Photo by wallyg.

Earlier this week, we reported that the Office of Campaign Finance’s interpretation of laws regarding donations to partisan organizations by Councilmembers clashed with a complaint made by the D.C. GOP, which argued such donations were against regulations. But that doesn’t mean that OCF won’t be proceeding with an investigation.

The GOP announced today that OCF is indeed investigating the complaint, despite OCF’s earlier contention that constituent service fund donations from Councilmembers that go to non-political ends, even if funneled through a political group, are on the up and up.

“The Office of Campaign Finance is being aggressive and immediately conducting a review,” said stated Bob Kabel, Chairman of the DC Republican Committee in a statement released this morning. “Constituent Service Funds are intended to help residents, not help Democratic organizations and reelection efforts.”

In a letter sent to the GOP on Thursday, OCF confirmed that the complaint was being passed along to its Reports Analysis and Audit Division for further investigation. In response to that news, the GOP sent back another letter, requesting for the investigation to include partisan organizations that do not report to the OCF.

“Some Councilmembers are claiming CSF funds were just “passed through” Democratic organizations to fund scholarships. Scholarship or no scholarship, the moment a check is written to a Democratic organization, its considered a campaign donation. Worse yet, some of these contributions may have been diverted to other accounts because the donations are not showing up on publicly filed reports. Show us the money,” implored Kabel.

Councilmembers Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), David Catania (I-At Large) and Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) have denied the claims that donations made from their constituent service funds were improper.