THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605100006
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Local elections are over. A new Virginia Beach School Board takes office July 1. It's time for the city to move beyond the old board and its troubles.
But Commonwealth's Attorney Bob Humphreys seems determined to pursue the two remaining members of that disgraced board even after one's term expires on June 30. Their biggest crime, apparently, is a belief that they are innocent until proved guilty.
Humphreys and the special grand jury he advised performed a public service when they issued a report in February chronicling the errors of top school administrators and the School Board during fiscal year 1994-1995.
Their document detailed how the schools came up $12.1 million short that year and parceled out blame to former School Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette, school budget chief Mordecai Smith and all but two members of the School Board.
The report recommended that Smith and seven School Board members resign. But it also warned that if they chose to stay, they'd face indictments for malfeasance in office. That aspect of the report smacked of intimidation.
All of the board members insisted they were innocent of any crime. But when faced with an ugly court battle to clear their names, five quietly resigned instead.
Two others, Tim Jackson and Ferdinand V. Tolentino, dared to stay on the job. They were indicted for malfeasance and face a joint trial in August. By that time Tolentino's term on the board will have expired.
Humphreys offered to drop the charges if they would resign, but both refused. They believe that tapes of the board meetings will demonstrate that they were misled by school administrators and therefore innocent of malfeasance.
Not content with trying to convict them of that offense, the city's chief prosecutor has now persuaded a grand jury to bring additional charges against the two men: conflicts of interest. The charges arise out of a School Board vote to spend a maximum of $25,000 on Jackson's and Tolentino's legal fees.
This is just more intimidation. Humphreys is well-aware of Virginia's curious conflict laws which allow public officials to vote on virtually any issue so long as they disclose their conflict of interest in advance.
In the case of Jackson and Tolentino, their interest in the vote was so obvious that it is absurd to criticize them for not leaping to their feet to remind the board about what it was voting on. Furthermore, the use of public funds to defend public officials accused of malfeasance is legal and even essential. Without such indemnification against ruinous lawsuits, few citizens would risk serving in the first place.
Humphreys is plainly irked by two men who won't be bullied off the School Board. But their conviction on malfeasance charges is far from a foregone conclusion. The 1994-1995 School Board made many mistakes, but it remains for a jury to decide if its actions were criminal.
Thanks to the new charges, the city now faces two separate trials for Jackson and Tolentino. The cost to taxpayers - who will be paying for both sides in the battle - will be considerable.
We would remind Mr. Humphreys that wasting taxpayer dollars is wrong: whether it is done by the schools or by an overly zealous prosecutor. by CNB