Now that Thanksgiving is safely in our rear view mirror, we can focus on the Big Christmas Ask. No ‘Dear Santa’ necessary; no missives to the North Pole. For Washington’s political and governing classes, the appeal would begin “Dear Ron” and would be addressed to U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen at 444 Fourth Street, N.W. All Mayor Vince Gray wants for Christmas is an up or down on Machen’s investigation into Gray’s mayoral campaign. Did Gray and or his top aides offer candidate Sulaimon Brown money or a job to bad mouth Adrian Fenty on the campaign trail — or not? Gray and his people hope for a not, of course.
Either way, the city deserves an answer. Gray is hardly a strong leader, and trying to lead with a judicial sword hanging over him that makes him even more weak.
Ditto Council Chairman Kwame Brown. Were funds from his his 2008 campaign funneled to his family members or himself for personal use, or not? Brown has scoffed at such suggestions. The city’s campaign finance officials sent their investigation to the feds in July. Five months later, no answer.
Same with Harry “Tommy” Thomas, Jr., who represents Ward 5 on the city council. Attorney General Irvin Nathan charged Thomas with diverting public funds intended for youth sports programs to his personal use. The attorney general sued Thomas in civil court and sought as much as $1 million. Thomas agreed to repay $300,000, but he never admitted doing anything wrong.
The AG handed his investigative material to Ron Machen’s people in June. Did Thomas violate the laws or not?
Neither Machen nor his people are talking. Word has leaked that Machen is presenting evidence to grand juries. Otherwise, he’s mute.
“On one hand,” says defense attorney A. Scott Bolden, who represents Che Brown, the chairman’s brother, “they seem to be taking a lot of time. On the other hand, these are three significant investigations. That’s a lot of work.”
I know Machen cannot accept the attorney general’s investigation of Thomas, apply the rubber stamp and ask the grand jury to indict him. His investigators have to build their own case. Sources tell me the FBI has been aggressively investigating new leads in the Thomas case.
“There are more tentacles to this case than the AG could find,” one source has told me.
In Kwame Brown’s matter, Machen has asked brother Che Brown, and his father, Marshal, to hand over documents, but neither has been called to testify before a grand jury. In Vince Gray’s case, Machen has reportedly brought a number of people before the grand jury during his five-month probe.
“I’m sure he’s feeling the political and public pressure to resolve these cases,” Bolden says, “but that can’t determine his pace or the results. They are his investigations; he has to live with them.”
Problem is, the city has been living with them too long, and we deserve answers — preferably by Christmas.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
