Corruption scandals dog local DC government - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

Corruption scandals dog local DC government - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee:

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Cheh said the pleas and investigations risk setting back the goal of gaining more autonomy for District residents.

"It certainly gives (critics) ammunition to say, 'What kind of a system are you running over there?'" she said.

Long-running investigations by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia have rattled nerves inside the city government complex and yielded significant developments in recent months.

On Wednesday, Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown was accused in federal court of falsifying his income by tens of thousands on bank applications for a home equity loan and for a boat. He resigned his seat following a closed-door meeting with council members and is expected to plead guilty Friday, then make another court appearance on a separate misdemeanor campaign finance violation that was also brought this week in D.C. Superior Court.

The charges come five months after another councilmember, Harry Thomas Jr., pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $350,000 in public money earmarked for youth sports and arts. He also resigned and was sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Last month, two former Gray campaign aides pleaded guilty to charges arising from his 2010 mayoral campaign. One aide admitted lying to the FBI about straw donations to a minor candidate in the race and the other aide admitted funneling the money and destroying evidence of the transactions. The payments were intended to keep the candidate, Sulaimon Brown, in the race so he could continue assailing then-Mayor Adrian Fenty as he sought re-election.

Gray has denied wrongdoing and has not been directly implicated. But the investigation continues and the issue has dogged the mayor since two months after he took office, when Sulaimon Brown alleged to The Washington Post that he had been paid and offered a job if Gray won.