Public Trust

WASHINGTON -- The ousted president of the United Way of America and two close aides transferred more than $1 million a year to other organizations they controlled and spent hundreds of thousands more on their travel, pensions and insurance plans, the new management of the beleaguered charity said in a report released yesterday.In contrast to the charity's soothing assurances a month ago that any financial irregularities stemmed from "sloppy record-keeping" and "inattention to detail," the report revealed in damning detail a pattern of financial manipulation over a five-year period far more extensive than any the organization had previously disclosed.

Chuck Ecker confesses political inexperience, and thus it is no accident that his administration has been plagued by questions about the executive's ability to handle the tricky political curveballs thrown by those with vested interests in county policy.Predictably, Ecker stumbled in the beginning -- first, by recommending developer John Mardall as his chief administrative officer, though Mardall's contracts with the county created the perception of a conflict of interest. And second, by appointing a close friend of Michael Davis, an Ecker campaign adviser, as personnel administrator, although her credentials remain in question.

NO ONE IN ANNAPOLIS can remember the last time outraged citizens bearing torches stormed City Hall demanding the immediate removal of a mayor or an alderman.Despite this historic lack of need for recalling elected officials, a provision was added last winter to the city charter. This week, the City Council approved the procedure to stage special elections that could prematurely end an elected official's term.Voters should petition to have this proposal added to the ballot this fall. Then they should reject it.If Annapolis residents believe their aldermen already pander to vocal pressure groups, the recall provision will only aggravate that situation.

IF GUILTY, Michael Espy ought to go to prison. The sum he is alleged to have taken in gratuities and "other things of value" from corporations while agriculture secretary -- a total of $35,458 -- isn't great. The principle involved is.Mr. Espy, who served as agriculture secretary from January 1993 until December 1994, is charged in a 39-count indictment not only with accepting illegal gifts for himself, his girlfriend and his relatives but also with: Violating the Meat Inspection Act of 1907, which specifically prohibits Agriculture Department employees from accepting anything of value from companies they are supposed to regulate; committing mail and wire fraud; lying to the department's inspector general, the FBI and the White House; failing to report the gifts, as required, on annual federal financial disclosure forms, and tampering with a witness by ordering a low-level employee to alter a document requested by the inspector general.

In his commentary in the Baltimore Sun ("End the MTA Monopoly," April 14), Professor James Dorn of Towson University, and the Cato Foundation whose journal he edits, would have us privatize our public transportation. Dorn characterizes the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) as a monopoly, without mentioning the scores of private transportation providers (vans, shuttles, taxis, etc.), including the massive French multinational corporation Veolia, which already co-exist with the MTA right here in the Baltimore region.

The Washington media stars are upset because they have been tweaked by the United States Senate.It's the kind of Beltway story that normal Americans don't care about, but get Capitol insiders all twittering.The Senate did this by passing a measure that would require journalists who cover Congress to reveal their moonlighting income.This was obviously aimed at the big-name newspaper columnists and TV blowhards who are paid enormous fees by special interest groups to make speeches.It's a touchy subject that has been picking up steam since Jim Warren, the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau chief, began writing about it in his Sunday column.

IN POLITICS and camera sales, image is everything. On the political side, you put your candidate in a setting: a polluted harbor, a highway that looks like a parking lot, a breathtaking mountain landscape -- and you have a script that plays off the visual. "My opponent has allowed his friends in business to foul the waters. ... My opponent allowed loggers to threaten our scenic heritage. ... My opponent locked us into four-hour commutes," etc. So what are we to make of a news event staged last week by Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. at Chick & Ruth's Delly in Annapolis with former Democratic Gov. Marvin Mandel?

Wall Street is its own worst enemy. It should have welcomed new financial regulation as a means of restoring public trust. Instead, it's busily shredding new regulations and making the public more distrustful than ever. The Street's biggest lobbying groups have just filed a lawsuit against the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, seeking to overturn its new rule limiting speculative trading in food, oil and other commodities. The Street makes bundles from these bets, but they have raised costs for consumers.

It was lawyer Bradley L. MacFee Sr. who started the exchange of letters with a perfectly civil and concerned missive to Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm. Poor MacFee. He must have mistaken Hamm for someone who gives a tinker's damn. OK, let me rephrase that. At one time Hamm did, indeed, give a tinker's damn, before he became commissioner for Mayor Martin O'Malley, under whom our Police Department, while reducing crime, has exponentially increased in arrogance. MacFee's March 22 letter was about a case that Sun reporter Julie Bykowicz would eventually write about in a March 27 article.

Even though former Public Works Director William S. Mowell resigned from city service in March, he will receive another six months of salary, said Mayor W. Benjamin Brown.Brown said Mowell will be receiving the pay as part of a separation agreement reached with the city.Mowell, along with Jonathan Frenzel, the former deputy Public Works director, and Kevin Bode, a planning supervisor, resigned from city employment without explanation.On Thursday, Brown held a press conference to berate the news media for "tearing down the reputation of the mayor and City Council of Westminster" and to complain that state law prevents him from disclosing any more information about the resignations.