Despite being convicted of stealing gift cards intended to help the poor children in her city, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) is back at work. Yes, really. The corrupt mayor, accused of stealing, is back in her position of power.

BALTIMORE – Mayor Sheila Dixon’s misdemeanor fraud conviction fails to meet a key standard necessary for her removal from office, her attorney said Wednesday as the mayor resumed her regular duties a day after the verdict.

Her criminal defense lawyer, Arnold M. Weiner, said the guilty verdict reflected testimony about actions that weren’t part of Dixon’s duties as City Council president, the post she held at the time.

State law requires removal of elected officials who are convicted of crimes related to their public duties and responsibilities.

Rather than using $525 in donated gift cards to help Baltimore’s poor children, Dixon decided to go on a shopping spree for herself. And yet it’s likely the Democratic mayor will keep her job.

Byron L. Warnken, associate professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said Maryland case law has determined that fraudulent misappropriation is a crime of moral turpitude. He said any argument that Dixon’s conviction wasn’t related to her public duties would be weak, but a stronger case could made that she can’t be removed as mayor for an offense she committed before attaining that office.

“‘It’s a moot point because I’m finished being City Council president’ — I think that’s an argument,” said Warnken, an experienced appellate and criminal defense lawyer.

Dixon remains unrepentant. She took time to joke with the media about the case and plans to exhaust her appeals.

Her continued presence in the mayor’s office is a disgrace. The citizens of Baltimore should demand that the corrupt, convicted mayor resign.