Harry Thomas Sr. spoke in a raspy voice that came from the deepest part of his throat, as if his larynx were coated in gravel. He sounded as if he had just smoked three packs of Camels, no filter, especially when he laughed, and he laughed all the time. Harry must not be laughing now, as his son, Harry Jr., faces federal charges of embezzling $365,000 in city funds and failing to pay taxes for three years. The words “rolling over in his grave” come to mind, but if he were still here, Harry Sr. would be wondering what happened to his son. What caused him to steal money from a city trust fund for children and use it to buy fancy rides and fat-cat golfing trips?
I’m not arrogant enough to say I saw it coming, but from an early age, the son had the look of someone on the make.
Harry Sr. was slender and had already started to hunch over a bit when he was first elected to the city council in 1986. He was 64. He grew up in Richmond, dropped out of high school, served in the Army, came to D.C. to find work in the federal government. He started off as a janitor, but he worked his way up to a desk job in the Interior Department’s public affairs office, according to his obituary.
Harry and his wife, Romaine, were always active in the community, so when he retired in 1986 from the government, he challenged incumbent William Spaulding and won the Ward 5 council seat.
I got to know and respect Harry because we shared a name, and we liked to roam the bad parts of his ward late at night. Back then there was no Home Depot on Rhode Island Avenue, Brookland was not yet attracting yuppies, Trinidad was the epicenter of the crack trade. He introduced me to the hard-luck folks who lived in Edgewood Terrace and Montana Terrace, public housing projects where the crack dealers sold and killed.
Harry Sr. grieved for every victim. He knew their kin and their kids. On the council, he was not a legislative force, but he protected his people.
Harry Thomas Jr. was a kid back then. Even as a teenager, he walked with a swagger. The son looked at the world through narrowed eyes and a tight grin. Still, I learned to like “Tommy,” as he was called. We mourned his father’s death in 1999. And when he was elected to the Ward 5 seat in 2006, I rooted for him to succeed. Like his dad, he worked the ward and took care of his people.
Why did the son take care of himself with public funds, as the feds allege?
He didn’t come up slow and hardworking, like his father. He must not have adopted the basic standards that his father exuded: work hard, be honest, live within your means. There were no sins of the father in this tale.
Harry Thomas Sr. was a happy and humble man. There is little humility in Harry Jr. The boy had too much arrogance, and that’s what did him in.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
