Mayor of Baltimore Indicted

Well, there was former Massachusetts State Senator Dianne Wilkerson and Boston City Councillor Chuck Turner. Then it was Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Now Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon joins the list of the Democratic politicians who now stand accused of exploiting their public office for private gain. Dixon, who supported Barack Obama for President last year, was today indicted on 12 counts relating to rewarding city contracts to relatives and friends as well as receiving gifts. Specifically, Dixon was charged with four counts of perjury, three counts of theft, three counts of misappropriation and two counts of misconduct. Dixon has been under investigation by the Maryland State Prosecutor for nearly three years.

Dixon became mayor in January 2007 when Martin O'Malley stepped aside to be sworn in as the Governor of Maryland. She was elected in her own right later that year. Prior to that, Dixon was a Baltimore City Councillor for nearly two decades. In the early 1990s, Dixon waved her shoe at her white colleagues on City Council telling them, "You've been running things for the last 20 years. Now the shoe is on the other foot." Now perhaps the other shoe has dropped.