Misprision: A new word in the debate over absence of EDA oversight

Thanks to our daily update on the English language from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary service we have come across a word we had been unfamiliar with that might be added into the lack of EDA oversight mix. That word is “misprision”.

Don’t get excited, it is NOT “miss-prison” implying anything to do with jail time, just south of doing prison time. Jail is for under a year sentences, prison over a year the last time we checked.

However “misprision” does fit into the spectrum of our previous exploration of the “feasances”, mal, mis and non.

Criminal and non-criminal dereliction of public duty: Where might they apply in the EDA financial scandal?

Misprision, tracing back to Latin root word “prehendere” meaning “to seize”, is defined by Webster’s as:

• A. neglect or wrongful performance of duty;
• B. concealment of treason or felony by one who is not a participant in the treason or felony;
• C. seditious conduct against the government or the courts.

Another, lesser used meaning is defined as “misunderstanding” or “misinterpretation”.

“A” certainly seems fit along the malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance spectrum.

And “B” could be added if it were eventually found that anyone in a position of oversight not directly involved in ultimately determined criminal behavior regarding EDA projects became aware of that behavior and for whatever reason decided not to share that knowledge with the proper authorities and/or make it public in the appropriate venue.

And while many county citizens seem to look upon the collective “catastrophic failure” of EDA oversight as a sort of “treason” against the public interest our local municipal officials are elected to protect, we will judge our EDA situation as falling short of “C” – seditious or traitorous behavior, in the classic sense of treason against the government and court system that serves to uphold the laws of the nation – at lease so far.