ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose's wife complained about a lack of household "antiques" in trying to sway the county ethics board here to let her husband profit from a major book deal he signed after the Beltway sniper case, a transcript of her closed-door testimony reveals.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose and wife Sandy (Courtesy: Willamette Week )

Sandy Herman-Moose argued that her husband, who led the sniper investigation, was entitled to a special exemption to ethics rules against county officials profiting from the prestige of their office, because he has "served the public for 20 some years," sacrificing private gain.

She said she also has "worked hard," accumulating diplomas, books and papers, but few household luxuries.

"I was an activist in Portland. Before we moved here, basically we moved books and documents, and the mover said, 'Mrs. Moose, you don't have any antiques,'" she said. "And I said, 'My husband has a PhD and [I] have a law degree, and we have papers.'"

Chief Moose, testifying alongside her at the March 3 hearing here, cited "law school bills," among other things, in pleading for a waiver from conflict-of-interest rules. He said his $170,000 book deal was a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, and he didn't want to pass up "this good fortune."

Ten people died in last fall's sniper shooting spree, several in Moose's jurisdiction. Three others were critically injured.

"We've been working our asses off for 20 years, all due respect," Sandy Moose told the five-member Montgomery County Ethics Commission.

The panel denied Moose's request for a waiver, effectively killing his book contract with New York publisher Dutton Publishing Inc.

But Moose, in turn, has filed a lawsuit against the county in federal court, charging it violated his right to free speech and expression under the First Amendment. He is pressing ahead with the book, which had been scheduled for release this fall with the start of the trials of sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.

His wife, a civil-rights activist, suggested at the hearing that the chief, who is black, was being discriminated against.

"He has served in organizations that's [sic] full of institutionalized racism beyond anything you can imagine," Sandy Herman-Moose said.

"And he is asking a fully white group to give him the permission to make some money," she added.

After the panel ruled against her husband, she compared him to Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and other civil-rights leaders who "stood for principle."

Moose's lawyer, Ronald A. Karp, told WorldNetDaily yesterday that he does not plan to argue racial discrimination in his federal lawsuit.

Earning more than $160,000 a year, his client is the highest-paid official in the county, and the highest-paid police chief in the state.

Previous stories:

Mooses set up biz 4 weeks after killing spree

Moose's officers compare chief to Rev. Al Sharpton

Police union probes Moose

Police tried to make eyewitness doubt initial ID

Pizza guy ID's snipers on Day 1, yet cops ignore info

Secret sniper stake-out puts lie to Moose claim

Cops: Chief Moose withheld look-out on sniper suspects

Moose denies blocking police pay raise

Beltway sniper likely foreign

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Race-conscious chief may have cost lives