A controversial political action committee supporting Mayor Muriel Bowser is shutting down.
The independent committee called FreshPAC -- formed by Bowser's closest allies -- has come under withering criticism for raising large sums of cash with firms and individuals doing business with the city.
Independent D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine told News4 on Friday that FreshPAC was blatant "pay-for-play politics" that citizens oppose.
Supporters of the PAC say the committee, which threatened to campaign against opponents of the mayor, had become too much of a "distraction."
Washington Post columnist Colby King said FreshPAC has already done its damage.
"This was an effort, not so cloaked effort, to get around the law and to play politics in the city the way we've seen it before in the way it ought to be condemned," he said.
"It's an affront to the city; it's an affront to clean government, and she's going to pay a price for it," he said.
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Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh, another harsh critic of FreshPAC, said FreshPAC is a reason to keep closer tabs on the Bowser administration.
"The whole thing was rotten from the beginning, and it was rotten in its implementation," she said.
Bowser previously defended FreshPAC, saying, "[The PAC] will support an agenda that people voted me to get done. There's no attempt to hide. The disclosure and sunlight is how everybody is aware. They're operating how the law contemplates."
She is currently on a trade mission to China and not immediately available for comment.
