Mayor Adrian Fenty’s close ties to Ron Moten and the ex-convict’s nonprofit Peaceoholics have become a target for the mayor’s political foes.
The nonprofit is designed to mentor the city’s most troubled youth. On Tuesday, the D.C. police union filed a lawsuit that says the city hasn’t responded to a Freedom of Information Act request asking for documents regarding the police department’s relationship with Peaceoholics.
During a Ward 8 mayoral forum Monday night, the Fenty administration’s awarding Peaceoholics millions of dollars in contracts became the subject of questions that forced Fenty to defend the group’s role.
D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said the lawsuit was politically motivated. Police union chief Kris Baumann “is misusing the union’s membership dues to pursue his own political campaign and ambitions,” Nickles said.
The police union has endorsed D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray for mayor.
The union’s lawsuit says its request for documents related to Peaceoholics filed on July 19 is well outside the 15 days the city has to respond.
According to the lawsuit, the union asked the police department to turn over documents detailing the cash and support Peaceoholics has received from the department since Jan. 1, 2007. It also asked for evaluations of work Peaceoholics has performed, and correspondence between the mayor and police officials regarding the nonprofit.
“Ron Moten has put himself out there for Fenty,” Baumann told The Washington Examiner. “I find it inexplicable that the mayor would not produce documents that could support Moten’s position.”
Requests to determine Peaceoholics’ funding from the Fenty administration are not uncommon.
The Washington Post reported that it recently received through FOIA documents showing Peaceoholics received $119,000 from the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services in 2006, $1 million from the agency in 2008 and $675,000 in 2009.
But documents obtained by The Examiner show that Peaceoholics also receives cash indirectly from the agency.
The nonprofit is a member of the East of the River Police Community Partnership, which received a two-year DYRS contract valued at about $3 million in 2009. It’s not clear how much of the cash landed in Peaceoholics’ hands. Moten has close ties to the Rev. Donald Isaac, who heads East of River.
Republicans go after Gray
The District’s Republican Party may not be running a candidate for mayor, but it jumped into the race Tuesday by taking a shot at D.C. Council Chairman and mayoral hopeful Vince Gray. The party filed a complaint with the campaign finance office, saying three Gray for Mayor advertisements appearing in the Hill Rag did not include the required taglines saying who paid for them.
A Gray spokeswoman said the ads were produced and paid for by a campaign volunteer as an in-kind contribution to the campaign and should have included a disclaimer. “The campaign has included the in-kind contribution on its [financial] disclosure,” she said in an e-mail to The Examiner. “We have taken corrective action so it does not happen again.”
