District Officials Allegedly Instructed Inmates to Vote for Kenyan McDuffie

May 14, 2012 - PRLog -- An official at the DC Department of Corrections has reported to Delano Hunter, Ward 5 DC Council Candidate, that District government officials allegedly participated in unethical conduct which involved directing inmates to cast early ballots for Kenyan McDuffie in advance of Tuesday’s Ward 5 Special Election.

Allegedly, on May 10, an official at the DC Correctional Facility personally witnessed Charles Thornton, Director of the DC Office of Ex-Offenders and Paul Quander, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, directing department staff to instruct inmates on who they should vote for on their absentee ballots. McDuffie also allegedly was given permission to speak to inmates, while other Ward 5 candidates were denied the opportunity.

“[Kenyan] McDuffie was the only candidate allowed to personally address the inmates,” said a Hunter campaign official. “Every other candidate has been refused access. To learn that government employees were directed to tell inmates how to vote and that they then actually executed those instructions, suggests a pattern of grossly unethical conduct.”

It is also reported that McDuffie currently claims his place of employment as the Executive Office of the Mayor. He was a former advisor to Paul Quander, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety in 2011. McDuffie supporters have framed him to be the ideal candidate to represent “good government.”

“If these allegations are true, they represent the worst of city politics and government corruption,” Karen Todd, Hunter 2012 campaign manager said.  “Delano Hunter ran on a platform of integrity specifically to restore faith and trust in our city leadership.  To learn that, less than a week before the election, a few city officials may have engaged in a campaign to contaminate Tuesday’s vote is outrageous, not to mention illegal.”

Delano Hunter, Ward 5 DC Council Candidate, said, “In these final hours, I’m focusing on speaking to voters and getting our message out to the community. However, I believe that every eligible voter should have the opportunity to cast his or her vote without interference, undue influence, or intimidation.  My campaign stands for that principle, and we are conducting ourselves accordingly.”