Hello District Neighbors,

Last week, my office made a big announcement that is part of our longstanding effort to fight for environmental justice: We’re suing Velsicol, a major chemical company. Velsicol violated District environmental laws by contaminating our natural resources, like the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, with toxic, cancer-causing chemicals — for decades.

From 1945 to 1988, Velsicol was the only manufacturer of chlordane, a pesticide used to kill insects. By 1959, the company knew that chlordane caused cancer. But, instead of halting sales, it embarked on a misinformation campaign so it could continue profiting off the chemical at residents’ expense. In fact, even after senior Velsicol executives were indicted and paid a criminal fine, Velsicol kept selling the pesticide.

In the history of our country, when there was trash that needed to be disposed of or if there were things that could hurt people—like this toxic chemical--it always went to where people had less power to fight back. In this case, Velsicol’s environmental contamination and false advertising meant, among other harms, that communities that had long fished in the Anacostia could no longer do so. And those harms are still being felt by long term residents’ children and grandchildren.

Protecting our environment has been a key part of OAG’s work over the past eight years—to create cleaner, safer, and healthier futures for DC families. Since 2014, we’ve recovered over $60 million to promote environmental justice in the District. Environmental justice is intertwined with racial justice. By filing this lawsuit, we’re standing up for communities of color, who, far too often, bear the brunt of pollution, as they did in this case.

Thank you,

Karl Racine
Attorney General

Announcing Winners of Right Direction Awards

We announced the winners of the 2022 Right Direction Awards last week, which honor District youth who have demonstrated resilience and leadership. This was our sixth year holding the award ceremony. I was especially excited to be able to hold the event in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and meet the winners face to face.

The pandemic impacted all of us. Mental health experts, teachers, coaches, and parents all recognize the profound and negative impact that COVID-19 had on our youth. Last week’s ceremony was an important opportunity for DC leaders to turn the spotlight on our young people and celebrate them for working hard to create a better future for themselves and their communities.

I was honored to be joined by Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmembers Brooke Pinto, Robert White, and Charles Allen to celebrate these amazing young people.

To our award winners: Congratulations, I know you have bright futures ahead!

Sending the Message: Charities Are Not for Self-Enrichment

We recently announced victories in three lawsuits filed to stop the misuse of nonprofit funds. We resolved lawsuits against Public Media Lab and Pavilion USA 2020, which will return over $400,000 in misused funds to DC nonprofits. And, we received a ruling by a judge in a third case that a fraternity, Delta Phi Epsilon, its associated foundation, and its long-standing director illegally diverted nonprofit funds for personal benefit. Read more about it in this Washington Post article.

We filed a lawsuit against Public Media Lab because, for over 12 years, it’s Executive Michael Pack illegally funneled tax-exempt dollars from Public Media Lab (a nonprofit) to Manifold Productions (his company). As a result of the settlement, we’re shutting down the nonprofit, Public Media Lab, and forcing Pack to disclose future nonprofit service, and clawing back $210,000 in misspent funds. Those dollars will now go to legitimate DC nonprofits: the Boys and Girls Club and College Bound. In the second lawsuit, we successfully banned the two founding directors of Pavilion USA 2020 from nonprofit service in DC for five years and forced them to pay $220,000 for enriching themselves by abusing the charity. That money will go to Ayuda DMV, Black Swan Academy, and Liberty’s Promise.

With all these lawsuits, we’re sending the clear message that nonprofits are not for making a quick buck. I’m glad we were able to turn over the funds we recovered to real charities that will do good in the community.

Connecting with Our Kids

I was thrilled to spend time earlier this month with 3rd and 4th graders in Ward 8 at Savoy Elementary School with Everybody Wins DC. We talked about democracy and the work of our office. I also introduced them to a great book by one of my role models: the late Congressman John Lewis. My office also participated in Malcom X Elementary School’s back to school night last week as part of our ATTEND program’s parent engagement efforts. We always love to have the chance to connect with kids across the District!

Encouraging News on Algorithmic Bias

For decades, DC has been a leader in passing and enforcing civil rights laws. We are working to continue that leadership by modernizing our civil rights laws to ensure they prevent discrimination through tools that could not have been predicted nearly 50 years ago when these laws were enacted. Last year, OAG introduced a bill that the Council is now considering to stop discrimination through algorithms in areas that impact people’s everyday lives, including in the homes they can purchase, the loans they have approved, and the jobs they are hired for.

I met with the White House about this issue last month and was encouraged to see the White House release an Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights. That’s a big step forward, and it shows the urgency and breadth of this issue.

Government leaders and businesses at all levels must take action, and more and more localities and states are stepping up.

Read more about our efforts to end algorithmic discrimination in Axios.

Continuing to Fight for Housing Justice

Since 2019, when OAG created a Civil Rights Section, we have won significant victories against landlords who were discriminating against low-income residents and housing voucher holders. We’re urging the DC Council to make our office’s authority to bring these lawsuits permanent so we can continue this important work, and recently testified to the Council about our bill to do just that. We’re grateful to community partners, including the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, for supporting our bill.

Read about our wins standing up for housing justice, here.

A New Tool to Keep DC Safe

If someone is buying more guns and ammunition than legally allowed, law enforcement needs to know. I worked with other Attorneys General to lead an effort supporting American Express’, Mastercard’s and Visa’s decisions to adopt a new merchant category code for the sale of firearms and ammunition. The new code will enable the credit card companies to recognize when someone purchases firearms at multiple outlets to try to avoid having those purchases reported, and then to let law enforcement agencies like ours know. It will also help these companies to recognize shopping patterns associated with mass shootings, like rapidly obtaining weapons and large amounts of ammunition, and it will support antiterrorism “red flag” laws. I’m encouraged to have this new tool to help keep our community safe.

Read more about this public safety effort in the DC Post.