District of Columbia Attorney General Irv Nathan is resisting an Aug. 23 subpoena seeking a deposition from Mayor Vincent Gray in a federal lawsuit regarding the choice of a D.C. Lottery vendor while Gray was D.C. Council chairman. Council members Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, and Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, and Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi have also been subpoenaed. Nathan contends that past and present council members have “absolute legislative immunity” and therefore cannot be compelled to testify. But, if they continue to resist full public transparency, the city has no business allowing that same lottery to run a major gambling operation.
Eric Payne, a former contract officer in Gandhi’s office, claims that the council scuttled a new $38 million lottery contract awarded to D.C. businessman Warren Williams, an alleged crony of then-Mayor Adrian Fenty. He says Gandhi pressured him to add Leonard Manning, an alleged crony of Gray’s, to the deal even though a 2006 audit of Manning’s old lottery contract found $70,000 in fake winning tickets. When Payne reported Gandhi’s inappropriate behavior- which he claims was witnessed by both Evans and Graham – to city inspectors, he was fired.
These serious charges raise even more troubling questions about the 2010 Lottery Modernization Amendment Act paving the way for the nation’s first online poker system that was pushed by Councilman Michael Brown, I-at large, who failed to reveal the fact that he was working for a law firm that represented big-time gambling interests. The bill was passed by the council with no public hearings and, as Examiner columnist Jonetta Rose Barras points out, conflicting reports from the CFO over whether it would even raise any revenue.
It’s no wonder that citizens are eyeing the D.C. Lottery’s plans with increasing distrust. Ward 6 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Andy Litsky is currently circulating a petition opposing gambling in the District. With the mayor and a majority of council members already under ethical clouds of their own making, this should be a no-brainer. The promise of increased revenue is more than offset by the challenges gambling poses to communities already unable to cope with other addictions. Because of the large amount of “easy money” involved and the ongoing threat of public corruption gambling poses, the D.C. Lottery and the public officials who oversee it must be squeaky clean before the benefits clearly outweigh the risks. At this point, though, it’s painfully apparent that they are anything but.
