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The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Evans enters settlement agreement to pay ethics fines

A+D.C.+Council+investigation+found+that+Ward+2+Councilmember+Jack+Evans+violated+the+Councils+ethics+code+11+times.
Hatchet File Photo by Dean Whitelaw
A D.C. Council investigation found that Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans violated the Council’s ethics code 11 times.

Former Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans will be required to pay the District $2,000 a month for more than two years to cover fines for ethics violations he committed while in office.

The Board of Ethics and Government Accountability fined Evans, who represented Ward 2 on the D.C. Council from 1992 until his resignation last year, a total of $55,000 in 2019 and 2020 after he violated District ethics rules at least 11 times since 2014. Evans has paid just $3,000 of the fine and will be required to pay $2,000 per month for 26 months to pay for the other $52,000 owed to the District, according to settlement documents obtained by Washington City Paper.

Evans faced calls for expulsion from other Council members in 2019 after it was revealed he touted his influence as a government official to gain customers for his consulting firm, which resulted in a $20,000 fine. Evans also crafted legislation to help sign company Digi Media after his consulting business was given shares of that company, which resulted in a $35,000 fine.

Evans had previously agreed to pay the $20,000 and $35,000 fines by Aug. 8, 2020, and June 30, 2021, respectively, but only paid $3,000 of those fines in total, according to the settlement.

Evans did not immediately return a request for comment.

Evans, who also served as chair of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board of Directors, declined to run for re-election for that position in 2019 after he was the subject of an ethics probe for conflicts of interest while running the WMATA board.

Evans resigned just days before a vote to expel him from the Council was to take place, and Ward 2 council member Brooke Pinto won the special election last June to replace Evans as Ward 2’s council member.

Months before Evans’ resignation, the Council removed from him his position as chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Revenue, and thousands of citizens signed a petition which demanded a recall election, though the petition failed.

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About the Contributor
Zach Blackburn, Editor in Chief
Zach, a senior majoring in political communication, is the 2023-24 editor in chief of The Hatchet. He previously served as senior news editor and assistant news editor of the Metro beat. He hails from West Columbia, South Carolina.
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