The chair of Foggy Bottom’s local governing body is stepping down from his leadership position after The Hatchet reported last week that he is registered as a sex offender in Florida.
Joel Causey, the chair of the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said in an email Friday to local leaders including ANC commissioners and Ward 2 D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto that he decided to resign from his role as chair to avoid being a “distraction” from the work of the ANC. Causey was convicted in 1998 for “lewd and lascivious acts – sexual battery” involving a boy under 16 years old in Jacksonville, Florida between 1995 and 1996, according to Duval County, Florida court documents.
Causey’s email does not state he plans to leave the ANC, despite his decision to step back from the chair position. He currently represents single-member district 2A06, which encompasses the northeast corner of the West End, including The Savoy, Call Your Mother Deli and the Ritz-Carlton.
“I have decided to step down as the Chair,” Causey said in the email obtained by The Hatchet. “I will continue to work to make a positive impact on the community that I care about so deeply.”
Florida court documents from Broward and Duval counties show prosecutors filed at least 27 criminal charges against Causey from 1994 through 1997, including using false checks to obtain property worth less than $150 and a possession of methamphetamines charge, to which he pleaded no contest. He said he has worked to “make amends” for his “serious mistakes” over the past 25 years.
Causey has no criminal charges in the District, according to court records. He is not listed on D.C.’s sex offender registry.
Causey also sent the email announcing his resignation from the chair role to Kent Boese, the executive director of the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, Kevin Days, GW’s community relations director, Foggy Bottom Association President John George and Foggy Bottom West End Village Executive Director Denise Snyder. Email recipients also included past ANC commissioners and some local residents.
“People make mistakes in life, and people should have a pathway forward to redemption in life,” Causey said in an interview with The Hatchet earlier this month. “The people that serve their time should be able to go forward in life and not be constantly having to be reconvicted over and over again about things they did in the past.”
Causey did not immediately return a request for comment about his decision to step down as chair.
In response to the revelation of Causey’s criminal history earlier this month, commissioners Jim Malec and Yannik Omictin called for Causey to resign from his position. Malec, Omictin and Commissioner Trupti Patel said voters deserve to know if elected officials have a criminal background. Omictin said Causey’s decision not to publicly disclose his criminal history was a “deliberate obfuscation” of his past.
ANC commissioners elected Causey to serve as chair last February in a 5-2-1 vote and again for a second term in January in a 5-3 vote. As chair, Causey presided over the body representing roughly 18,000 D.C. constituents, which include President Joe Biden. During his tenure atop the ANC, the commission funded a grant for fire victims, worked to renovate a local park and called for pedestrian infrastructure upgrades in the District.
D.C. law states the ANC’s vice chair must fill the chair position in the case of a vacancy. Malec, who has served as the ANC’s vice chair since January, said he plans to resign as chair in the “near future” after he is able to ensure a “smooth transition” of power, according to an email he sent to ANC commissioners and other D.C. officials Friday, which The Hatchet obtained. He addressed the email to Causey as a reply to his announcement to the commission about his plans to step down as chair.
Malec said he plans to back out of the chair role because he would “directly benefit” from Causey’s resignation, which he called for earlier this month when he was next in line for the job.
“Our constituents must have confidence that we are always acting with integrity on behalf of the community, not on behalf of ourselves,” Malec said in the email. “Even so much as the mere perception of self-serving behavior can undermine that confidence and, in turn, their trust in government.”
He said his reaction to Causey’s criminal history reflected his concerns about Causey’s unfitness to serve as the commission’s chair.
“I asked Commissioner Causey to step down from ANC2A leadership, and I’m glad he did,” Malec said in a statement to The Hatchet Friday. “It was the right decision for our commission and the community.”
In a reply to the email thread with Causey’s resignation announcement and Malec’s response, Commissioner Patel wrote Friday that Causey presents a “clear and present danger” to the local community. Patel copied the Office of the Attorney General on her message “to ensure proper protocol” in the transition of authority, according to the email obtained by The Hatchet.
Patel’s email attached a letter the OAG sent her, dated Thursday, detailing how commissioners could remove Causey as the chair. The letter, which The Hatchet obtained, outlined the quorum for a meeting to cast a removal vote, the commissioner who would preside over that meeting and whether such a meeting would be open to the public. The OAG sent the letter in response to four questions Patel asked the office about the legal standards to remove an ANC chair.
The OAG did not immediately return a request for comment.
Patel said Causey is not fit to be an elected official, and commissioners like herself should restore faith and trust in the ANC as well as its reputation.
“Joel Causey has caused great harm and destruction to this ANC,” Patel told The Hatchet. “He’s destroyed the credibility and caused us to become a laughingstock.”
