City Council candidate Antonio Glover has received $30,000 from five people associated with an East Baltimore methadone clinic and mental health business – or 84% of the funds he’s raised for his campaign.

Earlier this year, Councilman Ryan Dorsey came under scrutiny for accepting $42,000 from many of the same people, affiliated with Clinic Management and Development Services (CMDS), which is building a residential treatment center on Harford Road in Dorsey’s 3rd District.

Dorsey has since returned the money, saying the relationship between the business and the community would be better without the campaign contributions looming over the development of the facility.

Glover’s contributors are tied to CMDS and the Turning Point Clinic. CMDS handles the billings and a mental health program at Turning Point, which describes itself as “the largest opiate treatment clinic in the world,” serving 2,500 patients a day at its East North Avenue facility.

The clinic is located in the 13th District, where Glover is running for an open Council seat.

The following five people each gave Glover the legal maximum of $6,000, providing $30,000 of the $35,554 he has raised from the public:

• Turning Point Clinic president Rev. Milton E. Williams Jr. of Owings Mills.

• Turning Point administrator Andre Pelegrini of Parkville.

• CMDS president Kevin Pfeffer at a street address in Clarksville that’s not listed in state property assessment records.

• CMDS employee David Lui at a street address that’s listed as owned by Kevin K. Pfeffer.

• CMDS employee Darrshana Borrad of Laurel.

Pfeffer gave the following account: “When Ryan Dorsey returned our contributions, Antonio was recommended to us as another City Council candidate who supported substance abuse treatment. I was introduced to him at a dinner, as I recall. We had no discussions that were not general in nature. I have only communicated with him that one time. I don’t know who else is running in that district, so did not consider them.”

NOTE: Pfeffer contributed $6,000 to Glover on December 10, 2019, or two months before Dorsey returned Pfeffer’s contribution on February 5, 2020, according to state campaign records.

Glover and Williams have not responded to our requests for comment.

Third Try

This is Glover’s third attempt to win the 13th District Council seat.

A community liaison officer at the State’s Attorney’s Office (and a director of state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby’s 2018 reelection campaign), Glover is a member of the 45th District Central Committee.

In his disclosure statements, Glover says he has so far spent only $1,203.76 on his City Council run, mostly for yard signs and postage.

At the same time, he says he has personally lent his campaign $16,100 and made over $4,000 of “in-kind” contributions, including for T-shirts and stamps.

Open Seat

Glover is one of seven candidates for the East Baltimore seat, which is being vacated by Shannon Sneed, who is running for City Council President.

The district covers East Baltimore north of Patterson Park. Suburbanization, segregation and the loss of industrial jobs have created concentrated poverty in the district.

A cluster of the neighborhoods form an “urban heat island” and are the hottest place in the city due to the scarcity of trees and the density of rowhouses with black tar roofs.

In the summer, McElderry Park and Broadway East can get up to 10 degrees hotter than other parts of the city, data show. The heat and poor air quality produce poor health outcomes for many residents.

Ironically enough, the world-famous Johns Hopkins medical campus lies less than a mile from these communities. As Hopkins expands and reshapes its surroundings, many residents in the district have been displaced.

The Candidate Field

Others candidates in the race include Akil Patterson, Wesley Hawkins and Jackie Addison, with Patterson attracting a national following and showing the strongest fundraising ability.

He reported $31,808 on hand in February, after spending $23,268 in 2020.

Much of Patterson’s support comes from connections he has made through football, wrestling and fighting for LGBTQ inclusion in sports. A former all-state heavyweight wrestler, Patterson is the community affairs coordinator at Athlete Ally.

Donors to his campaign include Ben Jealous and Susie Turnbull, the 2018 Maryland Democratic gubernatorial ticket, as well as former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Cleveland Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson.

Patterson’s progressive legislative agenda has earned him endorsements from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other organizations.

Hawkins, an East Baltimore native, positions himself as the candidate who best understands life in the district. He has $2,745 on hand.

At a forum in February, Hawkins spoke of losing his parents to drug addiction and later becoming a community organizer and youth advocate, as well as founding a mentorship nonprofit and naming it after his mother.

Community Activist

Addison is a community liaison for City Council President Brandon Scott, a member of the 45th District Central Committee and a member of HARBEL and other community associations.

She reported $16,279 on hand last month, $3,000 of which came from AFSCME Maryland Council 3.

Metropolitan Baltimore Council AFL-CIO gave her $500, and Scott pitched in $250.

• To reach this reporter: ianpground@gmail.com