Scandal: ANC Member Tied to Politics!

An e-mail sent to a good-government Web site threatens to rock the very foundations of political campaigning in the District of Columbia -- at least for that crowd of elected but unpaid officials known as advisory neighborhood commissioners.

The grammatically challenging e-mail, sent by an otherwise unidentified person using the name Thelma Roque , accuses Ward 3 ANC Commissioner Tamela Gordon of offering succor and support to Ward 3 council candidate Sam Brooks in violation of the federal Hatch Act, which places limits on the political activities of government employees. It was addressed to Gary Imhoff at DCWatch, a nonprofit organization that monitors the deeds and misdeeds of District government.

"Since Tamela Gordon is a standing ANC Commissioner, the Chairman of Sam Brooks for City Council and was involved in the soliciting of the $28k he claims to have gotten not in violation of 'The Hatch Act'?" Roque writes. "Tamela Gordon is an elected official, suppose to be non-partisan and so on and her behavior stinks of a violation of the 'Hatch Act.' "

The e-mail didn't make the cut for Imhoff's twice-weekly blog, known as The Mail. But less than an hour after it was written Sunday night, it was forwarded to a wide variety of folks -- including several other ANC members -- by one of Brooks's opponents in the Ward 3 race, Jonathan Rees . (Rees's comment: "Sad!")

The thing finally reached Gordon, who was somewhat alarmed by the allegations. So she contacted Amber Bell at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which administers the Hatch Act.

The bottom line, Gordon was told, is that she can't engage in fundraising, which she knew. Her name can't appear on invitations to fundraisers, which she also knew. And she can't make pronouncements about her candidate from the dais at ANC meetings, which she obviously knew.

"Basically, I think I'm fine," Gordon said in an interview.

But there was one surprise: To be on the safe side, Gordon said, she was told not to use her ANC affiliation in any of Brooks's campaign literature. "My name can be on campaign literature, but I can't say chair, ANC 3B," Gordon said.

Well, what about the half-dozen ANC commissioners who are running for council this year? Can they use their ANC affiliations in their own campaign literature?

"Only as part of a campaign bio," Gordon said Bell told her, adding that the matter was a "gray area," untested under law.

In a city where ANC commissioners routinely stud their campaign material with references to their elected positions, this revelation was a bit of a stunner. "The practical implications of this are ridiculous," said Brooks, who is complying with the newly clarified rules by removing a quote from Gordon from his campaign Web site.

Bell did not respond to a message from the Notebook by press time. But Gottlieb Simon , executive director of the city's Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, confirmed that the question is unsettled and "would require a call to the special counsel."