Question: How many members of the D.C. Council have an ethical cloud, past or present, hanging over their heads? Answer: Seven out of 13, including the chairman — or the majority of members currently serving on the council. So the odds that the council will wind up passing a strong ethics reform bill this fall approximate one’s odds of winning the grand prize in the D.C. Lottery: 1 in 240,000, or 0.000004 percent. The latest shadow falls on Finance Committee Chairman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, who spent $135,897 from his constituent services fund on tickets to local sporting events, according to a Washington Post analysis of Evans’ campaign finance records. Council members are given wide latitude for using money in the account, which is generally supposed to be used to help constituents in an emergency, such as helping them pay rent, utility bills or bury a loved one. But such emergency expenditures amounted to just $2,941 of Evans’ fund’s outlays since 2001.
Attending a Washington Nationals, Kastles or Mystics game hardly rises to the level of emergency. And the fact that as a council member, Evans also has free access to luxury boxes at Nationals Park and Verizon Center raises additional questions. Especially since earlier this month, auditors from the Office of Campaign Finance recommended that Councilwoman Yvette Alexander, D-Ward 7, be fined for misusing $300 from her constituent services fund for political robocalls.
Evans defended his use of 31 percent of his constituent services fund on sports tickets, claiming that he gave them away to schools, charities and Ward 2 residents. However, one of the few rules governing these funds forbids their use for political purposes. Evans has reportedly refused to release a list of ticket recipients because D.C.’s toothless campaign finance laws do not require him to do so. Absent such a list, it’s impossible to determine whether the ticket recipients also helped bankroll Evans’ re-election campaign. As of Aug. 1, the Ward 2 Democrat raised a whopping $143,000 in a one-party city during a down economy with no real challenger on the horizon.
Evans should have no problem releasing the list of ticket recipients if he has nothing to hide. Until then, add his name to the growing list of members whose questionable behavior has shaken public confidence in the council’s integrity.
