Jan 18, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN and LOU CHIBBARO JR. | COMMENTS     

A prominent lesbian activist and Democratic donor faces accusations of perjury and defamation stemming from an ongoing civil lawsuit against the party.

Legal documents filed in D.C. Superior Court this week and obtained by the Blade allege that Claire Lucas, a longtime Democratic National Committee volunteer and National Stonewall Democrats board member, committed perjury when she filed an affidavit asserting that she does not live in Washington.

The affidavit, filed Jan. 4, was part of efforts to quash a subpoena ordering Lucas to sit for a deposition in a lawsuit that alleges the DNC discriminated against a former gay employee.

Attorneys for Donald Hitchcock, the plaintiff in the case, say in their filing that Lucas “is a legal resident of the District of Columbia” because she owned two homes in Washington and claimed a “homestead deduction” for one of them that is only available to those legally residing within the city.

The homestead deduction is part of a D.C. government program aimed at helping home owners who live in their homes reduce their property tax burden, which mushroomed over the past decade due to rising property values. D.C. property records show that Lucas last month sold her home at 3504 Rodman St., N.W., on which she claimed the Homestead deduction.

“As a matter of law, submitting a false statement to this Court under oath, including through a declaration or affidavit, constitutes perjury,” Hitchcock’s attorney states in the court filing, which was submitted on Jan. 15.

Lucas, reached by phone Wednesday, said she could not comment on the case.

The perjury allegation comes at a time when Lucas has played a prominent role in lining up support for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign within the gay community.

Earlier this year, the Clinton campaign announced that Lucas had been appointed to the campaign’s national GLBT Steering Committee. In November, local backers of the Clinton campaign announced Lucas had been tapped to serve on the Washington, D.C. for Hillary Steering Committee.
A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.

The DNC listed Lucas as being from California in an announcement this week naming her as one of six prominent members of the gay community appointed by DNC Chair Howard Dean to serve on standing committees at the Democratic National Convention in July.

But D.C. property tax records contradict her assertion in the affidavit seeking to quash Hitchcock’s subpoena that she has been a California resident since 2005. Those records show she claimed the Homestead deduction for the tax years of 2005 through 2007, as well as in prior years, according to Hitchcock’s court filings.

The D.C. law creating the Homestead deduction requires, upon possible penalty of perjury, that homeowners affirm that they live in their home as a condition for obtaining the deduction. The deduction often results in savings of thousands of dollars in property tax payments each year.

Meanwhile, separate information from the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics raises further questions about Lucas’ claim to have been a California resident since 2005. Election board spokesperson Bill O’Field said Wednesday that Lucas was still a registered D.C. voter as of this week. He said board records show that she voted in the Sept. 12, 2006 D.C. primary election, in which Adrian Fenty won the Democratic Party nomination for mayor.

The city’s election law strictly forbids anyone from voting in D.C. elections if they are not a legal resident of the city.

A warning on the application form for the Homestead deduction says persons who take the deduction but do not qualify for it could be subjected to criminal prosecution as well as a payment of a penalty of 10 percent of the delinquent tax and 1.5 percent interest on the delinquent tax for each month that the property “wrongfully received the benefit(s).”

The court filing also includes as evidence brief excerpts from the Jan. 7 deposition of Brian Bond, executive director of the DNC’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council, who said Lucas has “legal residence” in Washington and that he knows “where her real house is.”

Further evidence includes records of $52,900 in political donations Lucas made using a Washington address.

The court filing says records of the political donations came from the Federal Election Commission, which state the contributions were made from Lucas’ Rodman Street address in the District’s Cleveland Park section and that she listed the address as her residence.

‘Claire did not lie’

Barry Reingold, an attorney for Lucas, told the Blade this week that he had no comment on the Homestead deduction allegation or other evidence included in the ...