D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s office is using funding of a special election to fill former Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.’s seat as leverage to get the mayor’s $42 million supplemental budget approved, internal emails obtained by The Washington Examiner show, and elections officials said the lack of funding had placed plans for the election in jeopardy.
Since the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics declared Thomas’ seat vacant in January, members of that panel have been seeking $318,000 to stage a May 15 vote to replace the former legislator, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.
Also in January, Gray asked the D.C. Council to approve $42 million in spending on public schools, health care, and maintenance of city vehicles and buildings. He included funding for the special election in the same package.
Citing looming challenges to securing approval of the full supplemental budget, Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser asked Gray in a March 6 letter “to submit a separate … request solely to fund the May special election.”
In an email the next day, Rob Hawkins, a Bowser aide, wrote to Chris Murphy, Gray’s chief of staff, “We think that funding the special election is distinct from supplemental funding.”
Hawkins added, “We believe that funding for the special election is critical and hope that the executive [branch] shares this view.”
But Murphy replied one minute later: “I believe you know we have a different view.”
Earlier, Murphy had asked whether Bowser had urged Council Chairman Kwame Brown to take action on the $42 million request, saying the answer “would be a helpful piece of information.”
So far, Brown has not scheduled a vote on Gray’s proposal. In a February letter, most councilmembers said they thought the city should wait before spending unanticipated income.
In an interview with the Examiner, Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro accused the council of stalling approval of election funds.
“There has been a vehicle to fund this election sitting on the council’s desk for two months,” Ribeiro said. “If they want to have objections, let them object to it and come up with their own legislative package to address the issue.”
Brown and Bowser did not respond to requests for comment.
On Tuesday, the elections board warned that unless it receives funding quickly, the special election could be endangered.
“The board … cannot administer this special election if funds are not promptly made available,” board members wrote in a letter to Gray and Bowser that said elections officials won’t be able to meet deadlines if funding isn’t approved soon.
Ribeiro said Gray recognized the need for quick action and said the mayor was open to negotiations.
“There is no such thing as blackmail here,” Ribeiro said. “The mayor is always open to discussion and compromise. That’s part of government.”
