Employees of the D.C. Council got a crash course in ethics Monday morning, according to Chairman Vincent Gray, who is under investigation for fundraising practices and work done to his home by a city contractor.
The course was a requirement of the Code of Official Conduct adopted in September after a summer of questions into Councilman Marion Barry's contract with a girlfriend and just two days before Councilman Jim Graham's chief of staff was taken into federal custody on allegations he accepted bribes to promote taxicab legislation.
The council members remain untrained, with their class planned for 2010.
The council's general counsel and ethics counselor, Brian Flowers, trained council staff with the help of Kathy Williams and William Sanford of the Office of Campaign Finance. They reviewed conflict of interest, financial disclosure, gift acceptance and outside employment for about 100 staffers.
