In the News

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, sent a letter to the Inspector General of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) requesting a review of the circumstances surrounding the investigation conducted on behalf of the Ethics Committee of the WMATA Board of Directors into Chairman Jack Evans’s compliance with the WMATA Code of Ethics and Compact.

In July, WMATA produced more than 900 pages of documents detailing the findings of the Ethics Committee’s investigation and related internal deliberations among WMATA staff and Board Members.

“These documents paint a disturbing picture of Mr. Evans’s ethical transgressions that resulted in his resignation from the Board,” Cummings and Connolly wrote. “These actions reportedly also may be the subject of an ongoing federal law enforcement investigation.”

The documents detail efforts by Mr. Evans and Board Member Corbett Price to impede the investigation, including verbal attacks and intimidation against staff and efforts to stifle the release of the Ethics Committee’s investigative findings.

“As Chairmen of the Committee and Subcommittee with jurisdiction over interstate compacts, we request that your office review these documents and any other materials necessary for a thorough and complete evaluation of the ethics investigation of Mr. Evans’s actions,” the Chairmen wrote.

The Inspector General made a previous commitment to testify before the Subcommittee on Government Operations at an upcoming hearing on October 22, 2019.

Click here to read the Chairmen’s letter to the Inspector General.