The Fenty administration has continued to lavish hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on favored employees despite a city law banning the practice.
The D.C. Council outlawed bonuses and awards for fiscal 2010, which started Oct. 1. Since then, 290 employees have been handed more than $565,000, records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.
The payments appear to be “illegal,” said Councilman Phil Mendelson, D-at large.
“The decision of the council was, with the economy and with reductions in force, the government should not be favoring a few,” he told The Examiner. “I do know the council has found on issue after issue that regardless of what the law says, the attorney general finds a convenient interpretation to do otherwise.”
Attorney General Peter Nickles said most of the bonuses were required by union contracts and the city’s hands were tied.
“You have to honor your contracts,” he said.
More than 200 of the post-October bonuses were handed out to Nickles’ staff.
Critics seized on the $2,600 bonus paid to city attorney Thomas Koger on Oct. 20. The bonus came two months after Koger was publicly blamed for the disappearance of key evidence in a federal lawsuit against the police department over the mass arrest of protesters in Pershing Park. He was pulled off the case.
“It’s quite surprising,” said Councilwoman Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, who helped investigate the mass arrests and who has been a consistent critic of the city’s handling of the case. “I think we need explanation about why these were paid.”
Police union Chairman Kris Baumann was more vehement in his denunciation.
“This city is lawless,” he said. “Either Koger engaged in behavior where he had to be removed, or he deserves a bonus. It can’t be both.”
Baumann and others have suggested that Koger was a convenient scapegoat for city officials. The bonus buttresses his case, Baumann said.
“Is that the price we pay to have Koger fall on his sword?” Baumann asked.
Koger was out of his office and couldn’t be reached for comment.
