A Bullying Head of a Local Fiefdom

In an article in the New York Times this Monday, the Robeson County (NC) district attorney described his predecessor's bullying ways, which are typical of those of an individual who heads a local fiefdom:

“He is a bully, and that’s the way he ran this office. People were afraid of him. Lawyers were afraid of him. They were intimidated by his tactics."

The D.A.'s intimidation tactics led to the conviction of innocent individuals, which is what the article is about. But it also led to an unhealthy ethics environment in which numerous individuals gave in to fear and concerns for their own welfare to be complicit in ethical misconduct and the breaking of laws. For example, the long-time public defender is quoted as saying that withholding information from the defense was common.

This misconduct is only now being dealt with, after the D.A. has retired. The former D.A. and his allies continue to defend their misconduct and to attack their critics. The former D.A. called the current D.A. "a pussy," as if seeking justice were beneath a man's dignity. An individual who gives in to another's intimidation loses his dignity, and someone who seeks to do this to someone is not a man, but a monster. It's time to stop defending the former head of a fiefdom, and to start seeking justice by acknowledging that a public official who bullies is acting wrongfully, and is not a model of masculinity or of anything else.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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