The D.C. Office of Campaign Finance said Thursday that Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) improperly used public campaign funds to pay for two targeted polls ahead of the June Democratic primary for a race in which she was not a candidate.

In its ruling, which Silverman says she will appeal, the office ordered the lawmaker to refund the city more than $6,000 for the cost of the polls. Silverman participates in the city’s Fair Elections public financing program, which matches small-dollar contributions with public funds.

The dispute stems from polling that Silverman conducted in Ward 3 some two weeks before a hotly contested primary race involving a large number of candidates for D.C. Council. Her poll was paid for using funds from her own separate re-election campaign and asked questions about the Ward 3 race.

In the wake of the polling, a number of progressive candidates dropped out and coalesced behind eventual winner Matthew Frumin. Critics accused Silverman of improperly using the poll to push those candidates out of the race so that Frumin could defeat the more moderate Eric Goulet, who had received significant outside support from a national group that supports charter schools. Silverman said she had not shown anyone the results of the poll, but as DCist/WAMU reported at the time, warned candidates that Goulet would win if they all stayed in the race.

In August, Karim Marshall, an independent candidate vying for one of the two At-Large seats up for grabs, accused Silverman of improper use of public funds and illegal coordination between campaigns, and asked the Office of Campaign Finance to investigate.

In its 12-page ruling, OCF General Counsel William SanFord said there wasn’t enough evidence to find that Silverman had illicitly coordinated efforts with the Ward 3 candidates who eventually dropped out, though he did criticize her for encouraging them to step aside to avoid vote-splitting that would benefit Goulet. But SanFord did determine that Silverman had improperly spent public funds on the polling.

“While [Silverman] is seeking re-election in the November 8, 2022 General Election as an At-Large Member of the Council who is elected citywide, she chose to expend [public funds] on a poll regarding a Ward Primary Election in which she was not a candidate,” wrote SanFord. “Clearly, this was not an acceptable expenditure of campaign funds.”

During the investigation Silverman insisted that the polling was appropriate because it would better inform her on the political leanings of voters in Ward 3 — where she has traditionally performed well during elections — and who she should endorse ahead of the Democratic primary. In a statement after Thursday’s ruling, she repeated the argument.

“In every election I have run in, I have been the small-dollar donation candidate who has faced opponents backed by real estate developers, city contractors, and other big-money corporate interests,” she said. “That’s why I was a supporter of Fair Elections to help level the playing field. And in every election I’ve also used polling to help me make electoral decisions. I believe that the polling for a citywide race was within the [regulations], and I’ll be asking for a full rehearing with the board on the matter.”

Silverman also criticized the Office of Campaign Finance for publishing the ruling, saying in her statement that she had requested longer to respond to the allegations and that the office “rushed a decision” only days before the Nov. 8 general election. The campaign office, for its part, said it gave Silverman’s attorney two extensions and that it never received a “full response” her team had been promising.

In his own statement, Marshall said that the city needs “an At-Large Councilmember who demonstrates ethical leadership, strong moral judgment, and clear understanding of the law. Silverman has instead shown her willingness to use her elected position and public money to her benefit while ignoring the law.”

Goulet also weighed in on Twitter, writing, “I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions & it feels bittersweet.” He was also subject to an OCF investigation for a similar accusation, but it was dismissed.

Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who is also vying for an At-Large seat, issued his own statement Friday morning, lambasting Silverman for paying for the polls in Ward 3.

“This is a serious issue that goes to the very core of our local democracy. Long after Councilmember Silverman repays the taxpayer money that she spent without authorization, voters in Ward 3 and across the District will be left to wonder whether the outcome of the Ward 3 election would have been different had Councilmember Silverman not misused public campaign funds to influence the result,” he said.

The ruling comes as D.C. voters are already making their picks in various races, the most competitive of which is the contest between eight candidates for the two At-Large seats. Silverman and Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large) are seeking re-election, while the challengers include Marshall, McDuffie, Fred Hill, Graham McLaughlin, David Schwartzman, and Giuseppe Niosi.

Silverman touts herself as a champion of workers and disadvantaged residents, saying she helped create the city’s paid family leave program and has pushed to improve job-training programs and the city’s unemployment insurance system. But she has also drawn powerful critics, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, who in 2018 openly backed a challenger to Silverman.

At the time, Silverman said she supported an OCF investigation into a rally that Bowser hosted where she invited the challenger, Dionne Bussey-Reeder, to participate. “The law is the law, and we have to operate with campaign finance law which has clear guidelines about independent expenditures and coordinated expenditures,” said Silverman then.

This post was updated with a statement from Kenyan McDuffie.