The word "stupid," used in a foolhardy way last week by Baltimore City's housing commissioner, could become a boomerang.
Daniel P. Henson III, who also heads the Housing Authority, used it to describe a federal auditor's criticism of conflict of interest violations in the agency. Mr. Henson risks discovering it's he, not the auditor, who is stupid.
The federally financed city agency is a scandal waiting to explode. Mr. Henson, brought in to invigorate the city's housing operations after four years in the doldrums, has been strongly criticized in Washington for cutting too many corners. With the continued support of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, he remains defiant. Some of his activities may well prove to have been justified in light of the shambles he inherited. But his stubborn refusal to grasp the agency's continued flouting of the most elementary ethical principles will eventually hurt him, his agency and the mayor he loyally serves.
Baltimore has come a long way from the days when a tavern-owning city legislator in Annapolis could openly refuse to abstain on a vote affecting his business: "It doesn't conflict with my interest."
But the city also has a long way to go before it has effective laws and regulations governing the business relationships of officials with the city, not to mention other gaping loopholes that have come to light in recent months. The city's Ethics Board is working on a tightening of the toothless ethics law and is drafting a code of conduct that would spell out what Baltimore City officials can and can't do with propriety.
The need for tighter rules is illustrated by the incident involving a member of the Housing Authority board who resigned recently. Though Larry E. Jennings Jr. denied any connection, he was one of the board members who caused the federal auditor to criticize granting of contracts to relatives. He left with Mr. Schmoke's thanks and Mr. Henson's blast at the auditor. Mr. Henson, and apparently Mr. Schmoke, believe that if something isn't strictly forbidden by the narrowest interpretation of the city's flimsy rules, there is nothing ethically wrong. That's asking for trouble, which they may well bring on themselves.
NTC