The D.C. Council voted to strip Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans of his position as the head of its Finance and Revenue Committee, and also to hire an independent law firm to investigate into the politician’s possible conflicts of interest.
Evans is accused of abusing his position in the D.C. Council and the board of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for the interests of a parking company that allegedly paid him $50,000 per year.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and some members discussed the future of the committee’s duties and whether removing Evans from its chairmanship was a sufficient move.
In addition, David Grosso (I-At Large) proposed an amendment that would oust Evans from all committees. However, the probe into Evans has to be finalized first. The law firm O’Melveny & Myers is set to investigate Evans’s private business dealings and their connections to his public actions, starting from 2014.
“I’m not sure that we can trust Mr. Evans to serve on any committee, when there has been no investigation to capture the full depth and breadth of his potential conflicts,” Grosso was quoted as saying.
Evans became the Principal Director at the WMATA Board of Directors in 2016, after serving as D.C. Council’s representative to the board between 1992 and 1999. In his latest office, he was in charge of WMATA’s internal dealings such as contracts.
He resigned in June from his post at the WMATA, following the Washington Post’s publishing of a 20-page memo that revealed his ethical violations. The FBI carried out a raid at the Georgetown home of Evans on June 21, shortly after his resignation.
Evans was replaced two weeks ago by Virginia board representative Paul Smedberg.
In response to the news, many Americans once again stated over social media that they were not satisfied with Evans’ removal as the committee chair, saying that he must be completely discharged from the D.C. Council.
Relative to previous ethical (criminal?) transgressions by DC Lawmakers, it seems at the very least Jack Evans needs to be dismissed entirely from his role of Councilmember.
We can talk about actual jail time later. https://t.co/bIXjyLer4y
— Larry Bryant (he, him, his) (@pozitivebrown) July 10, 2019
It’s the next morning and I still can’t get over it: Jack Evans cast the deciding vote on whether Jack Evans should be stripped of his committee assignments pending the outcome of an ethics investigation into Jack Evans… https://t.co/xg0aW5T6Xk
— Damon King (@damonandreking) July 10, 2019
are DC democrats really gonna be complicit and normalize the actions and harmful impacts of jack evans?
— 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚗 (𝚑𝚎/𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢) 💜✊⚾️ (@tobeselfevident) July 10, 2019