D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s campaign failed to report as contributions hundreds of free taxi rides to the polls the campaign organized for elderly voters, records and interviews show. District political campaigns are required to report as contributions goods and services they receive that would otherwise result in a bill from the provider. During the two weeks of early voting before the September Democratic primary, on the day of the primary and again for the general election, District taxi drivers delivered voters to the polls on behalf of the Gray for Mayor campaign, organizers told The Washington Examiner. But those rides, and the market rate taxi drivers would have charged, do not appear anywhere in the campaign’s finance reports.
“Come on, man, I can’t track all of that,” Gray told The Examiner when asked about the campaign’s failure to report the rides as in-kind contributions on Wednesday. “Ask my treasurer. I can’t corroborate it.”
Calls to campaign treasurer Thomas Gore were not answered.
| What’s ‘in-kind’? |
| Examples of in-kind contributions reported by the Gray campaign: |
| Aug. 13, 2010: Ben’s Chili Bowl, $471.02 |
| Aug. 29, 2010: Consultant Chuck Burger, $800 |
| Aug. 30, 2010: Safeway on L Street NW, $10.49 |
| Aug. 31, 2010: Staples manager Lucius Stephenson, $48.75 |
But Nathan Price, president of the D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association, helped the campaign organize the drivers. When a voter requested a ride from the campaign, it called Price who then dispatched a taxi to the address, Price said. On the day of the primary, Price said taxi drivers provided about 200 rides, and another 200 for the November general election. Price estimated the average election-day round trip would have cost about $15, or about $6,000 all together. That doesn’t included the dozens of rides given during the two weeks of early voting before the primary, when rides and waits were longer, he said.
“This was a strike back at [Mayor Adrian] Fenty, and everyone including myself decided to do this for free for the Gray campaign,” Price said. “I didn’t know the campaign was supposed to report it, and they never asked us for any information about the costs.”
The campaign should have.
“In-kind contributions are supposed to be treated as any other contribution,” said Wesley Williams, the spokesman for the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. The office has been auditing the Gray for Mayor campaign since April after mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown accused campaign officials of passing him cash so he could stay in the race.
The office’s campaign finance handbook defines an in-kind contribution as “goods, services or property offered free or at less than the usual and normal charge.” Such contributions “must be valued at the current local fair market value at the time of contribution,” the handbook says.
A violation of city campaign finance rules can result in a $5,000 fine or six months in jail.
