Harry Thomas Jr. (born October 21, 1960), is a

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

politician in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In 2006 he was elected to represent Ward 5 on the Council of the District of Columbia and served until his resignation in 2012, several hours after federal prosecutors filed charges of embezzlement and filing false tax returns against him.

Biography

Thomas is the son of late three-term Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Sr. and former D.C. Public School principal Romaine B. Thomas.

Councilmember A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Un ...

Thomas attended D.C. public schools and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. He holds a degree in Public Relations/Marketing from

Bowie State University Bowie State University (Bowie State) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Prince George's County, Maryland, north of Bowie, Maryland, Bowie. It is part of the University Sys ...

. Thomas was Vice President of Public Affairs for the Public Benefits Corporation (formerly

D.C. General Hospital The District of Columbia General Hospital was a hospital located in Washington, D.C. It was operational from 1806 to its controversial closing by mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2001, as the city was trying to cut costs while recovering from bankrup ...

). Thomas is a former

Advisory Neighborhood Commission Advisory Neighborhood Commissions are bodies of local government in District of Columbia, in the United States. The ANC system was created in 1974 through a District referendum (73 percent voted "yes") in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. T ...

er, and has served as Chair of the Woodridge Health Clinic. He is a past President of the D.C. Young Democrats and a former At-Large elected member of the D.C. Democratic State party, for which he coordinated local and national events. Councilmember Thomas has worked for the national Democratic Party, holding the office of Treasurer. He has also served as the Adult and Youth Chair of the Neighborhood Planning Council. Councilmember Thomas is a member of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty ad ...

fraternity, and Woodridge Boys and Girls Club.

Political career

On September 12, 2006, Thomas won the Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

for Ward 5 councilmember with 39 percent of the vote, beating 10 other candidates. The previous Ward 5 member,

Vincent Orange Vincent Bernard Orange, Sr. (born April 11, 1957) is a former American politician from Washington, D.C. and former president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. An attorney and a certified public accountant, Orange represented Ward 5 on the Cou ...

, ran for mayor rather than running for reelection. On November 7, 2006, Thomas won the general election with 85 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2010.

Felony conviction and incarceration

On June 6, 2011, the D.C. Attorney General released a report accusing Thomas of diverting public funds for personal use. Thomas was accused of using $300,000 in city grants that were earmarked for charity and youth baseball groups to pay for his personal expenses, including golfing vacations and an SUV, which was later seized by the FBI on December 2, 2011, in an ongoing investigation. Those baseball groups included the councilmember's own group, Team Thomas – although the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs revoked corporate registration for Team Thomas in 2009, and the Internal Revenue Service never recognized it as a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

. A civil lawsuit filed against him by the district's attorney general was settled in July 2011 when Thomas agreed to repay the $300,000 in six installments over the next three years. Following this agreement, Thomas remained on the council and continued to maintain he was innocent of criminal behavior as the

United States Attorney's Office United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

continued to investigate the case. He resigned his seat on January 5, 2012, several hours after federal prosecutors filed charges of embezzlement and filing false tax returns. Earlier that week he had failed to make his second installment payment on the repayment agreement, amid rumors of the pending criminal charges. Represented by lawyer

Karl Racine Karl Anthony Racine (born December 14, 1962) is a Haitian-American lawyer and politician. He is the first independently elected Attorney General of the District of Columbia, a position he has held since January 2015. Before that, he was the manag ...

, on January 6 he pleaded guilty to felony counts of theft of government funds and falsifying tax returns. Thomas' 39-month prison sentence began in June 2013. In 2014, the

United States Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a Government agency, bureau within the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Depa ...

flew Thomas to the District of Columbia to meet with the

for an undisclosed reason. In August 2015, Thomas was transferred to a half-way house in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

, where he stayed for six months. Thomas'

incarceration Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is " false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessar ...

ended in March 2015.

Life as a returning citizen

In 2020, Thomas became a committeeman for the

District of Columbia Democratic State Committee The District of Columbia Democratic State Committee (DC Dems) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the District of Columbia. As of March 31, 2016, Democrats make up 76 percent of the registered voters in the District of Columbia, while 6 ...

, representing Ward 5.

Committees

*Committee on Libraries, Parks and Recreation (Chair) *Committee on Aging and Community Affairs *Committee on Government Operations and the Environment *Committee on Housing and Workforce Development *Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Harry Jr. Members of the Council of the District of Columbia Living people 1960 births Washington, D.C., Democrats Bowie State University alumni African-American people in Washington, D.C., politics American politicians convicted of fraud American people convicted of tax crimes Washington, D.C., politicians convicted of crimes Woodrow Wilson High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people