Another aide to D.C. Mayor criminally charged

A public-relations executive in Washington, D.C. has been charged with making straw contributions to candidates for federal and local offices, including Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray’s 2010 campaign. On Monday, Eugenia Clark Harris was charged in a criminal information, which is a charging document that can only be filed with a defendant’s consent and normally indicates a defendant intends to plead guilty. A plea hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

The 75-year-old faces a federal conspiracy charge for allegedly making contributions in the name of another person and destroying records, and faces a similar conspiracy charge under district law. Harris is also charged with filing a fraudulent tax return. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the federal conspiracy charge, three years on the fraud charge, and six months on the local conspiracy charge. Under federal guidelines, Harris would receive a fraction of the allocated time.