“I apologize for deceiving everyone who listened to our board meeting last month,” said Dorsey at the beginning of the monthly board meeting on Saturday. “Now I realize that in an attempt to explain the chronology of my actions, I left you with the impression of having returned the contribution. I didn’t mean to deceive you, but by not stating clearly that I didn’t have the funds to repay the donation, my comments had this effect. “
Dorsey said he returned the contribution on Friday.
His state campaign finance form, filed on December 31, shows only $ 3,299 left in his account. Dorsey is also experiencing personal bankruptcy.
Last July’s donation should have been communicated to Metro’s board of directors based on the ethics policy of that transit agency. But Dorsey, who was a member of Virginia’s vote in the council, did not report it to the council until October 31.
The council stripped him of his direction and ordered him to repay the money.
After Audrey Clement, who ran against Dorsey in the county council elections last fall, raised the issue at the January 25 board meeting, Dorsey said he wrote a union check before the end of 2019 but that he didn’t it had been cashed.
The union later told the Washington Post that he had never received a check.
Dorsey also told Clement during the meeting that he didn’t need to list the check on his Virginia countryside financial report until it was cashed, but state election officials and others told the Post that it wasn’t correct.
Libby Garvey (D), president of the board of directors, says that the request to resign from the NVTC came after extensive discussions with him. He started Saturday’s session by declaring it unacceptable that Dorsey did not give Clemente and the public a “transparent” response last month, even though he was currently behind him.
“It is not acceptable to deceive a resident intentionally or unintentionally,” Garvey said on Saturday. “Everyone is human and that means we make mistakes, sometimes big mistakes. The important thing is to recognize our mistakes. “
Frequent onboard critic Bobbie Fisher also asked Dorsey and the entire board to step down to “hide his excellent behavior. . . and flagrant abuse of power. “Neither Dorsey nor Garvey responded to his statements.
On Saturday it was not immediately possible to confirm that the union had received the money. Dorsey, who continued to attend the county council meeting, did not respond to a text message requesting proof of reimbursement.