The chairwoman of the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics abruptly resigned last week after an appointee of Mayor Adrian Fenty replaced her as the critical panel’s chief.
Wilma Lewis ended her three-year term as a member of the elections board “effective immediately,” she told Fenty and board staff in separate letters, both dated May 4. Fenty appointed board member Charles Lowery as chair, retroactive to Jan. 8. Lowery is a Ward 4 resident, as is Fenty.
“I fully appreciate and respect your prerogative, as mayor, to designate a chairperson of your choice and congratulate Mr. Lowery on being so designated,” Lewis, a partner in the law firm of Crowell and Moring, wrote to the mayor.
Lewis’ term officially ended last summer. Former Mayor Anthony Williams nominated her to serve again, but withdrew the resolution at Fenty’s request, virtually ensuring her eventual exit.
But Lewis continued to serve on an interim basis, she wrote, “in view of the critical ongoing work of the Board, including the November 2006 General Election, the [May 1 special election] and the many activities that accompany the conduct of elections.” In her memo to staff, Lewis said she was “honored” to have served on the three-member board as “guardians of the integrity of the electoral process and the proper conduct of public officials.”
The decision to designate Lowery retroactively, however, “may raise uncertainty regarding the impact of the Order on the conduct of the Board’s business during the period Jan. 8, 2007 to the present when I was serving as chair.”
Peter Nickles, Fenty’s general counsel, said the retroactive appointment will have no impact on the board’s decisions of the past four months — approving a new political party, attending to a special election and rejecting a proposed schools referendum, among others.
“I think it was just felt you’ve got a board as constituted that has been grappling with these issues,” Nickles said, “so let’s wait to swear Mr. Lowery in until these issues have been settled.”
