Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 8F has voted to ask the District Board of Elections to vacate the seat currently held by Clayton Rosenberg (6/8F05).
At the Special Call Meeting held via Zoom Aug. 29, four of the five commissioners voted in favor of the resolution.
In August, Rosenberg pled guilty in the Eastern District of US Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in August to one count of wire fraud after being accused of stealing from multiple coronavirus business relief programs. Rosenberg has been sentenced to prison for five years and three months by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
DC Code can deem a vacancy in the office of an ANC Commissioner when the incumbent is convicted of a felony that was committed while he or she held the office. Rosenberg was elected in November 2022. A vacancy can also be declared if the incumbent does not live in their Single Member District (SMD) for 60 days prior to the date they filed petitions to become a candidate.
‘A Sad Situation’
At the meeting, ANC 6/8F Chair Edward Daniels (6/8F04) clarified that Rosenberg never held the role of treasurer with ANC 8F. “I should specify his name was on the bank as Vice Chair of our ANC but to our knowledge, we did not experience any compromise of our ANC Commission’s bank ,” Daniels said.
“I mean, it’s just a sad situation,” said Commissioner Brian Strege (8F03). “You know people in public office, you then find out through the news that you know they’re engaging in stealing COVID money.”
Daniels said that when he, Daniels, ran to represent ANC 8F04 for a third term in 2022, Rosenberg unsuccessfully challenged his petitions. Strege said that Rosenberg had been on the ballot to run against Daniels to represent 8F04. “I seeing his name switch from [SMD]04 to [SMD]05,” Strege said. “He would have had a two day window to get a residence in that uncontested ANC District,” Strege said, where Rosenberg ultimately successfully ran as a write-in candidate.
According to the courts, from at least June 2020 through at least June 2021, Rosenberg and two accomplices made at least 16 fraudulent applicants for benefits worth more than $9 million, of which Rosenberg himself received at least $1.6 million. The court alleges Rosenberg spent the money on beard treatments and luxury vehicles.
Rosenberg did not respond to attempts to him via telephone and email.
Charges
The court says Rosenberg also submitted fraudulent UI applications using personal identifying information obtained online. Rosenberg applied for and received over $110,308 in UI and pandemic unemployment assistance benefits, the court added.
According to court documents, Rosenberg, also known as “Kenneth Clayton,” and “Kobe,” was sentenced to five years plus three months in prison for wire fraud. He must pay the amounts back to the government. Rosenberg is appealing the length of the sentence.
Strege said the situation was “kind of a double whammy with Clayton and the situation with Councilmember Trayon White.”
Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, Sr. (D) was arrested at a Navy Yard apartment building Sunday Aug. 18 and charged the next day with bribery of a public official. The DC US Attorney’s Office (USAO-DC) alleges that, beginning in June 2024, White agreed to accept $156,000 in cash in exchange for using his position as councilmember to pressure government employees at the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and DYRS to extend contracts.
White was charged in DC Court while Rosenberg was charged in East Virginia Court. Although both men have links to both Ward 8 and the Navy Yard neighborhood, officials have made no links between the cases.
“DC Government, we have a lot of issues, a lot of things that need to be rectified,” Daniels said at the meeting, “because we have a lot of people who are sitting in government positions, elected positions, unfortunately, who should not be in elected positions.”
“[…]Right now this ward has a huge problem, a huge problem that has existed for many years. We live in a city that, as most of us know, referred to a former mayor with many criminal activities under his belt as our mayor for life. It needs to be addressed. It needs to be looked at.”
A Rare ANC
ANC 8F is a rarity —the single commission includes 5 SMDs from two different wards, Wards 6 and 8. Two SMDs are part of Ward 6, making up the section of Navy Yard bounded by H Street and M Streets SE and South Capitol and New Jersey Avenue SE. Those are the SMDs represented by Rosenberg and Daniels, SMD 8F05 to the north and 8F04 to the south respectively.
The other three SMDs fall within the bounds of Ward 8.
ANC 8F is asking the office of the ANC to forward emails from the official 8F05 government email address to the ANC 8F general email inbox, “so we’re not unaware of what those constraints constituents are dealing with,” Daniels said.
Both DC BOE and the Office of the ANC declined to comment on the resolution or Rosenberg’s status as commissioner. DC regulations indicate that once the petition is received by DC BOE, it is made available for public inspection for a ten-day-period during which it can be challenged by a qualified elector. The Board will determine the validity of the resolution within thirty days after it is filed.
Because the vacancy will occur within six months of a general election, the seat will remain vacant for the remainder of the term. So far, there is no one up to represent ANC 6/8F05 in the November election, although a possible candidate spoke at the meeting. ANC 8F said they would try to ensure the seat is filled to ensure the residents have a voice.
Learn more and commissioners by visiting www.anc8f.org
