http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-wire/post/late-rent-payments-add-to-m
ichael-browns-financial-woes/2012/04/19/gIQA50ZvTT_blog.html
Missed rent payments add to Michael Brown's financial woes
By Tim Craig
D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown's failure to pay his District taxes and
mortgage on time in recent years was always likely to become an issue in his
bid for reelection this year.
Now, fresh records show he also may have had trouble paying his rent on
time.
As The Washington Post reported in January 2011, Brown and his wife failed
to make timely property tax payments on their $1.4 million Chevy Chase home,
eventually accruing a past due balance of $14,263. Brown quickly paid off
the debt once the story was published, but it helped highlight the council
member's ongoing financial challenges.
Brown makes $125,000 a year as a council member and takes home another
$240,000 annually as an attorney, according to Brown's most recent financial
disclosure form.
But banks or mortgage lenders issued five notices of foreclosure sale from
when he bought the house in 1996 through late 2010, according to records.
None of the notices proceeded to auction.
More recently, records indicate that Brown has missed rent payments on two
apartments that have been under his name at the Rittenhouse Apartments on
16th Street NW over the past two years.
On March 17, 2011, Rittenhouse LLC filed a compliant in D.C. Superior Court
alleging that Brown had "failed to pay" $4,031 in rent. At the time,
according to court documents, Brown's rent was $1,709 a month.
Brown was summoned to an April 13, 2011, court hearing, but he failed to
show up, records show. The case was dismissed four months later.
In an interview, Brown said he "didn't know anything about" the March
filing. He noted the dates on the court documents "didn't make any sense"
because they stated the total rent due was for "February 2011 to March
2010."
"That was a mistake," Brown said. "I don't know anything about that.I know
nothing about that."
But Rittenhouse LLC filed another complaint against Brown on Jan. 13, after
he moved into another unit in the building. Rittenhouse alleged Brown
missed one month's rent, $2,160, according to court records.
The company withdrew the complaint in early February. Complaints are usually
withdrawn after the defendant settles the debt or agrees to a repayment
plan.
Brown acknowledged the existence of the January filing and said he has fully
paid that month's rent.
"I was two or three days late," Brown said. "I was a couple days late, and
the management company chose to take this action, which they have every
right to do. Rather then notifying me I was a couple days late, they chose
to file, which is fine, but I paid well before anything happened."
Rittenhouse's assistant property manager declined to comment. Mark R.
Raddatz, the attorney who represented Rittenhouse Apartments LLC, also
declined to comment.
In the November general election, Brown is seeking his second term as one of
four at-large council members. He will be competing against Council member
Vincent B. Orange (D-At large), Republican Mary Brooks Beatty, Independent
David Grosso and State Hood Green Party candidate Ann C. Wilcox.
Voters can select up two candidates, and the top two vote-getters will win
at-large seats. With registered Democrats accounting for three out of every
four registered D.C. voters, Orange is heavily favored to win the most
votes.
Brown is also favored to win reelection. But Beatty, a former Ward 6
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, and Grosso, an attorney and activist
from Ward 5, could mount a stiff challenge by hammering Brown over ethics
and his status as an incumbent.
In April 2011, the Internal Revenue Service filed a $50,000 lien against
Brown for failure to pay income taxes dating to 2004. According to a copy of
the lien, Brown failed to pay $7,128 in 2004, $28,625 in 2005, $5,176 in
2007 and $11,951 in 2008.
Brown is on a repayment plan.
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