The Office of Campaign Finance has opened an internal review of Deputy Mayor Neil Albert’s meetings on behalf of a company he founded — a company that has since won preliminary approval for a $57 million city construction contract, the office’s top lawyer told The Examiner.
Kathy Williams, general counsel to the office, would not comment further, except to say that the inquiry was prompted by reports in The Examiner.
The Campaign Finance Office is the chief monitor of elected and appointed officials in the District of Columbia. Its agents enforce rules on campaign finance, lobbying, conflict of interest and other ethics issues for city employees.
Albert told The Examiner earlier this month that he sat in on a meeting with D.C. Chair Vincent Gray where the future of EdBuild was discussed.
EdBuild is an educational consulting company Albert founded when he was briefly out of office in 2005. As deputy mayor for planning and economic development, Albert is Mayor Adrian Fenty’s top official for construction.
EdBuild has been lobbying for a $57 million contract with the city’s schools. The company hopes that the contract is the first slice of the mammoth $2 billion-plus school modernization plan.
The Board of Education approved EdBuild’s initial contract, but the company faces opposition on the D.C. Council. Gray moved to strike EdBuild’s name from the city’s budget about a week before Albert met with him.
Ethics rules forbid city officials from lobbying for their former companies for at least one year after they take a public job. Albert told The Examiner that he saw nothing wrong with his involvement in the EdBuild discussions because he no longer has a stake in the company.
Albert has since asked the attorney general’s ethics office for a ruling on his conduct.
Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for Fenty and Albert, said the mayor was standing by his deputy. She did not comment further.
Examiner columnist Jonetta Rose Barras contributed to this report.
