“My integrity is more important than anything,” D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. declared hours after Attorney General Irvin Nathan filed a breathtaking 27-page, $1 million civil complaint in D.C. Superior Court. The lawsuit was the culmination of an extensive probe of the Ward 5 legislator and his organization, Team Thomas. Thomas hasn’t displayed any commitment to integrity. From the moment Republican Timothy Day and the D.C. Republican Committee requested then-Attorney General Peter Nickles open the investigation, the Ward 5 legislator has danced, demonized and demagogued.

His performance has been reminiscent of old-style D.C. politics — the version in which politicians shamelessly and falsely cast themselves as victims, allegedly battling powerful forces preventing them from providing money and programs to vulnerable populations. But those pols were serving only their interests.