Jeff Thompson is perhaps the biggest donor in local politics here in D.C. He also, not coincidentally, was long the beneficiary of a very large local government contract here in D.C. — administering Medicaid in the District. So when federal agents raided his office last month, it likely made some politicos uncomfortable.
Where does the money trail lead? What evidence is there of corruption, bribery, patronage, or at least undue influence? (Here’s a good City Paper primer on Thompson.) There’s plenty of stuff besides the Medicaid contract, including millions in federal contracts, and a shady-looking non-profit run by his lawyer.
Now, amid the investigations and attention, Thompson and his politically connected lawyer David Wilmot are bowing out of the Medicaid business, Alan Suderman reports at the City Paper. Councilman David Catania said of Thompson and Wilmot “Never have so few earned so much doing so little.”
But sadly, that’s probably not true. This is the sort of the thing that happens in large institutions where people are spending other people’s money. The Thompson-Wilmot story looks like another example of what one of my first bosses told me: where money and government power meet, you can probably find corruption.
