“My job is to do oversight. It’s not to catch people who are stealing,” Ward 2 D.C. Councilman Jack Evans told me just days after District taxpayers learned $414,800 of their money had been stolen, according to federal officials, by an employee in the Office of Tax and Revenue. Mary Ayers-Zander used fraudulent income tax returns to route the money to her personal bank accounts. The scheme took place from 2007 through January 2011. Ironically, this was during the same period Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi was promising the mayor, council, and anyone else who would listen that he had installed system safeguards to prevent future thefts, following the $48 million embezzlement by midlevel OTR employee Harriette Walters.
So much for promises.
Certainly, no one expects Evans to morph into an OTR sentry, checking purses, wallets and suit pockets for tax dollars that may be pilfered by government employees. But as the long-serving chairman of the powerful Committee on Finance and Revenue, he has considerable responsibility for protecting the government’s resources and the public’s money.
In my book, there is little distinction between catching thieves, preventing fraud, waste and abuse and conducting oversight. That Evans seems to suggest a difference is both surprising and problematic.
As the councilman with the longest continuous service, Evans often has chastised executives for overspending. He has accused his colleagues of aiding and abetting spendthrifts. He voted against the last two annual budgets. This month, he led the unsuccessful fight against raising the tax rate from 8.5 percent to 8.95 percent on annual incomes of $350,000 or more. Last week, he used a debate over grass-cutting contracts to blast, yet again, wasteful spending in the city.
Evans may sound like a tightwad, counting every penny and watching where it is spent. But that’s more talk than walk.
When I and others in the media asked him if he intended to hold a public hearing to examine how this latest OTR theft occurred, Evans essentially said “no.” The amount, when considered within the context of the city’s nearly $10 billion budget, was too small.
You can bet if that had been Evans’ $414,800, he would be screaming bloody murder, chasing down the thief and calling for someone’s termination.
Problems with the city’s financial management system, of which the multiple thefts are merely symptoms, can’t just be blamed solely on Gandhi–although he bears the chief responsibility. Evans also must be held accountable.
After all, under Evans’ watch huge sums of public money continue to be stolen. Under his watch agencies have overspent their authorized budgets. Under his watch Gandhi has failed to collect taxes that by law he was obligated to collect–funds that possibly could have prevented cuts in social service programs.
Despite his assertion that his job is oversight, the evidence suggests he hasn’t been performing that role. It could be that after so many years on the job, Evans may need a refresher course.
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
