Just Green", written in 2016 for a 2017 distribution.
The self-published book is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.
But, Pugh's company, Healthy Holly LLC, brought in at least nearly $700,000 once all the donations and payments known so far are tallied up.
And the calls for Mayor Pugh's resignation range from city to state officials, but Gov. Hogan stopped short of that Thursday.
On Monday, the governor asked the state prosecutor to open an investigation. Hours later, Mayor Pugh announced she was taking a temporary leave of absence- citing her health.
"People need to know the complete extent of what happened, how it happened, the profit made," said Senate President Mike Miller.
Maryland's State Senate voted Thursday to pass the reform bill to prevent inside deals like the one Pugh made with the system when she was a board member.
"She's done some wonderful things for Baltimore City, so it's a complete shock, quite frankly," Miller said.
University of Baltimore ethics professor said public officials should know better.
"I just want them to be held to a normal standard, the standard of the everyday person in the street. That would be helpful," said Fred Guy, UB Ethics Professor.
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