THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601110387
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ACCOMAC LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
He couldn't prove that Accomack County's supervisors had any ``criminal intent'' when they spent tax dollars on things like concert tickets and church donations.
So, on Wednesday, special prosecutor George C. Fairbanks IV asked a judge to dismiss the malfeasance charges against nine current and former members of the Accomack County board. They were indicted on Aug. 7 on charges of illegal use of discretionary funds.
``This is not the case of each individual supervisor lining his pockets,'' said Fairbanks, the commonwealth's attorney in Williamsburg. Circuit Judge Robert B. Cromwell Jr. of Virginia Beach heard the case.
Defense attorneys presented the court with a check for $3,656.62 - restitution for questionable spending in March and April 1994, the time period listed in the indictments.
Each supervisor was charged with one count of malfeasance in office, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Fairbanks said former Supervisor Paul Merritt had already ``returned'' to the county the personal computer he bought with county funds.
``I feel wonderful,'' said Supervisor Julia Major, one of those charged, after the indictments were dismissed. ``I think the right thing was done. Thank God.''
But former Supervisor Kenneth Tucker, who was not re-elected after he was indicted, was angry and frustrated.
``I get the impression that this entire exercise wasn't about the law. It wasn't about right and wrong,'' Tucker said. ``It was purely politics.''
Jim Williams, with the Accomack County Taxpayers Association, said the group was ``pretty disappointed'' by the outcome of the investigation.
``I seems there was a lot more done than was brought out by the special prosecutor,'' Williams said.
The supervisors' spending spree started in April 1993 when they voted to route money usually budgeted for drainage projects into the discretionary fund. Between then and Aug. 8, 1995, each supervisor had $15,000 a year to spend as he or she saw fit, without prior approval of the board.
The fund was tapped for dozens of contributions to churches, a forbidden use of tax dollars under state law. Several hundred dollars were given to a county staffer so she could play softball in Georgia. One supervisor spent more than $13,000 on home repairs and gas bills for three residents. Another bought an ad in her grandchild's yearbook; yet another spent $17,000 to pave a private road in Chincoteague.
But few of these expenses fell during the March-April 1994 indictment period. And it was unclear why Fairbanks narrowed his investigation to two months.
``If this was about the law, why wasn't any of this investigated to the fullest?'' Tucker said. He said he spent only $750 of his discretionary money, none of it illegally. He was angry to have been charged with the others, and said county residents didn't seem to have paid much attention to the indictments.
``The individuals who were the biggest spenders were re-elected,'' he said.
In court records, the special prosecutor said he is satisfied that the board members did not intend to engage in any criminal or improper activity, and that repayment of questionable expenditures has resolved ``any ambiguities.'' Most of the spending was done for the public benefit and could be regarded as legitimate anyway, he said, had the expenses been approved in advance.
At the trial, Fairbanks said the supervisors had been completely cooperative with the state police investigation. by CNB