It sounded just like the political intrigue that makes for a good scandal. While running for office, a candidate for the D.C. Council accepted reduced rent for her campaign office from a local developer and allowed an unregistered political action committee to funnel money from developers to her campaign’s coffers — up to and beyond $100,000, in fact. The only problem? None of it seems to be true.

The Post is reporting today that D.C. Office of Campaign Finance has concluded that allegations made by former Ward 3 candidate Jonathan Rees against Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) don’t hold water. Rees, who ran against Cheh last year and was out-voted 6,462 to 32, claimed earlier this year that Cheh was up to no good, having sidled up to developers for cheap office space and exploited an illegal PAC put together by Joe Sternlieb, a local developer, and Linda Singer, his wife and current D.C. Attorney General. Rees took his complaint to OCF, demanding that the District nullify Cheh’s victory and that Sternlieb and Singer be “penalized to the max under the law.” To his credit, Rees did get one charge to stick — that Cheh’s campaign, without her knowing, failed to identify who had paid for a handbill. The $500 fine for such an infraction was suspended, however.