A united D.C. Council voted Tuesday to recommend that member Jack Evans be expelled in the face of repeated ethics violations, the first time the lawmakers have moved to eject one of their own.

The action comes after a series of investigations that found Evans, the city’s longest-serving lawmaker, used his public office to benefit private clients and employers who paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“He has betrayed each and every one of us,” said council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), who is leading the internal investigation of Evans. “You would speak to him about council things, but he was speaking for the people who were buying him.”

Evans (D-Ward 2) was at the Wilson Building but did not attend the meeting. He had no immediate comment, a spokesman said. After the vote, his office was dark and his car was gone.