We’re headed into the final weekend. So who will have the biggest war chest to blow in the next five days?

According to reports filed earlier this week, Ward 2 incumbent Jack Evans has better than $184,000 in the bank; challenger Cary Silverman has but $3,440. Unopposed at-larger Kwame Brown has $144,000 in the bank. Republican at-large foes Carol Schwartz and Patrick Mara continue to duel; Mara’s spent more thus far, but Schwartz has more in the bank going forward.

But the fattest kitty belongs to Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser, who has been downright thrifty in her expenditures thus far. She has $224,000 banked.

WARD 2

Jack Evans
In: $20,596 ($605,324 total); Out: $48,672 ($420,718 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $184,606

The Skinny: Evans breaks the $600,000 mark on a ward council race. He did it with help from law firms Arnold & Porter and Arent Fox (and the latter’s client, D.C. United), developers Forest City Enterprises, and Shaw race-baiter Leroy Thorpe ($200), among many others. In most parts of the country, the state party apparatus raises money to give to its candidates, but not here: Evans gave a hefty $10,000 donation to the D.C. Democratic State Committee. Much of the rest went to canvassers, consultants, and newspaper ads. (That controversial Current spot apparently cost $1,827.)

Cary Silverman
In: $12,591 ($48,360 total); Out: $13,553 ($44,995 total); Debts/Loans: $10,000; Cash on Hand: $3,440

The Skinny: Silverman’s put together a nice little haul, garnering 83 mostly low-dollar-amount donors since Aug. 10. Silverman has also loaned $5,000 to pump up the campaign’s bottom line. Most of the cash has gone to printing and to direct-mail firm Paul & Partners of Dulles, Va.

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Vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is taking a campaign swing through Virginia today, appearing this morning in Virginia Beach before stopping this afternoon in Manassas to discuss economic affairs.

Speaking of economic affairs, Biden will then travel to the District this evening to appear at an event with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and a group of his top fundraisers—the so-called “Big Green Machine.”

The event is being hosted by Jim Hudson, a top adviser to Fenty’s 2006 mayoral campaign, and his wife, Anne Ashmore-Hudson, at their Kalorama home. Many of the big-time donors that supported Fenty in his mayoral run, LL is told, will be there with big checks for the Obama/Biden campaign.

Jim Hudson was chair of the finance committee for Fenty’s 2006 electoral campaign and is the D.C. fundraising chair for Obama/Biden. Last year, a D.C. fundraiser he organized last year raised $600,000 for the Obama campaign. An assistant to the Hudsons says about 40 people are expected to attend tonight.

LL wrote on Friday about the controversy concerning an ad in the Current newspapers for Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans that featured a photo of the candidate with his arm around police Chief Cathy Lanier, raising questions about the propriety of using a city official for campaign purposes.

Yesterday, Dupont resident and Evans foe David Mallof, along with fellow activists Ronald Cocome, Elizabeth Elliott, and John Hanrahan, sent a letter to the Office of Campaign Finance requesting an investigation of a “blatant violation” by Evans’ campaign.

Rather than press federal Hatch Act concerns, Mallof & Co. are alleging misconduct by Evans in “misusing government resources” for campaign purposes. The ad, Mallof writes, “implies a clear endorsement by the Chief of Police Lanier, but nevertheless also was produced by Mr. Evans for campaign purposes on D.C. Government property in the Wilson Building, likely on government time (in daylight and with the chief in full uniform on duty), and with the full powers, ‘brand,’ and directly implied resources of the D.C. Council and MPD Office of the Chief of Police.”

Mallof continues:

That this campaign chose the Chief of Police for the advertisement, not the chief dog catcher, is profound. The improper use of the image of our top public safety official portends a possible witches’ brew of civic implications for D.C. and its integrity of governance. Your office finding such an ad is acceptable will almost certainly set into motion many subsequent and likely more dangerous situations in the future.

All four signers have connections to the campaign of Evans’ challenger, Cary Silverman. Mallof and Elliott were listed among Silverman’s endorsers in an press release earlier this month. Mallof has contributed the maximum $500 to Silverman’s bid; Cocome and Elliott have donated more modest amounts. Hanrahan’s wife, activist Debby Hanrahan, has donated to Silverman’s campaign and has is listed in the press release as an endorser.

UPDATE, 2:05 P.M.: Evans campaign chief Keith Carbone responds: “This is nothing but the Silverman campaign trying to cause a distraction because they can’t defend the fact that Cary Silverman is a lobbyist who has spent the last eight years advancing the Bush administration’s agenda from pharmaceuticals to tobacco to Tom DeLay’s cheeseburger bill to guns. While the Evans campaign is about the progress we are still making in Ward 2, I can’t help but wonder why a Bush Republican is trying to sneak onto the D.C. Council through a Democratic primary.”

Full letter after jump.

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It’s less than a month to the primaries, and LL was up all night digesting the campaign-finance reports so you, loyal readers, get the dirt on every political dollar in town. Enjoy!

WARD 2

Jack Evans
In: $100,696 ($584,727 total); Out: $121,814 ($372,045 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $212,682

The Skinny: As far as receipts go, no huge surprises: Tons and tons of real estate money, with a good measure of law-firm cash to boot. Other notables include council chair Vincent C. Gray ($20.08), Greater Washington Board of Trade CEO John R. Tydings ($500), mayoral development aides David Jannarone ($100) and Valerie Santos Young ($100), and Alcoholic Beverage Control board member Mital Gandhi ($250). Evans’ arts earmarks paid off with donations from the Washington Ballet’s Septime Webre ($200) and Woolly Mammoth Theater’s Howard Shalwitz ($250). The real fun is in the expenditures: Evans’ campaign paid Scott Bishop, infamous for his role in submitting bogus ballot petitions in Anthony A. Williams‘ 2002 re-election campaign, $4,000 for hanging posters. In 2006, Bishop was seen hanging Marie Johns for Mayor signs; at the time he was wanted on criminal charges connected to the election fraud. LL is checking to see if those warrants are outstanding. Evans also paid out well over $25,000 to canvassers. Oh, and staffers continue to have parking issues: The campaign fund picked up two tickets totaling $125.

Cary Silverman
In: $6,725 ($35,769 total); Out: $6,531 ($31,443 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $4,326

The Skinny: Silverman can claim an Obama-like grassroots surge, in that he picked up plenty of small donations (at least when compared to Evans). Problem is, there just weren’t that many of them. Silverman claimed only two $500 max donations on the reporting period—one of them from a Kansas-resident law-firm colleague. All of this means Silverman has entered the final month of the campaign with a 50-fold war-chest disadvantage.

Christina Culver
In: $9,033 ($9,033 total); Out: $517 ($517 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $8,516

The Skinny: Sheez, this is the stingiest bunch of Republicans LL’s ever seen. Only two donors could manage the $500 max—one of them, Tony Parker, is the District’s GOP national committeemen; the other Benjamin Chew, is a Patton Boggs partner (that would be Evans’ firm, BTW). Also notable: the city’s GOP establishment may have declared war on at-large candidate Patrick Mara for daring to challenge Carol Schwartz, but Mara apparently holds no grudges—he gave $75 to establishment-supported candidate Culver.

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LL seems to have made a serious mistake.

For months, he has been avidly following the candidates lining up to challenge four-term incumbent Carol Schwartz for the non-Democratic at-large seat. He’s been spending all his time charting the fundraising endeavors of Adam Clampitt, Dee Hunter, and Michael A. Brown. Just last week, he blew up rumors that Marie Johns might enter the race.

But the true threat to Schwartz’ sinecure might be, gasp, a fellow Republican! Patrick Mara, the 33-year-old Columbia Heights resident planning to challenge Schwartz, announced in a press release minutes ago that he’s raised just over $50,000 in two weeks of his campaign, with virtually all of it still on hand.

That’s an absolutely flabbergasting figure, probably enough to fund an effective direct-mail campaign to every Republican voter in town. It also makes him the best-financed non-Dem at-large candidate.

LL took a quick glance at his June 10 finance report. Some things that caught his eye: Maximum donations from Federal City Council chair Terry Golden and wife Kathleen. Thousands and thousands from downtown parking interests, including Doggett Enterprises, Atlantic Parking, and MarcParc. Max donations from donors affiliated with construction outfits like Miller and Long and MC Dean. Max donations from White House communications aide Tucker Eskew and his wife Lisa.

LL is going to go ahead and call this the big-business backlash that Chamber of Commerce types had been promising ever since the Sick and Safe Leave Bill passed earlier this year.

LL’s call to Mara was not immediately returned. There will be massive followup tomorrow!

UPDATE, 8:05 P.M.: OK, how bout massive followup right now:

Mara calls back to say you ain’t seen nothin’ yet: “August is going to be an even more impressive showing,” he promises. Checks from friends and family not sensitive to the publicity demands of a filing deadline failed to get their checks in on time, and Mara plans to throw a major fundraiser later this month at a restaurant TBA.

The Golden donations, he says, came after he started making the business community rounds. Terry Golden, he says, offered advice on his run: “We had a great discussion.”

Besides the fundraiser, Mara, as LL speculated, plans to do a mailing by the end of the month. He also says to look for him in this weekend’s Capital Pride parade.

Tonight at 6 p.m., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is celebrating his 37th birthday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, and you’re invited.

Well, actually, you’re weren’t exactly invited (as in, sent an invitation) unless you were one of the approximately 10,000 folks who attended Fenty’s inauguration ball back in January, but the public is welcome all the same.

The event is being paid for by the “D.C. Fund.” Now students of District political-finance history might recall that being the name given to Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans‘ erstwhile political action committee (né “Jack PAC”), which he shuttered after taking criticism over its payments for travel and sports tickets.

That D.C. Fund, mind you, is dead; this D.C. Fund isn’t a political action committee, but rather a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. That means a couple of things: (1) Unlike a PAC, 501(c)(4)’s don’t have to report itemized contributions and expenditures, and (2) the group must be “operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare” and its funds must be “devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.” Hence, a open-to-the-public birthday party with largely secret donors.

Here’s to recreational purposes!

Fenty spokesperson Carrie Brooks reports that the D.C. Fund contains the leftovers from the mayor’s inaugural festivities. The inaugural committee raised about $700,000, she reports, and about $500,000 of that was spent on the ball. The remainder is going toward the birthday party. A group of phone-bankers called the list of inaugural donors over the weekend asking for volunteers for tonight’s festivities.

Last December, the Fenty transition team released a list of donors to the inaugural, featuring such names as Bank of America, Chevy Chase Bank, and the Tenacity Group, accounting for about $200,000. As for the other half-million, there’s been no disclosure to date.

The party will feature live music and “light refreshments,” Brooks says, and there’s going to be room for 5,000.

So go get lightly refreshed tonight, and thank the D.C. Fund—or rather, the Fenty Party Fund—for the fun.

Today, the D.C. Council had its first reading of the Exploratory Committee Regulation Amendment Act, a piece of legislation meant to permanently impose financial reporting requirements and contribution limits for city candidates’ exploratory committees.

The problem the bill’s meant to address is the unfettered fundraising by candidates who haven’t officially declared yet. For instance, back in 2004, then-mayoral not-quite-candidate Vincent Orange threw himself a legendary fundraiser at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which helped raise some $200,000 for his campaign, the donors of which remained anonymous.

At today’s legislative meeting, Councilmember Kwame Brown, one of six incumbent members up for reelection next year, asked bill sponsor Carol Schwartz for a “friendly amendment” that the bill’s implementation be delayed until 2009. On the dais, Brown cited his ongoing campaign and the need not to change the rules in the middle of the race.

Thing is, if the rules changed before the end of the campaign cycle, it could only hurt Brown. Brown seemed unaware of the fact that the rules are actually already in effect. Back in 2005, the Council passed a similar bill as emergency legislation and has reauthorized it as such since, but that legislation is scheduled to expire on Nov. 29. Brown already has an active principal campaign committee subject to donation limits and disclosure rules, so why let the competition gain any advantage by exempting them?

Lucky for Brown, Schwartz—up for reelection herself—covered for him: She rejected his proposal.

UPDATE, 4:36 P.M.: Brown spokesperson Mike Price says that his boss was trying to take the high ground and “wanted to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest by voting on this [during] the campaign.”

“I’m not sure he articulated it the way he wanted,” Price says.

In a story the Washington Examiner broke on Monday and the Washington Post follows today, city audits show that Affiliated Computer Solutions, a Dallas-based company that holds a nearly $20 million contract to manage the city’s parking meters, has essentially wasted millions of taxpayer dollars.

But don’t expect a lot of political pressure from certain big names to end ACS’ contract. What the stories didn’t mention is that ACS is a big-time campaign contributor. According to city campaign-finance records, ACS gave more than $8,500 to seven 2006 election campaigns, including those of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council Chair Vincent Gray. And that’s not counting the more than $5,000 doled out by ACS lobbyist Max Brown.

The good news for taxpayers/bad news for ACS? While they gave the $2,000 maximum to the Linda Cropp campaign, they gave only half that amount to Fenty.

It didn’t take long for former Mayor Anthony A. Williams to get a big check after leaving the public sector.

But the $4,000 payment he recently received wasn’t a signing bonus from his new employer. The check came from an outfit he’d rather forget—the 2002 Committee to Reelect Tony Williams.

The former mayor was apparently too busy with golf lessons at the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz., to return calls from LL about the money. The disbursement is reported as a loan repayment in the committee’s Jan. 31 filing. In another section of the report, the nature of the debt is listed as “legal fees.”

The other outstanding red ink in the Williams political treasury is $5,950 owed to the law firm of Greenstein, Delorme & Luchs. Vincent Mark Policy of the firm defended Williams after political consultant Tom Lindenfeld sued the sitting mayor, alleging Williams stiffed him for services. The law firm also helped Williams out during the now-famous petition-signature scandal. Widespread forgeries and fraud in the signature collection process cost Williams a place on the 2002 democratic primary ballot. He won in a write-in campaign.

During one of these legal scuffles, Williams apparently found it necessary to personally cough up $4,000—presumably to pay Policy. In November 2003, good-government gadfly Dorothy Brizill filed a complaint with the Board of Elections and Ethics, claiming Policy’s decision to provide Williams with legal help on a pro bono basic violated city law. (Policy was also working as a lobbyist at the time.)

But who ponied up for Tony’s check? Two local unions—the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Washington Building & Construction Trade Council—kicked in $2,000 each this summer as Williams was becoming an afterthought to D.C. voters. Neither union could explain to LL how they became aware of the pressing need for funds at the committee.

Williams didn’t have to go far to get the check. His wife, Diane Simmons Williams, is treasurer of the committee, which might explain why when the union money came in, the law firm ended up second in line for the cash.

Just in case you were wondering who’s footing the bill for tomorrow night’s Adrian Fenty inaugural bash, here’s a list, furnished by the Fenty transition team, of the donors who made the $213,000 open-door gala possible.

Bank of America, Chevy Chase Bank, real-estate outfit The Tenacity Group, and accountants/consultants Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates chipped in $25K each.

In March, longtime politico A. Scott Bolden asked an old family friend, Enjoli Timmons, to help out with his bid for an at-large D.C. Council seat. “I took a bite [on the pay], but I was helping him out,” says Timmons.

Shortly after she started, she says, Bolden—a partner in the Reed Smith law firm—approached her and told her that his credit was maxed out and that he needed her to purchase two BlackBerrys for the campaign. The arrangement worked out fine for a while, but a few weeks before Bolden’s Sept. 12 landslide loss to incumbent Phil Mendelson, the BlackBerry bills went unpaid, and Timmons was hit with a disconnection notice.

A number of vendors are still waiting for payment from the Bolden campaign, Timmons says, but she feels her situation should take precedence. “I was not to be treated as an ordinary vendor. I did this as a friend.” At least one person wasn’t treated as an ordinary vendor: A. Scott Bolden’s campaign has been plenty efficient when it comes to paying A. Scott Bolden. During the last four months of the campaign, his committee paid him $33,470.46 to reimburse him for various expenses, including $5,000 for “Printing” on June 11, $10,000 for “Campaign Materials” on Aug. 12, and a May 19 payment of $3,550 labeled “Consultant.”

Bolden referred questions to campaign treasurer Kim Alfonso, who didn’t return repeated calls.

On Monday, Oct. 2, after a reporter made inquiries, Timmons got an e-mail from Alfonso asking her to specify exactly how much she was owed. Timmons did, and Alfonso replied, “Thank you. Did you call the city paper?” A check for the overdue balance—about half the total—was put under Timmons’ doormat later that day, and Alfonso assured her the rest of the balance would be paid before the service was cut off.

Throughout his years in community politics, Ward 5 D.C. Council candidate Harry “Tommy” Thomas Jr. has understood the value of appearances. In a ward campaign, that means never letting your opponent appear to beat you on any front, whether it’s posturing, debating, or fundraising.

To go toe-to-toe with chief rival Frank Wilds on the cash chase, Thomas has resorted extensively to piling up “in-kind” contributions, or non-monetary donations. Based on June 10 campaign-finance reports, Thomas won the Tommy-vs.-Frank money fight $49,545 to $46,842.

But his victory gives new meaning to the term paper tiger.

When most candidates list in-kind contributions on financial reports, they usually refer to food, office space, or specialized labor. On his fundraising filing, Thomas lists 27 donations as in-kind contributions. That extra “cash flow” created a just enough of a cushion to give Thomas bragging rights over Wilds.

A few of Thomas’ in-kind listings seem legit. Who could argue with a $500 in-kind party thrown by the Solar Eclipse Restaurant and Club?

But D.C. government types were in-kind to Thomas, too: Office of Aging employee Adrian Reed and former D.C. Public Library spokesperson Debra Truhart (who’s also Thomas’ sister) both maxed out.

Spillman Truhart, who in a phone conversation identified himself as Thomas’ brother-in-law, is also in the $500-in-kind club. When asked to describe what services or goods he had given Thomas that could have been valued at $500, he replied, “You must be talking about my wife.” Spillman Truhart was not aware that he was down for $500 in-kind, saying he “did not know anything about it.”

The total amount of in-kind donations to Thomas is $22,350.

When contacted about the apparent contribution padding, Thomas told the Washington City Paper that his filing “is correct”—all of the in-kind listings were for personal services provided for the campaign.

“Everybody has value,” says Thomas, who plugs his campaign as unique precisely because his backers provide labor or other expertise rather than writing a check. Some campaigns call those folks volunteers, but Thomas says the work of his supporters “should be counted as a contribution.”

“Sweat equity is what I call it,” he says. Thomas has apparently worked up a good lather on the campaign trail. He lists a $10,000 in-kind contribution from himself.

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Read the OCF’s Jack PAC audit report (PDF format, 816KB)

The D.C. Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) has issued its final audit of Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans’ political action committee, indicating that Evans did not violate any city campaign laws.

But the report also recommended that Evans repay $6,772.72 to the PAC, which he has done. Evans was reimbursed by the PAC in that amount for expenses Evans incurred during a 2004 city-sponsored trip to China. Those expenses covered travel and lodging for Evans friend Marsha Ralls, who joined him on the trip.

The payment was requested by the OCF as part of an extensive audit of his PAC—once called “The Jack PAC,” later renamed “The D.C. Fund.” The PAC, which was officially formed to advance Evans’ political agenda, was used to pay for tickets to sporting events, travel expenses, and for contributions to groups he supports. Contributors to the PAC included lobbyists, developers, and companies with interests before the D.C. Council.

The campaign-finance office began to scrutinize the PAC after it was revealed that Evans personally wrote checks out of its bank account. The reimbursement for the China trip also raised eyebrows. Evans has previously said that he requested the audit of the account and has fully cooperated with OCF staff.

In the course of the audit, OCF discovered that Evans had created another $82,500 account, “Friends of D.C.,” to pay for polling and political consulting, according to the report.

[ADDENDUM, 6:27 P.M.: A few of the line items from Evans’ April 3 disclosure of his Friends of D.C. contributions and expenditures:

• $15,000 from Douglas Development Corp., a real-estate development firm controlled by Douglas Jemal, who has been indicted on charges that he bribed a District contracting official. Jemal has pleaded not guilty.
• A total of $11,750 from D.C. Legal PAC and employees or family of plaintiff's attorney Jack Olender.
• $10,000 from companies associated with Stephen A. Goldberg, a developer and philanthropist who contributed $60,000 to create the Think D.C. PAC.]

Evans was contemplating a run for mayor in 2005, but the report says Evans’ representatives contend that “this account was opened only for the purposes of a poll to determine the standing of Councilmember Jack Evans in the 2006 calendar year elections, and not as an exploratory committee for office.”

By law, Evans is not required to report that fund’s contributions or expenditures. Temporary legislation passed by the council calling for reporting of exploratory committee reports did not include any enforcement provisions.

[ADDENDUM, 6:27 P.M.: Evans says he has no plans to challenge the report or create another PAC. “After an extensive review by the Office of Campaign finance, the audit report concluded that the Jack PAC was in compliance with the law,” he says.]

OCF General Counsel Kathy Williams says because the committee and Evans agreed to provide all the information requested and repaid the China trip expenses, the matter is closed. “The fact that they’ve terminated the PAC has a lot to do with the resolution,” she says.