"I am a different kind of council member. I ran to get resources, to uplift people of Ward 8 to do everything I can to empower them."–Councilmember Marion S. Barry Jr. on the dais yesterday in response to Robert Bennett's testimony.

By resources, Barry means the thousands of dollars in city funds he funneled to a set of fishy nonprofits. By "people of Ward 8," Barry means his campaign supporters and love interest.

As the Bennett Report lays out in detail, Barry's nonprofits enriched few outside of his inner circle. At best, they provide a blueprint for how nonprofits should not be run.

Blueprint after the jump!

Bennett's investigation did some serious digging into the financial records of the six nonprofits—Clean and Green, Inc., Clean and Sober, Inc., Education Council, Inc., Health Council Inc., Workforce Development Council, Inc., and the Youth Leadership Council, Inc.—conceived by Barry. They found:

*60 percent of the six nonprofits' budget went to administrative salaries.

*8.65 percent went to the fiscal agents.

*$23,885 was spent on office supplies and telephones

*$3,091 was spent on postage.

*$35,376 was spent on marketing and promotion materials.

*$13,589  was spent on catering.

*14.1 percent of the total budgets fell under "miscellaneous."

So what's the takeaway?

Only really bad nonprofits devote 60 percent of their budget to salaries. And despite all this money spent on food and promotions, hardly anyone we talked to in Ward 8 over the summer had heard of these nonprofits.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act Request, Washington City Paper obtained documents on the day-to-day business of the nonprofits. The documents provide some insight into just how these organizations function and how wide a net they cast.

One meeting of the Ward 8 Health Council is indicative of the groups' outreach problems. According to a memo detailing the minutes of  the Jan. 16, 2009, Health Council meeting, interested parties lamented its poor attendance. During one discussion, individuals "agreed to make a concerted effort to get at least 25 citizens to the table" for its February meeting.

Those listed on the Ward 8 Health Council's contact list included a woman who had quit the organization and former Barry girlfriend Donna Watts-Brighthaupt.

Among the food expenses on behalf of the Ward 8 Health Council: an invoice for $250.00 for "juices," "veg. soup" and "weightloss + nutrition juices." It is unclear from the invoice whether this cost included more than just juices and soup.

In April 2009, the Ward 8 Health Council spent $1,238.75 for T-shirts and brochures.

The Bennett Report states the operations of the nonprofits were managed mainly out of Barry's constituent services office. At best, the work of some of the nonprofits went incomplete. The agendas of some of the nonprofits were typed up on Barry letterhead—evidence, perhaps, that the nonprofit managers were serious about keeping expenses low.

The Bennett findings zeroed in on the woman Barry tapped to oversee the nonprofits—Brenda Richardson. She raked in more than $100,000 for work that the report characterizes as follows: "Ms. Richardson was in charge of quality control for the councils, selected various vendors utilized by the councils, and regularly reported to Council Member Barry regarding the councils."

The Bennett team found a very legal way of saying that Richardson was overpaid:

"Ms. Richardson submitted invoices for payment to the councils reflecting that she worked fewer hours than she was committed to work, but she was nonetheless paid the full amounts under the contract for the pertinent pay period."

Richardson was supposed to work 20 hours per week for each council. But according to the invoices she submitted, she worked 10 hours per week. Yet her paychecks overlooked the invoices, paying her for the full 20 hours per week. Richardson held this arrangement with three of the nonprofit organizations, meaning that she was compensated for 60 hours of work per week, or one-and-a-half employees. "These invoices were not questioned by the fiscal agents or the agencies monitoring each grant," the report states.

In his deposition, Barry called Richardson his "accountability officer."

According to the Bennett Report, Wise had to put up with more than just financial hanky-panky. She had to put up with Barry's constant advances. She told investigators that Barry "frequently requested sexual favors" from her.

When asked to respond during his deposition, Barry refused to answer questions about his relationship with Wise. "I think that's outside the scope of the inquiry," he stated.

When asked if Barry "had ever requested a sexual favor," Wise stated in her deposition: "He probably suggested it 562 times."

Among the 562 times, Barry asked her to "sit on my lap" and "come over here and give me a hug" and told her she was his "baby."

Wise said her typical response to Barry's advances was: "Have you lost your mind?"

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

According to the report, Barry told Watts-Brighthaupt about his concern that another crony, Rev. Anthony Motley was deposed without a lawyer present. "He was against that," Watts-Brighthaupt told Bennett's team. "He told him not to come. But he believes Reverend Motley did okay."

Barry also reached out to Brenda Richardson, who ran the fishy non-profits, and inquired about her own testimony. Bennett's team writes in their report:

"Apparently, Mr. Barry attempted to monitor the Council's inquiry by talking to witnesses who had been interviewed or deposed. Ms. Watts-Brighthaupt testified that in her presence Mr. Barry called Ms. Richardson on his cell phone, inquired 'How did you do?' listened as Ms. Richardson 'spoke for a while,' and after hanging up, told her that Ms. Richardson said, 'I think I did okay.'"

Barry, during his own deposition, was asked about his meddling. Bennett's team found his answers not credible.

According to the Bennett report, Barry stated in his deposition: "any allegations that I tried to discourage anyone from cooperating with this investigation is absolutely false, false, false." Anyone making that allegation is a "liar."

But Barry did admit that he may have mentioned Scott Bolden to Watts-Brighthaupt and may have mentioned several lawyers in town who were assisting individuals in the investigation. He could not recall whether he discouraged Watts-Brighthaupt from turning over her hard drive to authorities.

As the deposition was coming to a close, Barry announced that he would like to make a statement to Bennett's team. He addressed the allegations that he tried to hinder the investigation:

"You had a question about advising not to cooperate, et cetera. I want to make it crystal clear I've not done that. There's no reason to. I think that I've followed whatever procedures there were — that were there or lack thereafter [sic], in some instances, so I just wanted to again reiterate that, if people make allegations about any and everything, but I have nothing but respect for this process, I voted for the Resolution. Anybody asked me about why I voted for it, because I believe it's the right thing to do.

So therefore, having done that, I would not go behind, trying to hide anything or cover anything. There's nothing to cover up from my perspective."

The Bennett Report's response:

"As the findings make clear, Special Counsel does not credit Council Member Barry's testimony in significant aspects. To the contrary, Special Council finds there is substantial evidence that Mr. Barry engaged in conduct to impede the Council's investigation. This conduct may implicate criminal laws respecting obstruction and false testimony, and should be referred to appropriate authorities for investigation."

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

In the aftermath of his stalking arrest, Barry's staff held press conference after press conference. They used the free media to bash the park police and declare Watts-Brighthaupt as unstable. [Watts-Brighthaupt denies the charge and even showed up at one press conference to shout down Barry spokesperson Natalie Williams].

So it would be reasonable to expect some kind of comment from Barry or his staff. Maybe even a late-night press conference perfectly timed for the 11 o'clock news.

But so far, Barry has remained mum. He could not be reached for comment for the Post's story today leaving the paper of record to rely on old quotes from the previous week.

This afternoon, Natalie Williams would only offer this succinct comment to City Desk:

"We have not been contacted by the Justice Department therefore we are unable to comment on the speculations of their probe. That's all I'm going to say about it."

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Yesterday, in your unhinged letter to David Catania, you wrote, "For you to imply that the 'Clean and Sober' community investment is administered or supervised by myself or Brenda Richardson is a lie."

So are you calling Brenda Richardson a liar?

After all, when Sharon Wise—the person you reportedly picked to run Clean and Sober Inc., one of six suspect nonprofit groups you established—complained about having $15,000 of her $40,000 salary funneled to Darryl Colbert, your longtime recovery sponsor, this is how Richardson responded:

"The councilmember did that," the tape recording indicates. "The councilmember did that!"

And here's what your committee director, Drew Hubbard, said at the same meeting: "I know that for a fact, that when we first identified some funding sources for these type of programs, the councilmember wanted someone, and it ended up being Brenda, to coordinate these things and for the information to flow through her. So it's not going to be an option to have her out of this."

Don't believe LL? Listen to the tape: The Hubbard quote's at 8:25; the Colbert conversation begins at 15:58.

Love,
LL

When contacted on Friday evening, Richardson referred questions to Barry spokesperson Natalie Williams. This morning, Richardson wrote Washington City Paper:

"If you have any further question, please contact my lawyer, Scott Bolden at Reed Smith..."

When reached this morning, Bolden was in no mood for "further questions."

Bolden wrote in an e-mail:

"Jason, not sure how much clearer I can be...[neither] me nor my client will be speaking with you or anyone from the City Paper. Please refrain from contacting me or my client, Ms. Richardson in the future. Any additional attempts on your part to contact us will be deemed in my view as an attempt to harass her and/or I—not an attempt to interview one of us. Thanks."

This is not the first time Bolden has stepped in to represent a member of the Barry camp. Bolden represented Barry's son after he incurred charges for assaulting a police officer. Bolden lost by a huge margin to Phil Mendelson in the 2006 Democratic primary for an at-large council seat; he ended up in a dispute over a BlackBerry bill.