INTRIGUE, PARANOIA IN PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE SPY DEVICE FROM '60S

A paralegal finds a dusty old briefcase. She opens it and is shocked. It's equipped with a hidden listening device.

This is the Spokane County prosecutor's office, but the alarmed employee doesn't take the briefcase to her boss, Prosecutor Jim Sweetser.

Sweetser instead falls under suspicion.

The paralegal and a few deputy prosecutors quickly become convinced that top administrators are secretly - and illegally - taping their conversations.

The mysterious briefcase ends up in the hands of the FBI, which investigates along with the Spokane Police Department.

The conclusion: The leather luggage was rigged for electronic eavesdropping during abortion crackdowns in the late '60s and hasn't been used since.

While the findings of the recently concluded investigation are being kept secret, Sweetser claims he and the rest of management have been cleared of wrongdoing.

"It's laughable," he said Friday. "This is kind of like an old Dick Tracy movie: `The Case of the Dusty Briefcase."'

But there's nothing funny about what the incident and its ongoing aftershocks reveal about the county's top law enforcement office: Paranoia and distrust are rampant.

Sweetser poured gasoline on those fires this week when he launched a "formal internal inquiry" into the briefcase flap - action clearly intended to decide whether disciplinary action is warranted.

Eleven employees, including seven deputy prosecutors, have been ordered to appear before a panel of office supervisors Tuesday and Wednesday for questioning.

While some of those employees are calling themselves "whistleblowers" whose jobs should be protected, Sweetser believes the briefcase was sent to the FBI as part of a smear campaign.

"It appears that it could have been an effort by a few disgruntled employees to try to pressure this office politically," he said.

Union officials are just as outraged by the upcoming inquiry, claiming it violates employees' civil rights.

"It's a kangaroo court to intimidate and put fear into employees," said Bill Keenan, representative for the county and city employees' union.

Keenan said his demands for police reports have been rejected. He also has requested that employees be advised of any allegations in writing prior to the interoffice questioning.

The Spokesman-Review's request for information about the briefcase investigation from the Spokane Police Department was unsuccessful Friday. The prosecutor's office claimed the information is confidential due to the pending "personnel matter."

Employees and union officials said the briefcase was discovered by paralegals, who were in the process of moving to another office.

Six-inch-long wire plug-ins were clearly visible inside, along with an on-off switch.

Keenan said Deputy Prosecutor Debby Kurbitz, the union president, became involved in the decision to send the briefcase directly to police.

Kurbitz declined to comment Friday.

As it turns out, Sweetser said the bugged briefcase was traced back to 1968, when it was acquired for the office as an investigative tool.

By modern surveillance standards, the briefcase is considered a relic.

Taping conversations without the consent of all participants is against the law in Washington - a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. An exception is when a judge grants permission for a wiretap.

While Sweetser is amazed that his own employees could suspect him so quickly of breaking the law, there is ample evidence that he has contributed to the growing distrust.

Since taking office in January, he has fired six employees and disciplined several others, with most of those moves drawing union protests and legal challenges.

Deputy prosecutors have been without a labor contract since forming a union three years ago. Unfair labor practice charges were recently filed against Sweetser, who has denied bargaining in bad faith.

"He's created an office that is absolutely filled with fear and paranoia," Keenan maintained. "If you found a listening device in that office, why would you go to the boss?"

Copyright 1995 Cowles Publishing Company
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.