Investigation 2002-0252
This report summarizes the investigation conducted by the Investigations Division of the District of Columbia Office of Inspector General (OIG) into allegations of certain improprieties by officials and employees of the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics and the Office of Campaign Finance.
Overall, the investigation disclosed a significant number of serious issues at the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics and the Office of Campaign Finance, which indicate that oversight of these offices is limited and ineffective. Our contacts with the Chairman of the Board of Elections and Ethics during the investigation demonstrated that the Chairman lacks the objectivity to exercise effective oversight or to address the issues disclosed by our investigation.
We found that executive-level officials of the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) and Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) have used their positions improperly to enrich themselves at the expense of District of Columbia taxpayers and to selectively enforce campaign finance laws. In addition, we found that these same officials failed to refer potential violations of law to the appropriate authorities, failed to cooperate with the OIG investigation, and may have retaliated against employees who did cooperate with our investigation.