Ex-DPR Official: Messing With Fenty’s Kids Got Me Fired
A former senior Parks and Recreation employee says that he was fired in February for raising questions about the participation of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's twin sons in a youth basketball league.
Michael Williams, 60, made his allegations in a lawsuit being filed today [PDF] in D.C. Superior Court against Fenty, DPR Director Clark Ray, and the District government. The suit seeks $5 million in damages, in addition to other relief.
You can read a full account of Williams' allegations in this week's LL column.
In a nutshell: In mid-February, Williams says it came to his attention that Fenty's sons, Matthew and Andrew, were playing in the wrong basketball league at Emery Recreation Center. According to their birth date, the two should have been placed in a 10-and-under league, but instead were in the 8-and-under league. When Williams raised the issue with his higher-ups, Williams alleges he was told by Ray to leave them be. The paperwork for the Fenty boys was also found to be out of order; where parental signatures, physicals, and emergency information were required, Emery staffers had written only "Mayor's Son." [PDF 1, PDF 2]
Days after a coach moved the kids to the proper league, Williams says, he was fired by Ray. He also alleges that, in order to explain his sudden firing, city officials spread rumors that he was embezzling public funds.
Williams also aired his grievances in a March 25 budget hearing [WMV, forward to 2:32:00], receiving a brief mention in the next day's Washington Post.
5:07 pm
Now, if you could only connect this tidbit to the Dominican ambulance donation. You know how they mess with birth dates for ball players down in the D.R. Yep, then you'd have a Pulitzer for sure.
5:16 pm
I'm glad this man stepped forward to sue Fenty for some typically-Fenty highhanded conduct. & this man has some good lawyers, too, so it'll be interesting to see how Fenty's capo Nickles responds. Please follow the developments in this case.
6:22 pm
He should have been fired. Its called insubordination. Your boss tells you to leave HIS boss' information be and you mess with it anyway??? Sounds like you wanted to be fired. Really!
6:36 pm
His boss' information that was wrong and that any other citizen would have been called out for? Sorry Andy Man, that's not insubordination, that's doing your job.
6:47 pm
Sounds to me like he figured he was going to be let go, and decided to preempt by picking a fight in the hopes he'd get a cash settlement.
7:16 pm
Interesting, this was office water cooler chatter just a few weeks ago.
So now we have an ex-employee from the Office of Property Management fired for exposing that Fenty gave development contracts to campaign contributors/real estate developers without having them go thru the proper bid process, a DPR employee fired for not letting his boys play baseball, the disappearance of Victor Reinso...
...now if just a few more would come forward, like the wrongly fired employees from DCPS' central office that questioned Rhee's excessive spending and of course the handful of folks fired from Neil Albert's office for "talking too much."
8:55 pm
Tick tock, said the clock.
Steal, cheat, Fenty's a fraud.
In a little time, Fenty's in the dock,
A little more, Fenty's in the pen.
8:08 am
Al G, I agree, but let me tell all this, Fenty makes Richard Nixon look like Honest Abe Lincoln. It's too bad we have such naive people that have moved to DC, and want to go down with that clown, Fenty.....
5:45 pm
Does this mean that now more folks with some backbone wil come forward about Hizoners corruption, or will folks be scared back "into their places"? We got a tyrant & he sems to get away with what he wants & gets defended for it to boot
7:48 pm
This is one example of the elitist Fenty throwing his weight around. The sooner he leaves, the better!