A D.C. advisory neighborhood commissioner and two-time D.C. Council candidate improperly used D.C. government funds for political purposes, according to a long-awaited report released this week by the D.C. Auditor’s office.
The auditor found that Salim Adofo, the chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8C who represents part of Southeast Washington’s Congress Heights, used more than $2,000 of the commission’s public funding for political activities. That spending, including the purchase of headshots that he used as part of his campaign, is prohibited under D.C. law, the auditor said. The audit also identified broader spending concerns among the hyperlocal government committee, finding that between October 2021 and March 2024, more than half of total expenditures lacked proper documentation.
The audit provides some answers to questions about ANC finances that swirled during Adofo’s 2024 campaign for the Ward 8 council seat, when he lost in the primary to the current Ward 8 council member, Trayon White Sr. (D). Adofo also unsuccessfully ran for the seat in this year’s special election after White was ejected from the council following a bribery indictment. White, who has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial, won that contest and regained the seat.
Advisory neighborhood commissioners are unpaid local elected officials charged with representing slices of D.C. neighborhoods. The 8C commission, composed of eight commissioners, represents the Congress Heights, Barry Farm and Douglass neighborhoods of Southeast.
The audit found that Adofo improperly used $2,225 on partisan political activities. Adofo disagreed with the findings, writing in a letter on behalf of the commission that the spending was valid, but he vowed to improve transparency.
Adofo spent the funds on photos unrelated to his work as an ANC — including for professional headshots that he later used in campaign literature, and for photography at events where he wore a campaign T-shirt — the auditor found. Adofo had claimed that the photography was for the commission’s 2022 annual report, but no such report was ever produced, the auditor’s office said.
For another $2,500 in spending, auditors said there was not enough documentation to show whether the funds went toward Adofo’s political activities or general ANC business. They also examined about $6,800 in funds reimbursed to Adofo for a texting service, business cards, fliers and other communications costs and could not determine whether the spending adhered to city policies.
The auditor’s office wrote in its report that it would refer the alleged political spending to the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, calling it “a breach of trust to 8C residents and the other Commissioners.” A spokesperson for Attorney General Brian Schwalb declined to comment on whether the office would pursue the case.
Adofo referred The Washington Post to a letter he sent the auditor’s office in response to the report and declined to comment further.
In the letter, Adofo said the commission was committed to improvement and more transparency, but disagreed with the auditor’s findings regarding photography services reimbursement. “While it is true that Commissioners do not always attend every scheduled event,” Adofo wrote, “we do not believe that uneven attendance diminishes the validity, merit, or intent of events approved by the Commission.”
Adofo also wrote that a “substantial portion of the administrative workload” fell on him. “That concentration of responsibilities at times became overwhelming and may have contributed to administrative errors,” he wrote, noting that the commission was taking the concern “seriously and actively correcting it.”
The audit also found that the commission did not follow proper procedure regarding debit cards and said it doled out $4,000 in grants without adhering to protocols.
While the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, which oversees all ANCs, identified some of the 8C commission’s spending problems, auditors said it failed to flag or request enough documentation related to other problematic spending identified in the report.
The office, in response to the audit, said it had no comments on the recommendations, which were “either untimely, out of scope, or already being addressed through our internal review process.”
The audit was not the first to raise questions about finances with ANC 8C. A previous audit, published in 2019, found that past ANC 8C leadership had green-lit unauthorized and fraudulent spending. After that report, Adofo said in a LinkedIn post that the ANC treasurer, who had been accused of wrongdoing, had been “relieved of all fiduciary responsibilities.”
“After reviewing the full Auditor’s report, I believe Commission 8C needs to work towards restoring the public’s trust while bolstering internal accountability,” Adofo wrote at the time.
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