http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/05/AR2008050502489_pf.html

O'Malley's Office Accused Of Pressuring State Police

Pr. George's Auto Shop License at Issue

By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; A01

A state police commander who oversaw Maryland's automotive inspections program alleged that "strong political pressure" from Gov. Martin O'Malley's office was behind a recent decision to allow a Prince George's County station to resume inspections four years after its license was revoked for fraudulent practices.

In memos and e-mails reviewed by The Washington Post, Capt. Robert F. Bambary vigorously objected to issuing a new license to Hilltop Fleet Services, whose previous license was revoked after police found evidence of the Capitol Heights station issuing certificates for hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles its mechanics did not inspect.

Bambary's opinion was initially backed by his superiors, including Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, superintendent of state police. Sheridan wrote in a memo last fall to O'Malley's chief of staff that Hilltop had "undoubtedly permitted thousands of unsafe vehicles to be registered in our State."

But Sheridan had changed his position by March after O'Malley's office intervened following sustained lobbying by Sen. Nathaniel Exum (D-Prince George's), a longtime advocate of the station's owners.

Records and interviews reveal months of e-mail exchanges and meetings, including a personal appeal to O'Malley (D) after Exum became frustrated with Sheridan. Exum later held up Sheridan's confirmation in the Senate, saying that he was concerned about police treatment of minorities.

Reluctant police officials eventually walked the owners through the license reinstatement process, despite turning down three previous requests and having serious misgivings about a station that once issued 2,067 inspection certificates in a five-month period. Police estimated that mechanics could inspect only 872 cars in that time.

The Hilltop case offers a striking example of how the intervention of elected officials can change a bureaucratic decision. Although Bambary considered it political meddling, aides to O'Malley and Exum said they were only trying to ensure that Hilltop, one of more than 1,600 inspection stations in Maryland, was treated fairly.

Sean R. Malone, an O'Malley aide who talked with Exum about his concerns, said the governor's office did not direct the police to issue a license.

"Our role simply was clarifying what the process was and asking for a resolution that was reasonable and fair under the circumstances," Malone said. "We deferred to the state police and Colonel Sheridan and their professional judgment."

Sheridan said in an interview that he decided to allow Hilltop to resume inspections after learning that police had reinstated other revoked licenses and did not have firm rules as to how that should be done. Sheridan said that he kept O'Malley's office apprised of his agency's actions but that the decision to issue a new license on March 3 was his.

"I found out that we had no policy on what 'revocation' really meant," Sheridan said. "If we're going to err on this, we're going to err on the side of the business owner."

Hilltop is just outside of Exum's legislative district. Exum said he considers the station a constituent that was being given the runaround by police. "If you go to jail, they tell you how long you should serve," Exum said, adding that he felt that police were "acting as the prosecutor, the judge and the jury."

Hilltop's owners have said they did nothing of the magnitude alleged and were treated unfairly. They contended that they were able to conduct inspections far more rapidly than police assumed, a position an administrative law judge found not credible. In a March interview, James L. Wilson, a Hilltop owner, said a new license was the station's "just due."

Bambary, in a memo to file the day the new license was delivered, said he considered the decision "wrong on all accounts, whether for political reasons or not." He wrote that issuing the license "was in direct conflict with all standardized practices within the division."

Bambary, who was quoted in a Post story in March about Hilltop's new license, was reassigned two weeks later. A police spokesman confirmed the lateral move but declined to say what prompted it. Bambary declined to be interviewed for this story.

As a result of the episode, state police revised their policy on suspensions and revocations to make the process more transparent and to state explicitly that revocations will last at least five years and that the final decision rests with the division commander, the position Bambary held.

The intervention of O'Malley's office is apparent in documents that were obtained in recent weeks under Maryland's Public Information Act.

Malone, a deputy legislative officer, said that it is common practice for the governor's legislative office to forward lawmakers' concerns to state agencies and that the Hilltop matter was not unusual in that regard.

"Our role is to address the concerns of legislators, as well as move the agenda of the governor," Malone said.

Malone said he started talking to Exum about Hilltop in November, when lawmakers were meeting in a special session. "There never was any concern that we needed a certain result to get Senator Exum's vote on any issue," Malone said.

Malone and Sheridan said Hilltop's situation was complicated by an apparent commitment made in April 2007 by Sheridan's predecessor, Col. Thomas E. Hutchins, to allow Hilltop to resume inspections on a six-month trial basis. That is not an option available under police regulations.

Hutchins, who was appointed by O'Malley's predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), has said he did not recall offering a trial license but did not dispute the possibility. None had been issued by the time Hutchins departed in June 2007, five months after O'Malley took office.

In October, Sheridan wrote a memo to Michael Enright, O'Malley's chief of staff, saying that "the Maryland State Police has and will continue to oppose" Hilltop's re-licensure. Sheridan detailed a lengthy and contentious history dating to 1998. "Hilltop Fleet Services and those representing Hilltop Fleet Services have greatly and unnecessarily burdened the Department's resources over the last nine years," Sheridan wrote.

The revocation of Hilltop's license grew out of suspicions in 2002 that it was issuing certificates for far more vehicles than were being inspected. That led to stepped-up monitoring of the station, including video surveillance.

Police suspended Hilltop's license in August 2002. After a hearing, an administrative law judge agreed in May 2003 that the license should be revoked. The revocation was upheld in 2004 in Prince George's Circuit Court. The state attorney general's office considered but decided not to pursue criminal charges.

"I am satisfied that since Hilltop has been shut down, and all safety concerns adequately addressed, that this is the best course of action for us to follow," Carolyn H. Henneman, then the chief of the attorney general's Criminal Investigations Division, wrote in a June 2004 memo.

Hilltop made the first of four attempts to regain a license in 2005. That application and another in 2006 were denied based on the station's history. A police review board recommended denying a third application in early 2007. After that, Hutchins was said to raise the possibility of a trial license.

Exum made multiple attempts to meet with Sheridan after he took over in June. The senator wrote O'Malley on July 26: "Since Colonel Sheridan has been unresponsive in resolving this issue, I am asking for a meeting with you."

Sheridan met with Exum five days later.

"The meeting consisted of yet another attempt to have Hilltop Fleet Services reinstated," Sheridan wrote to Enright in October, as O'Malley was preparing to meet with Exum about legislative issues.

Shortly after Exum's talks with Malone, the governor's aide wrote a letter to Exum in December outlining steps that Hilltop could take to apply for another license. "As you have indicated, you are not asking for special treatment for Hilltop, only fair treatment," Malone wrote. "In keeping with your request, Colonel Sheridan will give Hilltop fair reconsideration."

In January, a trooper assigned to evaluate Hilltop's latest application recommended denial, largely because of the station's history. Bambary agreed. Later in the month, Bambary's immediate superior, Maj. Walter F. Landon, sent an e-mail to his superior concurring.

"I am sure that political intervention will ensue," Landon wrote.

E-mails from the following weeks show high-ranking police walking Wilson, a Hilltop owner, through the process of re-licensure and updating Enright. Bambary and Landon expressed apparent dismay in a Feb. 13 e-mail exchange.

Landon: "I have to personally call Wilson to see if he is going to take the test Friday!!!!"

Bambary: "If he needs a ride to the test site, do you want me to assign someone to pick him up????????"

Landon: "We don't have to give a ride yet but . . . do we have tutors?"

In a memo, Bambary wrote that he was ordered Feb. 25 to prepare a license for Hilltop. On Feb. 29, before the license was delivered, Exum requested a delay in Sheridan's confirmation vote. That same day, Bambary sent an e-mail to Landon saying the license's delivery had been expedited. It arrived the next business day.