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.
