D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said he won’t reappoint alcohol control board Chairman Charles Brodsky and will consider removing him after accusations of ethical lapses were leveled against Brodsky by a former board member.
The Washington Examiner reported Wednesday that Mital Gandhi, who recently resigned from the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage
Control Board, claimed in his resignation notice that Brodsky asked for his support in changing a city regulation on behalf of Washington Wholesale Liquor Co.
Gandhi charged that he was told by Brodsky that the company was a “prospective sponsor” for Brodsky’s Nation’s Triathlon and might “also support [Brodsky] in a future [D.C.] council bid.”
Brodsky says the accusation is “not accurate — not true.” Washington Wholesale has not returned calls for comment.
Gandhi has had his own troubles with city officials. After the D.C. Council rejected his nomination to the Board of Elections and Ethics lasted summer, he blasted Gray for “political favoritism.”
Gray said Wednesday that he won’t ask Brodsky to return.
“There have been a lot of questions that have been raised about whether he’s engaged in a conflict of interest or not,” Gray told reporters. “So I think we’ll probably look for somebody else when the opportunity comes along.” Gray said he hasn’t spoken to Brodsky about resigning, but added, “I’ll probably talk to him about how we go forward.”
Brodsky was appointed by former Mayor Adrian Fenty in November 2009. His term ends in May 2012.
Brodsky told The Examiner on Wednesday that if Gray chooses not to keep him as chairman, “it’s well within his right to do so.”
Hours after Gandhi resigned on March 16, Brodsky recused himself from the board’s future dealings with Washington Wholesale out of what he told The Examiner was an “abundance of caution.”
The regulation change approved on Jan. 26 allows Washington Wholesale to close one of its two D.C. warehouses and use a warehouse in Maryland instead.
The company has been asking for a similar approval since June 2008, but the board as recently as Dec. 1 repeatedly ruled it to be illegal. In addition to the conflict-of-interest issues raised by Gandhi, Brodsky has been accused of using his power as alcohol board chairman to pressure Georgetown neighborhood commissioners into approving the route for the triathlon Brodsky organizes.
Last month, Brodsky recused himself from liquor disputes in Georgetown, which is among the neighborhoods represented by Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans,who called on the D.C. inspector general to investigate
Gandhi’s allegations.
“He should do it, and do it quickly,” Evans said.
