Feel free to call this D.C. Council period, which began in 2007, the era of unscrupulous behavior.
Ward 1’s Jim Graham allegedly covered up domestic violence perpetrated by his chief of staff and later used city fire department employees as waitstaff at his birthday and holiday parties. Ward 8 Marion Barry gave a contract to a paramour to ensure her affections. Chairman Vincent C. Gray used his official stationery to hustle money for political activities from a company whose license must be approved by his committee. At-large Councilman Kwame Brown was sued by credit card companies for failing to pay $50,000 and later was accused of misappropriating campaign funds; the Office of Campaign Finance is investigating him for the latter.
Earlier this month, Ward 5’s Harry Thomas — the man who has been pontificating about alleged misdeeds by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty — was accused of raising funds for nonprofit organizations not authorized to do business in the city, and using that money for transactions unrelated to the various groups’ stated missions; he is under investigation.
That record makes it easy to understand why citizens are disillusioned with politics and government.
The allegations against Thomas made by Tim Day, a Republican challenging the incumbent legislator, involve two principal organizations — Team Thomas and HLT Team Thomas/Swing Away LLC — and several subsidiaries including HLT Development Corp. LLC, DC First Swing, and DCTC-Team Thomas. The licenses for the prime groups were revoked last year, according to Day.
He said Thomas has continued to solicit funds under the guise of providing services to youth and seniors. He cited an OCF report filed in March 2010 that indicated HLT Development was paid $2,500 for computer expenses — although Thomas had said the groups were dormant.
“We should be clear, all the issues are not just about unethical behavior, some of it is [Thomas] broke the law,” Day, an accountant, told me.
He said reviewing the flow of money it could be “assumed that [Thomas] is not reporting the income on his taxes.” He asked D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles and Inspector General Charles Willoughby to investigate the issue. The AG has asked Thomas to respond.
Thomas told me this week he established the nonprofits before joining the council and “[hasn’t] used them and don’t want to use them.” The revocations aren’t unusual; companies usually pay a fine and are back in business. He said he’d provide the AG with requested documents but called the investigation an “abuse of power,” hinting it’s “retaliation” against him for his probe of the mayor.
“[The complaint] should have gone to OCF,” Thomas continued. “But, at the end of the day, there’s nothing there.”
It’s unlikely the investigations of Brown, who is running for council chairman, and Thomas will be resolved before the Nov. 2 general election. That means the new council period will begin in January the same as this one is ending: with a dark cloud of unethical behavior hanging over it.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
