Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) will reportedly introduce emergency legislation limiting the number of cultivation centers that can end up in his ward.
The D.C. GOP has been pushing hard of late for Councilmembers and the general public to call for the resignation of embattled Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. Part of that push: the above bumper sticker.
You know that saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”? That seems to have been lost on one local group trying to recall Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) from office next year.
Mayor Vince Gray, who has been historically prickly regarding media requests for comment on the Harry Thomas, Jr. scandal, unsurprisingly refused to call for Thomas to step down today.
Harry Thomas, Jr., the Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember accused of improperly using $300,000 in city grant funds on personal expenses like a luxury SUV, golf outings, dinner at Hooters and overdraft fees, settled a lawsuit filed by the District’s Office of the Attorney General today without admitting wrongdoing.
Alan Suderman’s rundown of Councilmember Harry Thomas’ bank records has given us all a chance to marvel at the Ward 5 representative’s enjoyment of Hooters, satellite television and 7-Eleven on D.C.’s dime. But there’s one expense not mentioned in Suderman’s story that’s also worth noting.
There’s little more American than the freedom of speech, and at yesterday’s Fourth of July Palisades Parade, plenty of participants took advantage of the place and moment to practice it.
What’s going on in Ward 5? First, the ward’s Councilmember, Harry Thomas, Jr., was sued by the city for misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds. Now, one of the ward’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners is accused of inappropriately using $27,000 in city money.
Due to allegations that he diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds to his Team Thomas organization, Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. has stepped down as chairman of the D.C. Council’s influential committee on economic development. Thomas stepped down in a letter sent to Council Chair Kwame Brown; Brown announced the around 6:30 p.m. this evening via email.
The reaction to the lawsuit filed by the District against Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. has been swift and damning — of course, that’s what will happen when you show up to a press conference in the very car the Attorney General claims you improperly spent nearly $60,000 in city money on.