News

Ethics board nixes Moose book

BY AMY MARCUS

He had support. County Executive Douglas Duncan came out strongly in favor of it. Duncan's spokesman, David Weaver, said, "He's got a great story to tell [and] we think he should be able to tell [it]. One thing the chief was careful about was not to say or do anything to jeopardize the case. Anybody that knows him knows he is first and foremost a law enforcement professional, a cop's cop. That's important to remember." Duncan felt that as other people are writing books on the sniper investigation that Moose should have a chance to tell the story as he could tell it most accurately and was in the best position to see what was happening.

Councilmember Thomas Perez concurred. "He is a man of integrity. I have great faith in his ability to navigate this. He knows what he's doing and I trust him. Ultimately it will all work out. It's in the public interest for him to publish it."

Not everyone was in favor. Prince William County Commonwealth's attorney Paul Ebert, who will prosecute Mr. Muhammad, said that he told them he would look it over. "Any type of pretrial publicity is fraught with possible problems if it comes out before or during the trial. As a matter of policy [it is] not a good idea." He said he didn't know what was going to be in it, conceding that Moose is in a good position, but that if it has facts that's a problem.

Peter Greenspun, who is representing Mr. Muhammad, was more forceful. "The timing of the publication is significant and outrageous. For the community it will jeopardize their interest in having cases proceed to trial as scheduled. Of equal importance to the accused [is it may] jeopardize his ability to have a fair trial by a neutral jury panel. [We must] insist that this publisher not market a book by taking advantage of the trial schedule which is a transparent marketing ploy. That is simply wrong. The chief should not allow that to occur."

The deal had to go to the Montgomery County Ethics Commission for consideration. On March 20^th, it ruled against him. What were their findings and why? They concluded that he didn't meet the standard for a waiver of the ethics law's prohibition against the use of prestige of office for private gain. According to Ed Lattner from the County Attorney's office, one cannot intentionally use the prestige of office for his gain or gain of another. For example, the police couldn't accept payment for giving a speech talking about something related to their office. They would need a waiver and the Commission recently had such a case and rejected the waiver.

Getting a successful waiver depends on three things: the best interests of the County would be served by granting the waiver; the importance to the County of a public employee or class of employees performing official duties outweighs the actual or potential harm of any conflict of interest; and granting the waiver will not give a public employee or class of employees an unfair economic advantage over other public employees or members of the pubic.

Regarding Moose, the Commission ruled, "It is not in the best interest of the County to allow its employees to ‘trade on' their government activities for private gain in such a direct and immediate fashion."

Not that he can't write the book but that he can't be paid for it.

Elizabeth Kellar, the Commission's chairperson, wrote "our system of representative government depends in part on the people maintaining the highest trust in their officials and employees. The People have a right to public officials and employees who are impartial and use independent judgment."

What now? Although Moose couldn't be reached for comment, Duncan said, "I continue to feel strongly that the Chief should have the opportunity to tell, not only the story of his life's work in law enforcement, but also his story about the tragic events of last October, when he led an extraordinary team of investigators through three of the most tragic and chilling weeks in this nation's history. The Chief has asked that I not seek special legislation to change the County's Ethics Law to allow him to pursue these ventures. I plan to sit down with the Chief at our first opportunity to discuss where we will go from here."

Chief Moose was just placed on active military duty and that takes precedence at this time. The Chief is joined in his service to his country by 21 other County employees. Said Duncan, "Our community's thoughts and prayers are with these citizen-soldiers."