Janeese Lewis George campaign fined $16K days before DC mayoral primary

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Janeese Lewis George’s mayoral campaign has been fined by D.C. campaign finance officials just days before voters head to the polls in the Democratic primary.

What we know:

The D.C. Office of Campaign Finance fined Janeese Lewis George, campaign treasurer Julia Anne Howell and the Janeese for DC Fair Elections Committee $16,000 in an order issued June 12.

The order cited four $4,000 penalties tied to making expenditures above spending limits, accepting contributions above contribution limits, failing to comply with Fair Elections requirements and making expenditures for a prohibited purpose.

The Office of Campaign Finance also ordered a $4,000 fine against Safe & Affordable DC, an independent expenditure committee, for making a contribution above contribution limits.

The order followed a complaint filed in April by Kevin Sobkoviak alleging irregularities and violations of campaign finance laws involving the Janeese for DC campaign.

The other side:

The Janeese for DC campaign said it will appeal the OCF order to the D.C. Board of Elections.

In a statement, the campaign called the order "reckless" and said it was issued "just days before the election." The campaign said the order is "riddled with factual errors" and "violates procedural requirements that govern its investigations and other enforcement actions."

The campaign also disputed OCF’s account of its investigation, saying the office falsely claimed it attempted to interview several witnesses who were non-responsive.

"In fact, OCF never contacted these people, nor did it notify the Campaign or its counsel that the office wanted to speak with them, despite OCF stating that these interviews were ‘central’ to its investigation," the campaign said.

The campaign called the order "politically motivated" and said it would be appealed.

The full statement is below:

On Friday night, just days before the election, the DC Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) issued a reckless order against the leading candidate for Mayor. OCF’s order is riddled with factual errors and violates procedural requirements that govern its investigations and other enforcement actions. The Campaign will appeal the decision to the DC Board of Elections so that this targeted attack is not allowed to stand.

Filing an order without legal merit just before an election follows a disturbing pattern of OCF’s conduct. OCF released a misguided order against then-At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman one week before the 2022 election when she ran against Kenyan McDuffie. OCF’s order was so flawed that it was reversed unanimously, disgracing the OCF team who rushed it through and is now doing the same thing again on the eve of this Tuesday’s Mayoral election.

The OCF order includes multiple false statements about its own investigation. For example, OCF falsely claims to have attempted to interview several witnesses who it alleges were non-responsive. In fact, OCF never contacted these people, nor did it notify the Campaign or its counsel that the office wanted to speak with them, despite OCF stating that these interviews were "central" to its investigation.

This is a last-ditch effort to derail a campaign with a double-digit lead and a broad, diverse base of support. The complaint was filed by the same person who worked closely with Republicans as they unsuccessfully attempted to recall Councilmember Charles Allen. 

We will appeal this politically motivated order, and once again, OCF’s outrageous order will be thrown out.

The backstory:

The investigation examined 15 allegations involving the campaign, including campaign finance reporting, payroll disclosures, staff-leasing agreements with unions, reimbursements to campaign workers and possible coordination with Safe & Affordable DC, an independent expenditure committee supporting Lewis George.

A major focus of the order was whether union employees working for the campaign while remaining on union payroll created coordination issues between the campaign and outside groups supporting Lewis George.

According to the order, the campaign entered into five staff-leasing agreements with UNITE HERE, UNITE HERE Local 25 and SEIU Local 32BJ. The agreements placed union employees in campaign roles while the campaign reimbursed the unions for their compensation.

Those employees included Adam Yalowitz, Amanda Gomez, Kimmon Williams, Robert Wohl and Ricardo Campos. The order says Yalowitz served as co-campaign manager and had previously worked with UNITE HERE and Local 25.

What investigators found

The Office of Campaign Finance found that the campaign and outside groups did not successfully rebut a presumption of coordination.

The order says the firewall policy relied on by the campaign and allied groups was not sufficient to prevent the flow of information. OCF described the firewall as lacking training, monitoring, audits, staff certifications, breach procedures, timestamped implementation evidence and physical or digital separation requirements.

The order also says Safe & Affordable DC and UNITE HERE Local 25 shared the same business address, and that a UNITE HERE communications staffer, Benjamin Cannon, worked simultaneously for the union and Safe & Affordable DC as "Independent Staff."

OCF wrote that Safe & Affordable DC did not have a firewall policy of its own and relied on the UNITE HERE firewall policy. The order said Safe & Affordable DC did not provide evidence that Cannon received firewall training, had restricted access or was subject to monitoring.

The order also says the campaign admitted it did not review, verify or evaluate the union firewall, but only "ascertained" that one existed.

By the numbers:

The order says Safe & Affordable DC received $100,000 from SEIU 32BJ and $100,000 from Workers Vote in March 2026.

OCF also found that Safe & Affordable DC made $613,012 in independent expenditures for advertising in support of the campaign as of May 13.

According to the order, Safe & Affordable DC’s treasurer said the group had spent about $1.09 million supporting the campaign as of June 2.

Investigators also reviewed reimbursements made to campaign workers. The order says the campaign reimbursed Yalowitz $32,492.65 and Samantha Miller $82,134.87 for campaign expenditures made through personal credit cards.

OCF found those reimbursements violated D.C. law because the expenditures were made through personal credit cards instead of the campaign’s designated depository account, and the amounts far exceeded the $50 petty cash exception.

What they're saying:

Shelli Jackson, campaign manager for McDuffie for Mayor, criticized Lewis George’s campaign following the order.

"Councilmember Lewis George is asking Washingtonians to trust her with the city’s finances, our future, and our standing with Congress, but she broke serious rules governing her own publicly-funded campaign," Jackson said.

Jackson also criticized the timing of the release and said voters should have had access to the findings earlier.

In its statement, the McDuffie campaign said Lewis George denied coordination during a recent NBC4 debate, quoting her as saying, "we are not cooperating or coordinating with any unions," and calling the investigation "a political tactic."

What's next:

The fine comes days before the June 16 Democratic mayoral primary.

According to the order’s notice section, any party affected by the order may file a motion for reconsideration with OCF within five days after receipt of the order, or request a hearing de novo with the Board of Elections within 15 days from the date the order was issued.

Washington, D.C.