8/13/02

By MARK POWELL

Charles County, Md., attorney James Farmer last week requested the State Ethics Commission rule on the Department of Natural Resources acceptance of private money to finance trips for employees.
Farmer orchestrated a Quail Unlimited payment to DNR to send an official to a national conference on the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program in June. The influential attorney, a Quail Unlimited member, also sits on state CREP advisory board and is a major recipient of CREP dollars from the state and the federal government.
Farmer was positively profiled by Washington Post outdoors writer Angus Phillips in 1997 for his long-time support of setting up hedgerows and buffer strips to improve habitat for upland game. Phillips, writing about the CREP program, stated: “Farmer for years has been doing what the new federal grant will pay people to do — setting aside hedgerows and strips around and across his grain fields and letting them grow up in the messy but fertile cover that’s attractive to songbirds, rabbits, quail, bugs and other wildlife.”
Last week’s Delmarva Farmer detailed Farmer’s influence on the CREP advisory board and the concerns of production farmers who are losing rental land to CREP. Calls to DNR resulted in the agency’s spokeswoman stating that Farmer and Quail Unlimited’s financial contributions to the state agency are not unethical because Quail Unlimited — like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Humane Societe — share common goals.
The State Ethics Commission said it would investigate the issue if it was asked to.
Farmer took the initiative with his Aug. 7 letter to Suzanne Fox, executive director of the State Ethics Commission.
Farmer provided a copy of his letter — on Maryland Quail Unlimited stationery — to this newspaper.
It states: “The Aug. 6, 2002 issue of The Delmarva Farmer contained an article entitled ‘Wildlife group pays for Md. DNR trip’ which appears to call into question the “ethics” behind a recent decision by the Maryland Chapter of Quail Unlimited to help finance a business-related trip for an employee of Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. The state employee’s name is Jeff Horan and the conference — a national conference on the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP, a national land conservation program administered by DNR) — took place in Peoria, Ill., in June 2002. As the attached Aug. 6 article rightly points out, I did play a role in helping to arrange DNR’s representation at this conference.
“The Aug. 6 article further states that: ‘If an individual was concerned about the ethics of this particular issue on the CREP advisory panel, Robert Hahn, general counsel to the State Ethics Commission, said a complaint could be lodged with the ethics commision and it would be investigated. It is for this reason that I am contacting you at this time.
“As a member of Maryland’s CREP advisory committee and an active member of the Maryland Chapter of Quail Unlimited, I respectfully request the State Ethics Commission to consider rendering an official decision as to whether or not a violation of Maryland’s Ethics Law has occurred concerning the payment by Quail Unlimited to help finance the trip by Mr. Horan to Peoria, Ill., last June to attend the CREP conference.
“Please be advised that I stand prepared to assist the State Ethics Commission in any way deemed appropriate by the commission pursuant to its expeditious consideration of this important matter.”
Officials at the state ethics commission say they respond to requests like Farmer’s within 60 days. It could be ruled on quickly if there is a record of such issues being dealt with. Or, it could take the commission meeting with Farmer and other involved parties. The entire matter is kept confidential.