Government reform and Israeli rights advocates lined up Tuesday to ask D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty what he was thinking when he accepted a junket from the government of the United Arab Emirates.
“It raises at least the appearance of corruption, of conflict of interest,” said Gary Imhoff, co-founder of D.C. Watch, a nonprofit local government reform group. “If the mayor were to accept a physical gift of several thousand dollars from a foreign country, he wouldn’t keep it.”
The mayor and his family spent last week in Dubai as guests of the United Arab Emirates. The trip wasn’t announced and was not on his public schedule.
The mayor’s ticket and accommodations were paid for by his host country, but it’s unclear who paid his family’s way.
Fenty spokeswoman Mafara Hobson didn’t respond Tuesday to requests for comment.
During his tour, the mayor was a spectator at a women’s professional tennis event in Dubai. Tournament organizers brought on international condemnation when they excluded Israeli player Shahar Peer.
“We believe the mayor when he said he was unaware of the situation until he got there, said Ron Halber of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. “But I think he lost a good opportunity to expose a blatant international example of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism.”
David Friedman, director of the Washington chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, said the mayor “blundered” by attending the trip.
“Fenty as mayor has been dedicated to fighting discrimination,” Friedman said. “But it’s probably something he would have done better if he had done a lot more vetting.”
The United Arab Emirates has a spotty human rights record and is often criticized by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which accuse the nation of torture, executions and exploitation of foreign workers.
An embassy spokeswoman on Tuesday declined comment.
Massie Ritsch of the D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group that focuses on campaign finance reform, said public figures have to be careful about gifts offered by foreign governments.
“If it’s a vacation, the official should pay for it themselves. If you can justify the trip as being good for the District, it’s a better idea to pay for it out of District funds and avoid the appearance problem,” Ritsch said.
D.C. ethics laws forbid officials from using their posts for “personal gain.” Tom Fitton, founder of the D.C.-based government reform group Judicial Watch, said Fenty’s trip was “inappropriate.”
“Whose payroll is he on — the D.C. taxpayers or the Dubai government’s?” Fitton asked.
