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.
