Amid a flurry of federal subpoenas and raids during the first two weeks of March, D.C. Mayor Vincent D. Gray and the D.C. Council have found themselves the target of a widespread campaign finance investigation.
Under scrutiny is an estimated $100,000 in campaign contributions to Gray during the 2010 campaign, along with donations to current and former council members’ campaign funds. Investigators want to determine whether contributions have exceeded legal limits. Gray has denied any wrongdoing.
D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown was the latest of the city’s elected officials to receive a subpoena. A Brown spokesman said March 15 that the chairman had received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney’s office, joining three other council members—Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson and Yvette Alexander—who are being asked about their campaign contributors.
“It’s unclear what’s going on,” Brown said to the Post. “There is a process that is playing itself out, and, to be honest, it’s just a lot of speculation until someone comes out and says what’s going on.”
At the apparent heart of the U.S. Attorney’s investigation is funding of the 2010 mayoral and council election campaigns and the link between Gray and several current and past council members to Jeffrey Thompson, a leading D.C. accountant and owner of the largest Medicaid enterprise in the city.
Thompson, owner of Chartered Health Plan, has given over $200,000 to federal and local election campaigns, the Post says its examination of public records has found.
The homes and offices of Thompson and public relations specialist Jeanne Clarke Harris were raided by federal agents March 2 in the investigation of corruption in the city. Investigators want records “referring or related to” Thompson, his accounting firm, his business associates and the $322 million a year Medicaid enterprise Thompson controls, according to the Washington City Paper.