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The Saturday Morning Post
Add one more major D.C. government corruption scandal to the list. NBC4 is reporting that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington is set to announce a major public corruption investigation involving District city workers and the theft of about $16 million in property tax money.
The Washington Post has the details on the indictments, which accuse two D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue employees -- Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus -- of fabricating tax refund checks and then cashing them for themselves through a money laundering scheme based in suburban Maryland.
Count on this story to get bigger and badder as the week progresses. It looks like these two women had spending habits on par with the infamous Barbara Bullock. It's been reported that D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi has asked for and received the resignation of Office of Tax and Revenue Director Sheryl Hobbs Newman and several other tax office employees -- and it seems hard to believe that Gandhi himself, who supervises the office, will emerge totally unscathed. A news conference with the U.S. Attorney's Office is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.
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oh...so THAT'S who bought this wonderful bag..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/AR2007082001554.html
Wow. That's some impressive corruption right there, even by DC standards. Love this nugget from the Post story: "The sources said that Walters, who had an annual salary of $81,000, allegedly spent more than $1.4 million at Neiman-Marcus during the past several years."
Well I guess I'll have to get someone else to fix my property tax problem. I've been corresponding with Harriete Walters about it. It's been going on since March and it's still not fixed. I guess she's been too busy shopping to work on it!
They should settle the residents lawsuit regarding the methodology of real property taxes while they are at it.
So THAT'S why neighborhood property tax bills are shooting up 500%. Gotta pay for those Neiman-Marcus runs.
$16 million? That's serious cash. You could improve a lot of schools with that.
Throw the f___ing book at them.
Wait, Maryland residents treating the DC treasury like some all you can eat slush fund?! Not possible.
Next you'll tell me that they want to be able to park huge SUVs where and whenever they want in DC.
i worked with ms. walters and co. for MONTHS trying to resolve an issue related to tax payments. DC was adamant my property taxes were not paid; however, my mortgage company had proof it was. it took over 6 months for DC to concede it was paid. ended up getting most of my money back, but still have not been refunded any funds related to the penalties and interest DC charged me for a mortgage that was paid.
by far, the most inept group of people i've ever worked with.
suggestion for inloganO - document each and every conversation and communicate via mail. be painfully thorough.
Let 'em burn in hell! Burn, burn, burn!
And WMATA, City Council, ECCA, et. al., look out, you guys could be next!
Well thankfully my problem is the opposite, dubdca. They have it on their website that I made multiple payments in February when in fact I only made one. Now it shows I have a negative account balance and it won't let me pay my property taxes online.
$20 million? Well, it's a lot for two people to rip off, but it's hardly a drop in the bucket compared to what DC wastes every year. I mean, the public school system alone has a budget of $1 billion, and it still sucks ass.
Anyway, at least this explains why the three letters I have written to DCRA in the last two months about my fucked-up property tax bill have gone unanswered.
"$20 million? Well, it's a lot for two people to rip off, but it's hardly a drop in the bucket"
Well by your own numbers $20 million represents 2% of the school budget. I'd call that a lot more than a drop in the bucket, unless said bucket is one that can only hold 50 drops of water.
Sorry, the tax office was too busy to answer people's questions and concerns because they were all home bathing in cash and purses.
Umm, it's an expression. Are you going to now provide me with the average number of drops in an average bucket to prove me wrong? Shall we debate the definition of a "drop"? What's the largest single entity of water which can retain surface tension in midair? Jesus.
Stupid technical analysis of expressions notwithstanding, I can say, without reservation, that $20 million is a mere fraction (and I refuse to say exactly what fraction) of the amount of money that DC wastes every year due to corruption and graft.
I say torture them. If we can't torture the terrorists, maybe we can torture government employees.
"I say torture them. If we can't torture the terrorists, maybe we can torture government employees."
Drop them off at the Veep's place on Mass Ave. He doesn't seem to have any problems with torture...
You can't waterboard people for property tax embezzlement, but maybe you can wallboard them.
"Are you going to now provide me with the average number of drops in an average bucket to prove me wrong?"
Of course not, but the expression "drop in the bucket" implies a totally immaterial amount. I agree there's still a lot more graft and corruption to be uncovered, but there's no way that there's so much as to make $20 million an immaterial amount.
I hope they keep digging, but you've got to admit this was a pretty big fish they caught today.
doesn't suprise me at all.
Can we put these people to death? Does D.C. have the death penalty? It would be good to set an example.
That's where my property taxes go. I mean, really, doesn't every dc gov'tment employee need a fur coat. How else are they going to pimp that new benz they'z double park'n on North Cap?
The question is, can DC sell the Bentley, the bags, and other things and give us our money back?
Actually, they should send out a purse or fur coat to every tax paying resident. Then I'll have proof to show my rural family that living in the city and near crime was a good choice. Hey, does your state send a fur coat or bag when they steal your property taxes???