D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray and one of his colleagues failed to file the District’s mandatory conflict of interest form by the Friday evening deadline, while most other council members and Mayor Adrian Fenty declared few gifts or outside income.
Gray and Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. had not turned in or electronically filed their respective 2008 financial disclosure statements by early Monday afternoon, according to the Office of Campaign Finance database. Both are currently in Las Vegas, with Fenty and other D.C. legislators, for the annual shopping center convention.
About 4,000 elected District officials and top employees are required to annually report outside income from the previous year, gifts of more than $100 from companies that do business with D.C., ownership of corporate stocks, interest in entities that do business with the city, and ownership of real estate other than their personal residence.
“I completely forgot to send this in!” Dawn Slonneger, Gray’s chief of staff, wrote in an e-mail.
Despite being in Vegas, Slonneger said she would “find a way to file it” as soon as possible.
Thomas’ form was mailed Friday, a spokeswoman said. But because it wasn’t received by the campaign finance office before 5:30 p.m. Friday, it would be considered late.
Fenty filed on time but he declared nothing — not his $200 ticket to last year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, courtesy of CBS, nor his trip to the Beijing Olympics, paid for in part by the Chinese government.
Official gifts to the Office of the Mayor are handled by the Office of the Secretary, said Fenty spokeswoman Mafara Hobson.
“Only gifts to the mayor personally [and then only from entities doing business with the District] are to be reported on his financial disclosure form,” Hobson said.
Most forthcoming was at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson. He declared free tickets and dinner to the Shakespeare Theatre and three tickets to Nationals Park, worth $1,222.50 combined, as well as his interest in 14 companies and his ownership of a condominium.
Council members Kwame Brown, Jim Graham, Muriel Bowser, Yvette Alexander and Marion Barry declared nothing. David Catania, Jack Evans and Mary Cheh reported only their outside employment.
Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells, meanwhile, declared $600 in tickets to the Arena Stage and Shakespeare Theatre.
“D.C. Council members are AWOL on transparency and accountability,” said Paul Craney, executive director of the D.C. Republican Committee.
