Former MoCo Inspector General Blames County Officials for Interfering with Official Probe

Outgoing Montgomery County Inspector General Thomas Dagley faulted a former councilwoman, the head of the county's technology services department and the acting county attorney for failing to help him protect the confidentiality of an investigation in 2010.
 
In a report released Tuesday, Dagley said the officials were uncooperative when he sought their help in addressing concerns arising from a probe into a police department adult education program that allowed officers to buy discounted firearms for personal use.

The report referred to the officials by title only. The three officials who held the jobs during the time in question were: former councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, Chief Information Officer E. Steven Emanuel and acting county attorney Marc Hansen.

Last spring, Dagley accused county leaders with interfering with his investigations.  

Officials in County Executive Ike Leggett's administration strongly denied the accusations when they were first raised, and Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield continued to describe them as "bizarre" Tuesday.
 
"He requested access to information about certain people for something he was looking into. We gave him that, and we said, 'Well gee, since he's looking at that, we should be doing it too,'" Lacefield said. "So how is that a problem? We're actually taking up something he's suggested."

Dagley did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon, but on Monday said he did not wish to respond to Lacefield's criticism of him.

In the annual report, Dagley said his office found more than $1 million in questionable costs related to the adult education program. He also noted that county leaders chose not to renew $350,000 in grants and contracts to a Department of Health and Human Services vendor after his office investigated the group's use of previous funding.

He added in the memo that his office believes that a third-party review may be necessary to determine "if conflicts of interest, violations of the attorney-client privilege, or other impairments causing the independence and confidentiality concerns can be removed from the current operating environment."

Two council members, former Council President Nancy Floreen and newly elected Council President Valerie Ervin, had strong praise for Dagley's nearly six-year tenure as inspector general. Both said they wished he would have been interested in continuing in his position.
 
"I would like another next inspector general just like Tom Dagley," Ervin said.

"The thing about inspector generals though is the good ones uncover a lot of problems. I think that only makes government better but not everybody feels that way and it's unfortunate," Ervin added.

Dagley told council members in August that he intended to resign from his position in early December, but he told Patch Monday that he planned to continue on the job through January as he tries to conclude ongoing investigations. The county is accepting applications from people hoping to replace Dagley in the watchdog position through Jan. 14, 2011.