Federal prosecutors are seeking a six-month prison sentence for Thomas Gore, a longtime friend and former campaign aide of Mayor Vincent Gray. Gray admitted last year to participating in a scheme in 2010 that involved paying off a mayoral candidate.
Gore pleaded guilty in May for destroying records of Gray’s interactions with Sulaimon Brown, the candidate paid to verbally attack incumbent Adrian Fenty during his campaign. Gore also handled the campaign’s finances and admitted to finance violations associated with the money given to Brown.
Gore’s six-month prison term would be followed by a six-month home detention. Prosecutors began requesting Gore’s sentence after investigators revealed that an accounting firm had funneled illegal contributions to many political campaigns, including Gray’s 2010 campaign.
“Gore’s crimes are made more egregious by the fact that Gore was well aware of the dictates of the local campaign finance laws and knowingly chose to violate them,” prosecutors wrote, “Against this backdrop, his blatant disregard for the campaign finance rules supports the imposition of a significant penalty.”
During an interview, Gore stated that he had the intention of helping a long-term friend who was running for office, assuming that he was referring to Gray. Gray has denied any sort of wrongdoing.
