Top members of the Adrian Fenty administration violated District regulations when they developed plans to donate a used D.C.-owned fire truck to a Dominican Republic city, a D.C. inspector general investigation has concluded. The plan to donate a used fire truck to the city of Sosua was scuttled by then-Attorney General Peter Nickles after it was revealed in The Washington Examiner, the report said. The truck was already on its way to the city when The Examiner reported the donation and Nickles ordered the vehicle be returned. But the violations of city regulations had already occurred. The D.C. Council was kept out of the process, even though its approval for a rule change allowing the donation was required, the report said.
“The lack of proper oversight allowed private parties … inappropriately to influence the activities of District government employees,” the inspector general wrote. “This further resulted in a waste of District government resources.”
