The District’s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability is investigating the gift that Marion Barry received from a city contractor, Barry told the D.C. Council last night.

During yesterday’s meeting, Barry recused himself from a vote on a contract involving F&L Construction, saying that they both have an issue in front of the ethics board.

The $4,000 gift is a couple orders of magnitude over the $20 gift limit, as is a $2,800 gift from Forney Enterprises. That’s an attractive target for any ethics watchdog. Still, the board’s refusal to comment on the investigation had left it unclear whether it was looking at Barry.

Barry isn’t the only pol under scrutiny from the ethics board. Former Councilmember Michael Brown, who’s got bigger problems, could receive a violation at the board’s meeting this afternoon for refusing to file his financial disclosure forms last year.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery