The problems facing Ms. Dixon originate from the time she was on the council. Ms. Dixon voted on contracts for a shell corporation that at the time employed her sister. Her then-chief of staff instructed her former campaign manager to bill the city in $5,000 increments for computer-consulting work he did, allowing the expenditures to forego formal approval. The chief of staff was later reprimanded.

That conflict of interest allegation went before the Board of Ethics, which cleared Dixon. In addition:

A public-court filing details Ms. Dixon's personal relationship with a contractor for a project that was approved by the City Council when she headed the body. ... Court filings allege that Ms. Dixon was present at a 2004 City Council meeting to review a tax break for a project involving [Ronald] Lipscomb. ...

In an affidavit first made public in the Baltimore Sun newspaper, an investigator for the state prosecutor alleged that Ms. Dixon didn't report gifts from Mr. Lipscomb on her financial-disclosure forms.

At the time, Dixon and Liscomb were in a romantic relationship. Dixon says their exchange of gifts was in that context.

Dale Kelberman, Ms. Dixon's lawyer, said Mr. Lipscomb was working as a subcontractor in the city project under scrutiny, and Ms. Dixon was therefore not required under ethics codes to report the gifts he gave to her. Further, he argues, they only exchanged gifts as part of their relationship.

Dixon may have used poor judgment, but it's up to Baltimore's voters to decide whether that offsets her successful management of a troubled city. Some Baltimore residents wonder whether "the city's first black female mayor is being unfairly targeted" by a Republican hit-man. In light of other recent investigations and prosecutions of Democrats for political purposes, that question is worth asking.