In E-Mails, Budget Director Defends Barry's Earmarks

D.C. Council Budget Director Eric Goulet told city auditor Deborah K. Nichols in an e-mail last month that he did not think council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) did "anything illegal" when it came to his controversial earmarks.

He gave her dozens and dozens of e-mails sent among Brenda Richardson, Barry's aide, and others in his office; whistleblower Sharon Wise, who managed the groups Clean and Sober and the Ward 8 Youth Leadership Council; and several people from other nonprofit groups that received earmark money in fiscal 2009.

Goulet appears to attempt to clear his name, discounting a Washington City Paper article based partly on a tape-recorded conversation during a March meeting among Goulet, Richardson and Wise. Goulet can be heard saying: "Okay, we've moved beyond the ideal of how this should work, okay, and I'm glad this is not on tape right now, but the council member and you, Brenda, should not be -- should not be directly making decisions about these grant agreements. It should have been done at the beginning of the year."

In the e-mail July 12 to Nichols, Goulet wrote: "I spoke with [D.C. Council] Chairman [Vincent C.] Gray about the Washington City Paper article, which attempts to drag my reputation into the discussion of possible irregularities with Councilmember Barry's earmarks using out-of-context quotes from a thirty minute meeting, which was arranged solely for the purpose of getting these two grants back on track to ensure that funds are spent in accordance [with] the grant agreements. No deed goes unpunished. We wanted to share with you all of my e-mails that relate to Councilmember Barry's grantees, so you can have them as you conduct your audits."

"I haven't discovered anything illegal that Councilmember Barry has done in getting involved in the management of these grants," the e-mail continues. "I believe the problem is that there is little legal regulation of [how] these grant funds can be spent."

The accusations were enough to prompt the council to approve getting rid of earmarks altogether, leaving several nonprofit and social service groups in the lurch for fiscal 2010.

Before the tape, there were e-mails, obtained by The Washington Post through an open-records request. The e-mails show a back-and-forth between Wise and several other people in which Wise said, among other things, that she needed to return a computer and complained that she was unable to order refreshments for a meeting without going through others. There was also an argument over the color and design of T-shirts.

The e-mails show that Goulet was trying to get cooperation from everyone, which led to the meeting and the controversial tape-recording.

Wise, who was eventually let go from both organizations, tried to get Gray (D) involved at one point.

She wrote to him in all capital letters April 4: "EVERYDAY THEY ARE EITHER SENDING ME LETTERS, EMAIL, CALLING ME HARRASING ME OR THREATING TO DO SOMETHING TO ME AND FOR WHAT? JUST IMAGINE IF THEY WERE PUTTING ALL OF THIS ENERGY INTO MAKING THIS GRANT A SUCCESS."

Gray apparently had trouble making heads or tails of all the fighting. "And the beat goes on!" he wrote to Goulet on April 19. "Clearly, the accusations are getting more serious and extreme. Hard to know how much of this is real and how much is sour grapes from the relationships that have obviously become acrimonious."