On Thu, 10/03/13, this proposed legislation was brought to my attention earlier in the day, and at the Board of Ethics & Government Accountability's (BEGA) Symposium that evening regarding whether or not Lobbyists should be allowed to serve on DC Boards and Commissions. This emergency bill was sponsored by CM Bowser, Bonds and McDuffie.
The purpose of this emergency bill is to exempt the elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners from having to file the required annual financial disclosures which is commonly done by other elected and high level appointed officials, along with agency senior management and specialized positions. ANCs were not required to file this report in the pass. This emergency went through the DC Council's final reading on Sept 17th and passed. It is my understanding that CM McDuffie will be scheduling a hearing on B20-0455 in the immediate future.
What was disappointing to me was how this emergency bill was presented to me by what I considered responsible, upstanding citizens who now I can say had an understanding of the proposed bill, but presented the bill as if there were dire concerns for the Commissioners in having to now file the required financial disclosure report, which after research as attached, is not the case at the moment.
I was not able to discuss this bill with any of the sponsoring CMs, however, from what I see; this bill is to correct a section(s) of the current BEGA laws, for whom this responsibility of gathering these reports was transferred from the Office of Campaign Finance. There were initially about 10 bills or more that were used in the creation of BEGA, and there were sections of some of these bills that including the ANCs. Some corrections have already been made, and I'm sure there will be more for this Office which just had its 1st anniversary of existence.
Since things have changed in the 35 year existence of the Home Rule Chartered Advisory Neighborhood Council's , now Advisory Neighborhood Commissions for many years, and how they should function individually and collectively. Having the laws updated clearing defining what ANCs can and cannot do is essential for the ethics and integrity of the ANC process.
One section of the current ANC laws that needed urgent updating is regarding the awarding of grants and the follow up process. This section:
"§ 1-309.13. (j((2) No quarterly allotment shall be forwarded to a Commission until all reports of financial activity for the quarters preceding the immediate previous quarter are approved by the Auditor",
allows the DC Auditor to hold an ANC Commission responsible when a grantee does not submit the required "Statement of Use" and receipts for disbursements for an awarded grant, or missing receipt(s) for any expenditure(s). The taxpayer loses twice with the original grant award, then the following deduction of whatever the determined amount, instead of there being a process in place to hold the grantee or Commissioner responsible. It is unfair and I feel unconstitutional. When a person(s) robs a bank, the bank is not held responsible. Why are ANCs held responsible for another person's actions, when ANC's have no control of the funds once the check is written.
Further injury to ANC Commissions occurs during the redistricting, where the prior ANC's "debt" to the DC Auditor continues when a new commission with the same name of the prior Commission is transferred this "debt" even though the new Commission had nothing to do with the "pre-redistricting" grant awards.
This has occurred in Ward 5 and it is unfair. The prior ANC 5C having an understanding of the potential affect on the new ANC 5C, though diligence and documentation had been done to collect the missing documentation outstanding from grantees, offered to have the total amount of alleged money deducted right away since ANC 5C had over $70,000.00 in the bank, or write a check to the DC Auditor to clear this alleged $45,000.00 debt, so the new ANC 5C could start fresh. This offer was refused, resulting in the new ANC 5C starting with restrictions on how they can write checks and the continued quarterly deductions. The same for the new ANC 5B based on what happened with former Commissioner Shelton. It's not right. Nor right having the appearance of "unwanted step-children" with different, unfair standards than the other DC govenment agencies and offices, which has processes and procedures when it comes to these types of situations with demand action by the Office of the Attorney General or US Attorney in fiscal management issues which need legal actions. The $50 million dollars stolen by Harriet Walters was not deducted from the OTR's budget. Why should this happen with ANCs?
2 years ago, I testified before the Committee of the Whole during the DC Auditor's Performance Hearing about these problems and provided actual situations. The Auditor was supposed to get back to Chairman Brown with their report on my request. From my understanding and research, this never happened, nor can anything be found on their website to date regarding this requested response.
Having a series of public hearings on the ANC laws would also be helpful to bring our ANCs into the 21st century. The same ethical standards that the DC Council wants to see implemented throughout the District should also apply when it comes to ANCs in the 21st century, especially with ANCs and the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions being under the Council's oversight.
Albrette "Gigi" Ransom
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