Anthony W. McCarthy, a Gay Black man from Baltimore, Maryland on the campaign trail with Mayor hopeful Sheila Dixon, has been in a heap of trouble recently and now he is having his private life splattered all over the media.  In December McCarthy was sued by the deputy transportation director, Jamie M. Kendrick for approximately $4,847 in bills involving the unsuccessful campaign in 2006 when McCarthy tried to become a Democratic state delegate.  Both Rose M.P Taylor, chairwoman and Jason M. Young, treasurer said to the Baltimore District Court that they had no idea about the expenditures until the complaint was filed.  Both Taylor and Young were named as Defendants in the lawsuit.

McCarthy and Kendrick, who were friends for years, were not employed by Dixon when the suit was filed by Kendrick.  On January 18^th, inauguration of Baltimore’s new mayor (Dixon) McCarthy and Kendrick started talking and realized that they both had the same supervisor, Dixon. With that known McCarthy and Kendrick talked and Kendrick ended up dropping the charges, but with the stipulation that McCarthy would pay the full amount back by July 1^st.  Claims against Taylor and Young have also been dropped.  Since a mayoral candidate cannot be held lawfully responsible for faulty campaign-finance reports, Sheila Dixon has not violated any election-law.  When the campaign-finance director, Jared DeMarinis was questioned about it Dixon violated any election-laws he stated to the Baltimore City Paper that, “You're going to have to call the state prosecutor on that one there”.  The Maryland State Prosecutor’s Office declined to make a statement, even though the assistant state prosecutor Steve Trostle says he is not aware of any such case being prosecuted in the past. 

Also, in McCarthy’s 2006 failed campaign there was another lawsuit.  Last January McCarthy owed a caterer money for working his campaign kick off event. The services that the caterer provided cost McCarthy $643.68.  After numerous attempts to collect the payment from McCarthy the caterer filed a lawsuit, and was quickly paid by the campaign committee.  As of Feb 1^st McCarthy and Kendick have not commented on any of the cases.  Baltimore’s City Paper asked Young about the case of Kendrick v. McCarthy and was given this statement, “I don't know.” Young adds that Kendrick's allegation of unreported campaign expenses is “quite a problem”-and then called it a "baseless and frivolous claim.” 

Basically, Kendrick incurred all of these expenditures just prior and in one case of the day after the September 12^th primary election.  The money paid for printing, designing, and mailing McCarthy fliers that were sent out to approximately 11,574 constituents. The original complaint says that Kendrick stated that he bill McCarthy when services were delivered but was never paid.  The campaign committee, Friend of Anthony McCarthy, raised and exhausted $27, 502.15 when they closed down on October 26^th, giving them a balance of zero, and there were no late payments on any obligations reported.  Kendrick tried to get payment from McCarthy and other campaign officers, after the campaign had failed, with no success.  After hearing this Hoffman states, “I've never known vendors that front for a campaign, especially toward the end,” she says. “You have to get paid-it's business, and sometimes campaigns run out of money.” Hoffman also stated earlier, she has seen a lot in politics over the years, but not this. “Yes, it's true the candidate can't be held accountable for false filings,” Hoffman says. “But for a candidate to go out and take on campaign expenses and not tell the campaign? Something can be legal and also be dishonest. Why wouldn't you just pay for it through the campaign? If you don't have the money, take it as an outstanding obligation and pay it off. It doesn't make any sense.”   Since nobody is talking, nobody knows why McKenzie would pay the expenses for McCarthy. 

But McCarthy’s road of financial irresponsibility doesn’t end there.  It turns out that McCarthy has been taken to court several times in the past for money owed to others.  McCarthy has had many jobs since coming to the Baltimore area.  He has been a reporter, minister, journalist, occasional political candidate, and chief of staff for Dixon when she first became City Council president in 1999. The most surprising fact is that his wages have been garnished from every known employer he's had in Baltimore since he arrived from Washington, D.C., in the 1990s.

McCarthy has been charged criminally twice for money issue.  He was specifically charged for cutting a bad check to the Baltimore County in 1999 and in 2003 for failing to return rented living-room furniture and a television set to a city rental company.  The 2003 case was dropped when an attempt to serve court paper at McCarthy’s apartment failed, because McCarthy have month 10 months earlier.  Baltimore retains all district court cases more than 3 years old, but there was no word on the reason why the 1999 case was dropped. 

McCarthy money problems hit his home as well. In 2002 his former landlord on Mount Royal Avenue was awarded $1,945 ruling against McCarthy after he didn’t pay rent. Former New York Times national correspondent and editorial writer, Dudley Clendenin, who says McCarthy was his housemate in Clendenin’s Bolton Hill, called City Paper after the plaintiff in one of the personal-loan judgments against McCarthy told him that some of McCarthy’s money issues would be briefly written about. Clendenin tried to contact McCarthy to seek repayment numerous times.

Clendenin also told the City Paper, “He would tell fantastical stories when he was late with the rent,” Clendenin recalled, “I took them at face value, but he owed about $1,000, and after he moved out he didn't return phone calls and didn't pay me back. Then, last year he was running for office and was coming to Bolton Hill to appear at a meeting. I told him I would be there and bring up this issue, and so I received a series of money orders that repaid the debt”.

"I've been a recovering alcoholic for 18 years," Clendenin states. "And I understand compulsive behavior. I've known Anthony for years, and loved him as a friend and household companion, and I learned from him. He's a smart, talented, gifted, and valuable person who has a tremendous amount to offer the political and cultural life of this city. But he has this one big flaw, and you can get help for it, and I hope he does. The piece you're doing was inevitable, and it is probably the only way he'll get help.”

Well, what can we say about poor little Anthony?  I feel bad that he has to go through this.   But as a mentor says to me from time to time, “It is what it is”.  This is a bad example of the stereotypical black gay man.  Society already thinks that black gay men mismanage there money and this is only confirming there thoughts. 

There is more interesting facts to this story. Anthony McCarthy has disappeared since a recent complaint has come to the surface at his job.  Nobody knows what the complaint is about whether it is sexual, financial, etc.  But what we do know is that he suddenly went a long leave and has not come back to work.  Nobody knows where this man is.  His personal website is down, Sheila Dixon’s website has taken down his bio, his church has taken down his bio and his cell phone is disconnected. 

I guess black folks could say on thing about Anthony McCarthy in Ebonics, “He Gone”.