Super-lawyer Robert S. Bennett’s report on ex-Mayor Marion Barry may well be another nail in the coffin for the city’s earmark program. The council voted to suspend earmarks after Barry, D-Ward 8, was accused of steering public dollars to his girlfriend. The council quickly passed legislation overhauling the system, but Bennett’s report found the new approach “will not prevent conflicts of interest, waste, fraud or abuse.” The council and Mayor Adrian Fenty steered nearly $48 million in public dollars to favored charities in fiscal 2009 but Bennett found that the system was wide-open to corruption. He said he “concurred” with the findings of D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols, who late last year found that elected officials doled out tens of millions to groups that owed back taxes, weren’t registered to do business in D.C., spent their money solely on salaries or on questionable “fiscal agents,” and often co-mingled public funds. In Bennett’s words, “the current form of council earmarking is not a sound method for appropriating public funds” and leads to “legislative logrolling” that “inhibits thorough scrutiny.” Bennett suggests that the council instead to competitive grant making, which he said will “make it substantially more likely that tax dollars will go to programs that are sufficiently well-managed and competent … and that grant recipients are vetted by experienced grant managers. …” Council Chairman Vincent Gray, a Democrat, asked his colleagues to consider Bennett’s report for a full week before making any decisions. His spokeswoman, Doxie McCoy, said Gray found Bennett’s report “deeply disconcerting.”
