As mayor, Sheila Dixon will inherit in January a city school system rife with problems and a frosty relationship between city police and the state?s attorney?s office, among other problems.
Mayor Martin O?Malley?s gubernatorial win means Dixon will finish his term.
Finding a way to fix the 11 failing schools that State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick tried to take over in March and many others that barely pass must be top on Dixon?s agenda.
So should healing the wound between the mayor?s office and Patricia Jessamy, the state?s attorney, who has accused the police department of arresting people without probable cause.
That has led to one quarter of those arrested in the city never being charged with a crime, Jessamy has said, and is the reason behind a joint lawsuit against the police department by the American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP.
The situation is nothing new to Dixon, who has spent nearly 20 yearson the Baltimore City Council, six of them as president and chair of the Board of Estimates, which oversees city spending. She knows they are pressing problems that require strong leadership.
Her campaign for a full term will no doubt make the task more difficult.
But the bigger problem is the state prosecutor?s investigation of the $500,000 in city funds paid to a former campaign chairman, Dale Clark, for IT work without a contract. City rules require that all contracts over $5,000 be approved by the Board of Estimates.
In March a city grand jury issued subpoenas on behalf of the state prosecutor?s office that required city officials to provide documents showing how and why Clark received the payments. But we haven?t heard anything since.
What?s taking so long? Maryland state prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh did not return a phone call seeking comment on the case.
For Dixon to run the city effectively, the rumors need to stop. That can only happen with a completed investigation that exonerates her.
So the sooner the state prosecutor can finish the investigation, the better. Baltimore?s citizens need to know well before the 2007 election if Dixon is worthy of their confidence and their vote.
And Dixon deserves to govern without the taint of scandal if she is innocent. Waiting to complete the investigation could easily be construed as a political hit against Dixon in an election year.
