D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray announced his three nominees for the city Board of Elections and Ethics on Wednesday. One seat, the minority (a.k.a. non-Democrat seat) has been vacant for years. The chairman, Togo West, has stayed on until his replacement was named, as was board member Charles Lowery.
But no sooner were the nominees announced than questions raised again about residency. (Sound familiar? The mayor’s recent nominee for deputy chief of staff decided to step down earlier this month over a complaint that she had voted in the District last year while living in Bethesda.)
At the announcement, the nominated chair, Robert L. Mallett, was asked about his residency status by civic activist Dorothy Brizill. (Brizill was the one who first discovered the voting/residency discrepancy with the mayor’s deputy chief of staff.) Turns out Mallett has lived in the District for the last year but prior to that he was a New York resident for nine years. Mallett moved from the District to New York in 2001.
That may violate a 2009 law that requires board members to live in D.C. for at least three years directly prior to their appointment. As soon as Brizill pointed out the law, Gray scooted Mallett away from the podium to answer the question, saying his office would look into it.
So, here we go again? How about we just get it over with and start including residency and voting records in all mayoral appointee background checks from now on?
