Where, oh, where is Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry‘s most recent campaign finance disclosure report?

Jacque Patterson, who is challenging Barry in April’s primary, has been castigating Barry today for allegedly not filing a report by the January 31st due date.

“As of today, 15 days after the reporting period has past, Councilmember Barry still has not filed his report. This is a direct violation of the ethics that he has sworn to uphold. But no one has held him accountable. Not the Office of Campaign Finance. Not his colleagues on the dais,” Patterson wrote on Facebook.

Indeed, Barry’s report has not (as of LL writing this) been posted online by the Office of Campaign Finance, which normally put the reports up shortly after they are submitted. Patterson says he called OCF today to confirm that Barry hadn’t turned in a report before launching his mini jihad. “I was trying to make sure before I made any statement,” he says. And when LL called earlier today, spokeswoman Sonya Lake said that there was no report filed by the Barry campaign.

But Robert James, Barry’s campaign treasurer, insisted that he’d handed in the report on January 30th, a day before the deadline. He suggested that LL call OCF back and get them to double check.

Sure enough, when LL called back, Lake said that Barry’s report had in fact been turned in. Lake said the report had been sitting on the desk of an OCF employee who is currently out of the office, which she said explains why it hadn’t been posted online yet. She said it could take as long as five (!) days to get the sucker online if it’s a big filing.

When told about OCF’s position reversal, Patterson says: “Get the heck out of here.”

The lesson of this tale: If OCF says they love you, check it out.