Photo by Benjamin R. Freed
Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) “adversely harmed the public confidence” in the D.C. Council with his reported roles in the awarding of D.C. Lottery and Metro contracts, Chairman Phil Mendelson told reporters today.
Reacting to a report issued earlier this month by the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability stating that there was “substantial evidence” that Graham violated the code of conduct for D.C. employees, Mendelson said that he intends to go forward next week with a pair of Council resolutions that, if passed, would serve as an official rebuke to Graham.
One is a reprimand that would put into writing the Council’s official sense that Graham damaged its reputation. The second resolution would shift oversight of the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration from the Committee on Human Services, which Graham chairs, to the Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Committee. That panel is led by Vincent Orange (D-At Large), though Graham is also a member.
“The time has come for the Council to respond,” Mendelson said. A reprimand, though, is easier to put to a vote than a more formal censure, which would require an investigation by the Council. A reprimand resolution can be put up for a simple majority vote, which Mendelson intends to do on Monday.
“The message is that the council disapproves of the conduct of Mr. Graham,” Mendelson said. “Public trust in government is critical.”
Though the ethics board said in its report that it lacked the bureaucratic teeth to sanction Graham, it said that Graham used his influence to secure the D.C. Lottery contract for a bidder who agreed to withdraw from the competition for a construction contract on land owned by Metro, so that another contractor with ties to Graham could be awarded that project. At the time, Graham was a member of Metro’s board of directors.
Graham arrived on the fifth floor of the John A. Wilson Building a few minutes after Mendelson started talking. Earlier in the day, Graham’s attorneys filed an injunction and a motion for a restraining order against the ethics board, arguing that its process violated his constitutional rights and the processes established by D.C.’s current ethics laws.
“Why aren’t we using the process we put into place?” Graham said.
He also reacted to the potential loss of his oversight of ABRA.
“It is ironic that alcohol is to be taken from me,” Graham said. “I have an honorable and solid record on alcohol. It was my efforts to revoke the license of Club U as an irresponsible operator that is the genesis of all of this.” Club U was a nightclub in the basement of the Frank D. Reeves Center that lost its liquor license after a fatal stabbing there in 2005. Graham later backed a bid by Warren Williams Jr., Club U’s owner, for the D.C. Lottery contract in exchange for Williams pulling out of the competition for a Metro development project on Florida Avenue, an investigation commissioned by Metro found last year.
Graham also said that he would support opening a special Council investigation, which requires the votes of five members. His Ward 1 seat is on the ballot in 2014 and Graham, if he runs again, would be seeking a fifth term. But he said that even with the murkiness of a Metro report, the ethics board report, and now a potential reprimand from his colleagues, he believes he still has the public’s trust behind him.
“I think that if the election were held today I would win against any field,” he said. “You might say the Council has been harmed. But the fact of the matter is, how have I been harmed? I think the process provides the fairness, and that’s all I’m asking for.”
