Charges Filed Against Ex-DMV Official : Ethics: Former head of failed computer project is accused of lobbying colleagues while in private sector job.

A state official who had supervised the failed $51.2-million Department of Motor Vehicles computer expansion project was accused Wednesday of violating the state’s “revolving door” law.

The chairman of the watchdog Fair Political Practices Commission, Ravi Mehta, said he believed this was only the second time that civil charges have been filed under the anti-conflict of interest law.

The law prohibits government officials who go to work in the private sector from returning to lobby or influence their former colleagues.

The charges were brought by the commission against Dennis Walker, a veteran civil servant who left his post as a supervisor of the DMV project in 1990 to work for Tandem Computers Inc., the leading hardware contractor for the computer expansion project.

Walker, who faces 14 counts and civil fines of up to $28,000, refused to comment on the case.

As a DMV manager, Walker had helped select Tandem in a non-competitive bidding process as the lead provider of $11 million worth of hardware for the seven-year-long project. The project crashed in failure last year after an investment of $51.2 million.

Walker then worked for Tandem for about 16 months. The commission charged that as an employee of Tandem, Walker violated the law by having improper contacts with DMV employees and others he had previously supervised as a DMV manager.

The commission charged that these activities included oral and written communications that sought to “influence some aspect” of the project.

Walker returned to the state payroll in 1992 as a computer manager in the Department of Social Services. He now is assigned to non-electronic duties in the department.

Mehta noted that under the Political Reform Act, government employees who leave for private employment are permanently prohibited from returning to lobby or influence their former government colleagues.

“You cannot work on a project, then go to the other side and then start lobbying the agency on that project,” Mehta said. “That is what Walker is accused of doing.”

Mehta said he knew of only one other case involving an alleged violation of the revolving door law several years ago.