A close friend of D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in a scheme designed to boost Gray’s prospects to win the city’s top job.
Thomas Gore, the assistant treasurer for Gray’s 2010 campaign, acknowledged guilt on four charges: one federal count of obstruction of justice and three District counts of helping to make a campaign contribution in the name of another person.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Gore could face 12 to 18 months in prison on the obstruction charge, a felony. The local counts are misdemeanors, each carrying a prison term of up to six months. Gore, 56, also faces up to $45,000 in fines.
Through his attorney, Gore declined to comment.
Gore is the first person to face prosecution as a result of a grand jury investigation that began days after fringe mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown said the Gray campaign had paid him to remain in the contest and criticize Gray’s political rival, incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty. Brown, who also said he had been promised a position in the Gray administration, made his allegations after his firing from a city job soon after Gray took office.
In a court filing, Gore acknowledged that he and “other members” of Gray’s campaign had “secretly diverted funds” from the Gray war chest to Brown’s operation. The funds, transmitted in the names of three people using five money orders, totaled $660.
Gore said that, using what prosecutors called “excessive or unattributed cash contributions” to Gray’s campaign, he had provided the money for the donations, but that another person delivered the money orders to Brown.
Court records identify that intermediary as “Person A,” but Brown has labeled campaign consultant Howard Brooks as the go-between.
Gore also acknowledged he shredded a spiral notebook that contained records of the payments about the time Brown went public with his allegations.
“Gore shredded the notebook because he knew that secretly diverting contributions… was unlawful, and he did not want law enforcement authorities to find out,” prosecutors wrote in a filing that Gore acknowledged was accurate.
Gore also said authorities knew about him destroying evidence because he discussed it with Brooks in a recorded conversation.
“That was a statement taken from a wire,” Gore said.
U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen said the plea showed that the mayoral election had been misleading.
“In 2010, the voters of the District of Columbia were deceived,” Machen said in a statement. “Envelopes stuffed with fraudulent money orders prevented the public from knowing that one mayoral campaign was secretly financing the campaign of an opposing candidate. This prosecution demonstrates how hard it is to bury the truth forever.”
Gray’s attorney, Robert Bennett, declined to comment about Gore, citing the pending investigation.
Gore will return to court on Aug. 29 for a status hearing.
