A Documented Failure

WHAT A MESS. In a sworn declaration filed last week, D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles admitted to a litany of serious errors in the District's handling of civil cases stemming from mass arrests in Pershing Park during meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 2002: misplaced or destroyed documents; police logs that cannot be located; audiotapes that may have been recorded over.

Such mishandling of evidence undermines confidence in the justice system and the government itself.

The Office of the Attorney General, formerly known as the Office of the Corporation Counsel, has been chronically underfunded and understaffed, often unable to handle even routine cases in a prompt and efficient manner. Complex and large cases, such as the one spawned by the arrests in 2002, often turn into nightmares, despite the best efforts of the most talented and conscientious lawyers on staff. In his declaration, Mr. Nickles acknowledges as much, citing his frustration with slow work from the office when he did battle with the District as a lawyer in private practice.

Slow is one thing. Sloppy, irresponsible, negligent and possibly sanctionable is quite another. At the insistence of Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who is presiding over the matter, Mr. Nickles has begun an investigation of the Pershing Park cases, has replaced the lead District lawyer on the matter and promised strong disciplinary action, if warranted, after the probe is complete. He has brought on former federal judge Stanley Sporkin to help sort out what happened and to undertake a long-overdue assessment of the office. Job one, as Mr. Nickles says in his declaration, must be to establish a formal and thorough document processing system.

The District loses credibility, prestige and money every time a fiasco of this sort occurs. It becomes more of a target for plaintiffs' lawyers who feel confident that they will be able to out-litigate and out-muscle the District's legal team. Some D.C. Council members with grudges against Mr. Nickles have seized on these recent developments to call for his ouster. This is preposterous. Mr. Nickles, who was confirmed as attorney general less than one year ago, inherited the problems with the Pershing Park cases and is taking action to remedy long-running problems. What the council and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) should be doing is providing resources so that this world-class city has at least an adequately functioning legal operation.