Let's make sure officials' ethics aren't on the auction block

It sounded like just another father-son bonding experience. They could have gone down to the corner bar for a couple of cold ones, or fired up the flat-screen and watched a game. Instead, the Foxxes headed down Pulaski Highway to go ... shopping.

And now the poor fellas find themselves in the middle of a stranger-by-the-day scandalette, or whatever you would call this not quite full-blown brouhaha that is unfolding over Baltimore City's vehicle auctions.

As The Baltimore Sun's Annie Linskey has been reporting for the past couple of weeks, the auctions of abandoned vehicles have been drawing some in-house interest from employees of the Transportation Department, which oversees the towing section - despite a city policy than bans anyone "in the chain of command" from buying or bidding in the auction.

Sounds like a good rule - as Alfred H. Foxx, head of the Transportation Department, was quoted as saying. If you work in the department, you might have some knowledge about the vehicles that could give you an unfair advantage over a guy walking in off the street to bid in the cash-only, as-is sale.

Too bad not everyone is paying the policy much mind.

Here's a recap of the saga to date: Anthony P. Wallnofer, a Transportation Department deputy director, was found in possession of a motorboat that had been auctioned off in July.

Then we learn that Wallnofer actually wrote the policy that he is now being investigated for possibly violating.

And then Foxx himself turns up on the log of people who had registered for the July 30 auction.

Or rather, an "A. Foxx" registered to bid. Foxx has said that A. Foxx is actually his son, Jonathan A. Foxx, who for some reason was registered by his middle initial by the sign-in clerk, who then reverted to the more conventional D. Foxx when registering the Transportation Department head's other son, David A. Foxx.

Oh, OK, that explains it.

At this point, the city has accepted Foxx's further explanation that he had merely gone with his sons to the auction to help them find the lot, and didn't offer any guidance on what they should or shouldn't bid on. And, in fact, he checked with the city's ethics board staff before attending the auction, asking if the policy banning employees from participating applied to his sons as well, and was told it didn't.

But we're still left with Wallnofer's boat, and that may lead to even murkier waters - the boat was bought at a city auction by Frankford Towing, and the city's inspector general is now investigating how it came to be transferred to Wallnofer. According to the policy Wallnofer himself wrote, employees can't knowingly buy a vehicle from a dealer that had previously purchased it from a city auction.

Another good idea - especially since it turns out that Frankford has been lobbying the Transportation Department to increase towing fees.

Ever feel like Baltimore is one big, intersecting network - that you're not a part of? Maybe these auctions are no big deal; the listing for Wednesday's auction, with the likes of an '83 Ford and a '94 Geo, no doubt contains more clunkers than finds. I didn't see anything that seemed like one of those mythical Escalades seized from drug dealers that people think they'll luck upon in government auctions. But, by the same token, perhaps there are good deals on the lot, on a usable car or at least some parts for an existing one - and you shouldn't have to bid against someone with prior access to the lot and a better sense of which ones actually are in working order.

But even if you're not in the market for a deal on an abandoned vehicle, what this really speaks to is a sense of confidence in city government - and whether it can police itself, either via the city's ethics board or its inspector general's office.

We've been down this road before, on a much larger scale: After The Baltimore Sun revealed questionable contract deals made during Mayor Sheila Dixon's time as City Council president, the city's ethics board launched an inquiry but, bafflingly enough, said about a year later it found no cause to pursue the investigation any further. Apparently the state prosecutor's office disagrees - it has been investigating Dixon, looking into much of the same issues as The Baltimore Sun had detailed in its stories.

So, yes, let's kick some tires on this auction lot.

Related topic galleries: Auction Service, Sheila Dixon, Ethics, Transportation, Vehicles, Values, Drug Trafficking

• HEALTH SCIENTIST ADMIN

• HEALTH SCIENTIST ADMIN

• DENTAL LAB TECH

• ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

• AUTO MECHANIC

• View all Top Jobs