No place for games

Will corruption case be hurt by FBI agent’s actions?

When it comes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the well-groomed impression has long been one of professionalism and integrity. Not that our current president attempts to foster that, but his criticisms of the FBI are driven at least in part by his own political maneuvering.

By and large, though, the FBI maintains a reputation as a strong investigative force that’s critical to the nation’s enforcement of laws and security.

It’s in the context of high regard for the FBI that we can only shake our heads when explanations and behaviors don’t live up to that perception. We find ourselves shaking our heads in the investigation involving former state Sen. Jon Woods of Springdale and two other Northwest Arkansas men accused in a public corruption scandal.

Public corruption deserves a thorough and determined response from law enforcement. We can think of few violations of public trust more disgusting than when a public official abuses the office he holds for personal gain.

For almost a year now, the people of Arkansas have waited patiently as dribs and drabs of information have emerged about allegations regarding the state’s General Improvement Fund program. For years, lawmakers have given themselves access to large sums of money with the idea that each lawmaker was somehow uniquely qualified to select pet projects deserving of grants. In short, Arkansans had the money forcibly removed from their incomes through taxation, and the state’s 135 lawmakers then granted themselves authority to dole out the money as they saw fit.

Some of the money was used for purposes that could certainly be justified. Funds for volunteer fire departments to upgrade equipment, for example. But recent reporting has also shown a tendency toward projects with poor documentation and little success in achieving lofty goals of housing for poor veterans or funding for religious institutions the state had no business funding with taxpayer dollars. Sen. Bart Hester provided $50,000 of your tax dollars to a Bentonville nonprofit marriage counseling “ministry” that had gained his favor because it worked to “keep two parents together, keep fathers in home.” It probably didn’t hurt that Hester also went to church with the ministry’s leader. The group worked toward undoubtedly worthy goals, but doling out such sums with no standards for how the money is spent or what taxpayers are getting in return is just a bad way to do business. But from a lawmaker’s perspective, what’s not great about being able to dole out money to friends and favored entities? It’s a modern version of Robin Hood, except the lawmakers took from everyone and gave to the favored.

The case involving Woods, however, goes beyond bad judgment and a flawed government program. If the allegations prove true, it’s about a lawmaker working hard to enrich himself and others by manipulating his grant-giving authority.

Former State Rep. Micah Neal of Springdale shocked and saddened his supporters last January with a guilty plea in federal court to allegations he accepted kickbacks in exchange for directing state grant money to Ecclesia College in Springdale. Woods, Ecclesia President Oren Paris III and Randell Shelton Jr., a consultant, each face trial next year in an alleged scheme involving about $600,000 in state grants.

Now, back to the FBI involvement. The Woods/Paris/Shelton trial was slated to begin this month but has been delayed to April in part because of questions over the handling of 79 conversations recorded by Neal. Some recordings had been turned over to defense attorneys, but not those. Defense attorneys figured that out and wanted to know what explained the discrepancy. Such discrepancies have a way of damaging prosecution cases.

Then, on Dec. 18, one of the defense attorneys filed a letter in public court files. The letter, written by government attorneys, explained that an FBI agent had erased the 79 recordings from an FBI laptop computer. Why? The agent’s explanation was this: He let his children play video games on the computer, which is a violation of bureau policy. Apparently to cover that infraction, the agent wiped the computer’s memory clean before returning it to the bureau.

We sure hope those kids earned some serious virtual coins in their games. At least someone will have come out ahead in all this.

The original recordings by Neal still exist, so this isn’t about the recordings so much as it is about the government’s behavior. Is this what a professional investigation looks like? Allowing kids to play on an FBI computer that holds potential evidence?

Judge Timothy L. Brooks is none too happy about the release of those details and has ordered the defense attorney who filed them in public court documents to explain himself next month and, potentially, to be disciplined. Was it all a calculated effort to help a client? That will be for the judge to decide.

But the information is out there now, and it doesn’t shore up confidence in the FBI, to say the least.

We applaud the bringing of charges when evidence demonstrates the possible abuse of public trust by a corrupt public official. We’re hoping investigators continue to examine how lawmakers used General Improvement Fund grants and looking into whether other improprieties occurred. Wherever corruption exists, it needs to be revealed. The public deserves to know who bilked them and how.

Whether Woods and the two other men did that now won’t be considered at trial until April at the earliest. And all because of video gaming and an FBI agent trying to cover up his misuse of bureau equipment?

Let’s hope a battle to get answers in a case alleging public corruption won’t be derailed by ineptitude. It’s already been delayed by it.