Jack Evans threatened Metro officials' jobs in an effort to conceal ethics violation, documents show
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Jack Evans threatened Metro officials jobs in an effort to conceal ethics violation, documents show
By Robert McCartney
August 16 at 11:45 AM
Former Metro chairman Jack Evans threatened the jobs of the agencys top lawyer and board secretary in an effort to keep secret that the panels ethics committee had found he committed a violation, according to confidential agency documents.
Evans repeatedly berated Metro General Counsel Patricia Y. Lee and board corporate secretary Jennifer Green Ellison in the spring for their work on the inquiry, to the point that Metro officials were concerned the two might sue the agency for wrongful termination or creating a hostile work environment, the documents and interviews show.
Ellison told then-ethics committee chairman Clarence C. Crawford in May that Evans told her, Be careful, you could be next to be fired after Lee, according to handwritten notes taken by Crawford.
According to the notes, Ellison said the threat was enough to make the hair on back of your neck stand up.
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Steve Thompson and Fenit Nirappil contributed to this article.
Robert McCartney is The Washington Posts senior regional correspondent, covering government and politics in the greater Washington area. Follow
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