THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608110076
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 133 lines
In seven years as the city's commonwealth's attorney, Robert J. Humphreys has prosecuted countless felons - con artists, burglars, rapists and murderers.
But few trials have generated as much interest - and second-guessing - as the one that starts Monday. It is the case against School Board member Tim Jackson and a former colleague, Ferdinand V. Tolentino.
They are charged with malfeasance of office, a misdemeanor that, from a legal standpoint, is about on par with littering. It is the kind of charge a city's chief law enforcement officer rarely, if ever, gets involved with.
``I certainly wish I didn't have to do this,'' Humphreys said last week. ``I get asked a lot, `Why are you handling this personally?' . . . When you're talking about people on that level, public officials, it's not the kind of case that you dump on an assistant simply because of who the defendants are.''
The charges grew out of last winter's contentious special grand jury report that condemned the School Board for running up a $12.1 million deficit, a violation of the state law requiring a balanced budget.
Most school board members resigned rather than face prosecution. But Jackson and Tolentino have vowed to vindicate themselves. They will try to salvage their reputations as public stewards by arguing that while they voted to approve budgets that did not balance, they weren't aware of the district's true financial situation.
Humphreys campaigned on a no-plea-bargain, get-tough platform. Now he finds himself bringing the full weight of his office to prosecute an alleged misdemeanor. The maximum fine is $250.
``People say, `It's a class four misdemeanor, why bother? It's like littering.' And it is like littering, or speeding. It's that caliber of a case. But it's not so much the penalty as the principle. These people were in a position of public trust and responsibility, and they blew it. I felt it was important for me to oversee the investigation.''
To prepare for the case, Humphreys set aside a large part of last week to review his arguments. Unlike the vast majority of his cases, which unfold without a hint of public or media interest, this one runs the risk of falling prey to a sympathetic jury, clever defense moves and, ultimately, acquittal.
If the attention bothers him, he does not show it.
``I can't be swayed by what appears on the 6 p.m. news or in the newspaper,'' he said.
Those who argue that Humphreys would better serve the commonwealth by arguing more serious crimes before the court are looking at the case with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, he said.
``I made the decision before I knew there would be a case, when it was just a scandal that needed to be gotten to the bottom of,'' he said.
Humphreys says he held off seeking a special grand jury until the release of an audit by KPMG Peak Marwick, which uncovered the $12.1 million deficit. The audit concluded that the school district approved budgets based on unrealistic financial assumptions about the division's income. In addition, the board was criticized for making $43 million in budget transfers to cover various account shortfalls, moves that made the final budget document useless as a financial planning tool.
``If you think back, no one knew then that it would point to the School Board. There were a lot of allegations about (former school Superintendent) Sidney Faucette. It was an investigation done with no preconceived notions of the outcome,'' Humphreys said.
There was another, more practical, reason for his involvement, he said. Special grand juries are rare in Virginia, and only Humphreys and Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Albert Alberi had any previous experience dealing with them.
``It had to be Al or me just to bring in some institutional memory,'' he said.
What bothers some is not the trial itself but how the School Board's mistakes came to pass. Virginia Beach City Treasurer John Atkinson, an early supporter of Tolentino, argued that the trial is probably not appropriate because the board acted on innaccurate budgetary information provided by the school administration.
``I, for one, don't think (they) ought to be in court,'' Atkinson said. ``Tolentino never let anyone think he would be on the School Board forever. He didn't run for the job. He was appointed. As such, he personally didn't do anything wrong. Why shouldn't he have been allowed to finish his term and go home?''
Atkinson has an indirect stake in the matter. When Tolentino first decided he wanted a life in public service, he sought Atkinson's help. Atkinson recommended Tolentino to former City Councilman James Brazier, who has returned to his job as a police captain. Brazier helped advance Tolentino's name before the City Council, which voted to install Tolentino in 1993.
Atkinson said the board was misled by former School Superintendent Sidney Faucette and that Tolentino didn't ``personally have the ability to refute the budget.''
``I think that's what happened. The board's job was to hire and set policy.''
Humphreys, who has been the city's chief prosecutor for nearly eight years, is scheduled to run again next November. He will count on strong support from Christian conservatives, who make up a sizable portion of the voting electorate in Virginia Beach. Among them are members of Rock Church, where Jackson is a respected member and an associate minister.
On paper, Humphreys faces a trial that involves a prominent member of his own party - Jackson - who once served as a Virginia Beach police officer and who received a $100 donation from Humphreys when he ran for School Board two years ago.
``I supported Timmy Jackson,'' said Humphreys, using the familiar name that many of Jackson's friends prefer. ``I campaigned for him. I let him use my name on event forms and I tried to help him raise money. I liked him, I respected him. He was a good cop. He had a lot of attributes I wanted to see in public office and I have not changed my mind about that.
``Tim is a good guy. If you make a mistake, that does not make you a bad person. I don't have any ill will toward Tim. Politics has not taken over this case.''
But it has bubbled to the surface now and then, in part from the man who will defend Jackson, Moody E. ``Sonny'' Stallings, the former Virginia state senator, Democrat, and outspoken critic of Humphreys.
Earlier this year, in an attempt to remove Humphreys from the case, Stallings accused Humphreys of ``pursuing some sort of personal vendetta'' and ``engaging in a vindictive series of threatening legal actions.''
The court ruled against Stallings' request, but the charge and others like it continue to anger Humphreys.
Humphreys said he is not worried if the case against Jackson quietly angers local Republicans. ``If it costs me votes, it costs me votes.''
It's an answer that does not surprise State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, the Republican who defeated Stallings. Stolle counts Humphreys among his close friends, someone he admires for his willingness to keep politics out of his office.
In the wake of the indictments and the end of Tolentino's board service (his term ended June 30), Stolle said he's heard that it might be time for Virginia Beach to begin the healing process and let the prosecution slip away.
``Some have asked me if maybe it wasn't better to close the book on this,'' Stolle said. ``But the worst thing we could do is make it appear that there is a political solution to this problem.'' MEMO: Main story on page B1 and related profiles on page B3. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, The Virginian-Pilot
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert J. Humphreys says the big issue in
the Virginia Beach School Board case is public officials'
accountability.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD TRIAL BUDGET DEFICIT by CNB