Brown spanked over forest fire

Only Henry Brown would make the government spend $100,000 to try to get out of a $4,747 fine.

This congressman, who ranks number one in the U.S. House for sending free mail to constituents (a blatant misuse of office for campaign purposes) is the ultimate waster of government money, as outlined in this story by the Washington Post:

Congressman's Battle With Forest Service Extinguished
Cost of Dousing Fire That Spread From Brown's Farm Is Paid

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 4, 2008; A17

A long-running battle between the U.S. Forest Service and a Republican congressman who set a runaway fire that damaged federal land has been settled, with a $4,747 hole burned in the lawmaker's pocket.

That's the amount Rep. Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-S.C.) paid the agency on April 20 to cover the cost of suppressing the March 5, 2004, blaze that jumped from his property to the adjacent Francis Marion National Forest, charring 20 acres. Brown previously had paid a $250 fine.

The payment extinguished a four-year dispute marked by allegations of political pressure, a failed counterclaim by Brown and threats by the agency to garnish his wages if he did not pay up.

"It's done," Allison Stewart, a Forest Service spokeswoman, said this week. "We charged him, and he paid. We just needed to compensate the taxpayers for the amount of money we spent."

Brown's spokeswoman confirmed that he paid the bill but did not respond to requests for further comment.

Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group that has tracked the case, said the government spent more than $100,000 in staff time to collect less than $5,000.

At issue was whether Brown, who had permission from the South Carolina Forestry Commission to conduct the burn on his Cordesville, S.C., tree farm, should be held liable for the firefighting costs after wind blew the flames into the adjacent national forest.

Although Brown maintained that he acted responsibly, a Forest Service investigation found him negligent for, among other reasons, having little more than water-filled garbage cans on the back of a pickup truck for fire control. The agency determined that, according to federal law and policy, Brown should be fined and pay the firefighting costs.

The congressman fought back -- hard.

In a March 2004 conference call, Brown, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, told agency officials that Forest Service programs might need more scrutiny if they pursued the matter, according to a whistle-blower complaint filed that September by two Forest Service law enforcement officials.

Brown has denied threatening the Forest Service, saying he merely discussed the need for a change in federal statutes to give authorities more discretion to waive violations when no negligence is involved. He also has acknowledged discussing the enforcement policy that spring in a meeting with then-Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and Mark E. Rey, undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the Department of Agriculture.

"I don't believe I broke a law or acted negligently," Brown said in September 2004. "Acting solely as a private citizen, I voiced this to authorities. I never intended to use my position to further my case."

After the whistle-blower complaint was filed, Forest Service officials canceled earlier internal directives to "take no action" and announced that Brown would be sent a violation notice.

Brown kept fighting. In January 2005, three days after he received a bill from the Forest Service for $4,747, he demanded that the agency pay him $9,040 for a fire on federal land that spread to his property in 1989. The agency denied the claim, saying the two-year statute of limitations had run out.

On March 12, the Forest Service sent Brown an overdue notice demanding payment of $5,773.03, including interest and penalties, within 30 days. It warned that the debt could be referred to a private collection agency and that Brown's wages might be garnished. On April 9, however, the Forest Service sent another letter agreeing to waive more than $1,000 in penalties and interest, leaving the final bill at $4,747.18.

Brown scored a small victory. After discussions with the lawmaker, the Forest Service modified its regulations last month to make it more difficult for the government to seek criminal penalties against violators who allow fires to burn out of control onto federal land. Now the government must show criminal negligence on the part of the landowner, the same standard that landowners must show when prescribed burns on federal property jump to their land.

Ruch, head of the watchdog group, maintained that "Representative Brown got more than kid-glove treatment in this case. He was handled with asbestos mittens by a Forest Service petrified of enraging its political bosses. . . . Only repeated threats of exposure have kept even anemic enforcement against Representative Brown moving."

Stewart, the Forest Service spokeswoman, said the case was handled like any other. The agency has 321 similar open cases, she said, including 94 that predate Brown's.

"We just want to make sure that these sorts of actions are done safely and that the taxpayers of America don't get stuck" with the bill, she said.