Democratic nominee for mayor, Catherine E. Pugh, today acknowledged that James T. Smith Jr., two-term Baltimore County executive and former Maryland Secretary of Transportation, arranged for a last-minute loan of about $100,000 to help the Pugh campaign get over the finish line in its April 26 primary victory over former Mayor Sheila Dixon.

The loan came after the April 10 deadline for the filing of pre-primary finance reports by candidates and has not been previously disclosed by Pugh or her campaign.

Rumors of the loan have been circulating since Smith took charge of the Pugh campaign after the primary and began “making noises,” according to one well-connected source, “that he and his Baltimore County cronies are going to take over city government after November.”

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