Video: Mayor Vincent Gray addressed the courtroom revelation of a secret fund to aid his election in 2010 at his weekly press conference.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray knew in January that associates spent money on behalf of his successful 2010 election that was not properly reported, a violation of campaign finance laws, according to people with knowledge of the ongoing criminal investigation.
Gray (D) was said to have discussed the expenditures in a private meeting with Jeanne Clarke Harris, the public relations consultant who admitted Tuesday to helping orchestrate an illegal secret campaign on his behalf.
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On Wednesday, Harris confirmed the meeting, which she said took place Jan. 10 in Gray’s private suite on the sixth floor of the John A. Wilson Building. She declined to describe the nature of the meeting, but three people close to the federal investigation who have knowledge of the meeting said it concerned the 2010 campaign and the investigations into it.
The disclosure of the meeting marks the first indication that Gray knew of undocumented funds before the federal raids in March at the homes and offices of Harris and business associate Jeffrey E. Thompson, who is believed to have funneled more than $650,000 in unreported funds to a “shadow campaign.”
The disclosure also comes as Gray faces mounting political pressure to make a fuller accounting of his role in the campaign. The city’s political fabric showed signs of fraying Wednesday as three of 12 D.C. Council members became the first elected officials to call for his resignation.
At the time of the January meeting, the official Gray campaign was pulling together an amended report to submit to the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance, which is conducting an audit. Gray and Harris discussed the unreported spending, and Gray later told her to submit records of any expenditures to his campaign staff, according to the people with knowledge of the meeting.
One person said that before the meeting, Harris had prepared invoices for the secret spending so that, if asked for, they might be provided to Gray’s legitimate campaign for reporting. It is unclear whether Harris exchanged information with Gray or his campaign staff or whether Gray knew about the source of the money or the amount of the spending.
Asked Wednesday when he first knew about unreported expenditures, Gray said, “That’s part of the investigation.”
Robert S. Bennett, Gray’s attorney, declined to comment about the January meeting. “This is a pending investigation, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment on it, and I have so advised the mayor to do the same,” he said.
On Thursday, a person close to Gray confirmed the January meeting, saying the discussion marked the first time the mayor heard of a “shadow campaign.” During the meeting, the person said, Gray told Harris to submit her expenses immediately with the city’s Office of Campaign Finance to comply with the law.
“He never heard back from her again,” said the person, who discussed the matter with Gray on Thursday.
Harris, 75, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to obstruction of justice and conspiring to break federal and local campaign finance laws. She faces 30 to 37 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. Among the acts she admitted to was helping to disburse and conceal $653,800 in campaign funds secretly spent by Thompson.
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