“The greatest error of all in considering how to build an integral politics is to judge the integrity of our politics by the integrity of our politicians,” wrote author Stephen L. Carter. “In electoral democracy, what matters far more is the integrity of the voters.” I was reminded of Carter’s words from his book “Integrity” as the District was being shaken by the breathtaking scope of former D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.’s theft of more than $300,000 meant for disadvantaged youth. I replayed his words in my mind as I read court documents that raised serious questions about the role and responsibility of council staffers, including legislative director Neil Rodgers and former Chief of Staff Ayawna Chase Webster, in the kickback scheme. I held those words closer to my heart as I read the apparent admission to the Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis by Millicent W. West, the former head of the DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corp., that she had approved grant funds to an organization knowing they wouldn’t necessarily be used as intended. I repeated Carter’s words to myself over and over — an incantation to help conjure the city’s better angels — when the news broke that Marshall Banks with the Langston 21st Century Foundation had pleaded guilty to federal charges that he, a Howard University professor, had helped Thomas steal public money. (His 21st Century colleague James Garvin is next in line.)
Understandably, residents were disheartened and angry to learn Thomas had begun stealing in 2007, almost as soon as he took office. Wasn’t he the person who dragged two private business owners and then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s names through the mud, accusing them of being corrupt?
