City newspaper – NBC4 Washington

The CEO of a company with significant business interests in D.C. arranged and paid for Mayor Muriel Bowser’s last-minute trip to the Masters golf tournament, but details were scarce until a Washington City Paper report Wednesday.

On Friday, April 12, Bowser’s public agenda included her going to Augusta, Georgia, as part of a sports and economic development visit. There was no statement with details such as who she went with or how she would get there.

City Paper reporter Tom Sherwood, formerly of News4, first reported that the mayor was the guest of Jodie McLean, the CEO of EDENS, a retail and property developer. McLean is also co-chair of the Gallery Place/Chinatown Task Force, which is examining redevelopment around Capital One Arena.

McLean flew Bowser down on a private jet.

“You don’t just come in and decide one day you’re going to the Masters,” Sherwood told News4. “Millions of people want tickets for that… Major companies hold major events there. The mayor went as a guest of EDENS, a company that does business here in the city – Union Market is one of their things – and I think the citizens have a right to know how this trip came about.

A spokesperson for the mayor told News4 that the city fund will pay for the trip, but declined to say who met with the mayor or how much the city will have to pay for the ticket to the Masters, which could cost thousands of dollars.

One of Bowser’s senior advisers, Beverly Perry, also went on the trip, Sherwood reported.

“Her senior assistant in the mayor’s office, who is in charge of negotiations to try to get the NFL team to come back to RFK, also went, and so I want to know all the details about it,” he told News4.

A spokesperson for EDENS told City Paper that McLean had invited the mayor with the agreement that the costs would be reimbursed.

“Some of those people going to the Masters are high-end people who have the money to invest in DC,” Sherwood said. “That’s the good part. The mayor has the right to go there and do that. But I don’t think she has the right to hide all these details about the cost of it and who was involved.”

The mayor’s visit to Augusta lasted just one day. She returned that Saturday evening.

The City Paper also reported that Bowser happened to run into her former chief of staff, John Falcicchio, at the Masters. Falcicchio resigned last year amid a sexual misconduct investigation. The newspaper quotes sources as saying the mayor and Falcicchio only spoke briefly.