Prince George's County's Leslie Johnson problem

UNLESS SHE strikes a plea deal with prosecutors in the next two weeks, it appears there is no legal way to block Leslie Johnson from being sworn in and taking her seat on the Prince George's County Council on Dec. 6. Her inauguration would be a further embarrassment for a county stung by the federal charges against Ms. Johnson, wife of outgoing County Executive Jack B. Johnson. Those allegations include destroying and concealing evidence by flushing a $100,000 check from a developer down the toilet and stuffing $79,600 in cash into her bra as FBI agents knocked on the door of her home Nov. 12.

Ms. Johnson is innocent until proven guilty. But we hope that she won't seek to use her council seat as a bargaining chip with prosecutors or allow her case to become a distraction to the incoming county government. It would be in the county's interest for her to give up the post.