We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
The bizarre tale of Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Robert Leo Dwyer, accused of yelling a racial slur and squirting cleaning solution at a homeless man, now has a connection to the mayoral campaign. After taking a $250 contribution from Dwyer in May, David Catania campaign has refunded his money.
Dwyer’s contribution to Catania’s mayoral bid wasn’t lost on supporters of chief Catania rival Muriel Bowser, who needled him about it on Twitter. Still, Catania aide Ben Young says the campaign sent Dwyer a check two days after his alleged attack on the homeless man was reported. (Dwyer, who apologized after a court appearance for the incident, didn’t respond to LL’s request for comment).
“It’s not in line with our campaign,” Young says.
As long as LL’s talking unsavory donors, though, Young is happy to point out that Bowser has some of her own. In an email to LL, Young asks what the Bowser campaign plans to do with $20,000 it received from Phinis Jones, the Bowser donor and birthday party co-host at the center of the Park Southern affordable housing scandal. Jones, who hasn’t been charged with anything and insists that he’s innocent, is accused of refusing to hand over nearly $300,000 worth of rent money, even as he tries to buy the Ward 8 complex on the cheap.
Bowser spokesman Joaquin McPeek declined to comment on the fate of contributions from Jones. But the Bowser campaign could be cutting some refund checks before next week’s campaign finance deadline anyway. McPeek says the campaign is considering returning money it received from charter school operator Kent Amos, who’s being sued by the District for allegedly siphoning off charter school money to a for-profit management company.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery