Report faults former Gettysburg park head for private travel

A former superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park was accused in a report released Thursday of improperly accepting free trips from the foundation that built and runs the park’s visitor’s center.

The U.S. Interior Department’s inspector general’s office report alleged that Ed Clark submitted false travel vouchers and asked the private nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation to underwrite a dinner he attended with other National Park Service employees.

The report said federal prosecutors disclosed two weeks ago that they did not intend to prosecute Clark. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Harrisburg offered no immediate comment.

Clark’s lawyer, Barak Cohen, said his client did not violate the law and called the release of the report a “gross injustice,” and that the National Park Service has not resolved the matter.

“They are completely off base in claiming that the law was violated,” Cohen said. “They were unable to prove that and it’s just flatout wrong.”

Cohen said Clark repeatedly sought ethics guidance from the park service but was unable to get it. He said Clark received no personal benefits.

“Every last thing he did was part of his duties as park superintendent,” Cohen said.

Jeremy Barnum, chief spokesman for the National Park Service, said the agency was reviewing the findings and “will take any and all appropriate action.”