Posted on 02/16/2010 12:53:42 PM PST by freespirited
D.C. Council Member Marion Barry personally benefited from the contract he obtained for his former girlfriend and directed earmarks that "provided substantial financial benefits to some of his close friends and supports," according to a report by attorney Robert S. Bennett.
In the report, Bennett stated Barry violated "D.C. law, council rules and policies and procedures" and recommends his findings be referred to the U.S. Attorney for possible criminal charges.
Barry responded that he did nothing wrong because the council had no written procedures outlining whom a council member could give a contract to.
In July, after news surfaced that Barry had given Donna Watts-Brighthaupt a city contract, the council asked Bennett to investigate the matter and review the council process for distributing earmarks.
According to the report, which was released this morning, Bennett concludes that Barry sought approval of Watts-Brighthaupt contract after he loaned her money to help her pay her bills. After Barry secured the contract for Watts-Brighthaupt, he then forced her to use her paycheck to repay him, the report said.
"Ms. Watts-Brighthaupt testified on several occasions, Mr. Barry personally delivered a contract payment check to her, insisted that they go directly to the bank, waited in the car while she cashed the check and when she returned to the car, required her to pay a portion of the funds over to him," the report states.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/files/2009/12/donna.jpg
Donna Watts: I Felt Beholden To Barry
The man can’t help it.
Besides, the bitch set him up. :)
******
Voicemails reveal depths of councilmember’s obsession with girlfriend.
“You put me out in Denver ’cause I wouldn’t **** your ****,” Watts-Brighthaupt yelled at Barry, according to a tape recording of the conversation.
Good luck on getting a conviction of Barry in DC. Congress should at least forbid earmarks in DC government and require competitive bidding.
And they want representation in congress?
They’d re-elect him as mayor, or send him to Congress, too.
“He said that he could assist her in finding employment,” Brighthaupt says. “A lot of people who are his loyalists, that’s the way they get in.”
Got in she did: The 40-year-old started working as Barry’s driver and a personal assistant. She was lightly compensated—campaign finance records show she got only $600 over the course of the campaign. “Like Bugs Bunny,” Brighthaupt says, “where the carrot is there, but the character never gets it.”
But there were fringe benefits: Convention time came, and she accompanied Barry to Denver. Despite the Crowne Plaza encounter—the first sexual overture, to Brighthaupt’s knowledge—and the subsequent drama, Barry and Watts-Brighthaupt left Denver on good enough terms that Barry, not more than two weeks later, invited her to tag along to Jamaica, where Barry was headed for a little post-primary R&R. Come Inauguration Day in January, she tagged along with Barry as a van took them up Pennsylvania Avenue to the special viewing area reserved for city officials. “She didn’t have credentials; she was afraid,” said one councilmember in the group. “Marion was like, ‘Come on, nothing’s gonna happen. I got you.’” In May, she accompanied Barry to Las Vegas for the annual retailers’ convention.
Drug dealer? I thought she was a prostitute!
Marion Barry corrupt? Awwww, man, say it ain’t so!...
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