Cheh Docks Mayor’s Office Budget
First Vincent Gray went after Victor Reinoso. Now Mary Cheh's going after his boss.
The Ward 3 councilmember, as chair of the council's government operations committee, is proposing to reduce the budget of the Executive Office of the Mayor by $287,000 and three employees.
All of that comes from the Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs, what is essentially the mayor's lobbying shop. In past months, especially since the departure of Deputy Chief of Staff and OPLA Director JoAnne Ginsberg, the council's been grumbling over a lack of communication and information sharing—a dispute which culminated in a contentious March 13 oversight hearing where Cheh clashed with new OPLA head Bridget Davis.
This is what Cheh's committee report had to say:
When the Fenty administration took office in 2007, OPLA worked to develop a supportive relationship with the Council. Over the past year, this relationship has deteriorated. While OPLA still proffers a desire to cooperate, members of the Council have witnessed a reduction in the willingness to share information and operate in a transparent manner. Efforts to engage the executive branch have been hampered, executive witnesses invited to Council hearings have been purposefully withheld, and agencies’ responsiveness to Council oversight has slowed significantly. The uncooperative behavior of the executive branch, and OPLA in particular, has sometimes bordered on legislative interference.
The Committee notes that while 11 full-time employees may enable increased communication, without the desire to work collaboratively, such an outcome is unlikely. In the past, the staff at OPLA has been smaller. Although the Committee respects the Mayor’s authority to develop and implement his own policy agenda, the function of OPLA has been revealed as primarily a legislative-focused entity, working to coordinate activities between the executive and legislative branches. Despite this focus, the Committee notes repeated efforts to limit the Council’s ability to conduct oversight. As a result, a budget of $1,051,000 is excessive.
The report also said, "The Committee considered a more substantial reduction to the Office, but opted to instead monitor OPLA’s actions over the next year and reconsider the matter during the FY 11 budget cycle."
Here's what Attorney General Peter Nickles has to say about the proposed cuts: "My view is that it is objectionable. We did not touch the council's budget and it's been a longstanding practice that the council doesn't touch the mayor's budget....It's really uncalled for, and, to me, it seems spiteful, without any foundation in logic and substance."
LL asked Nickles if he was considering any recourse: "There are matters that the executive can consider when tradition is broken. There are various options. I would hope that the council would reconsider this. You don't see the Congress cutting the White House budget and the White House cutting the Council Congress's budget. All you do is generate antagonism and confrontation there's no need for."
Nickles went on to address the council's preliminary vote to dock Reinoso's funding and other changes: "Looks to me like we're going backward again....I thought the council said, we're going to give this five years. What's the State Board of Education getting more money for? They don't do anything—my understanding is that the council isn't giving them more authority....It sends the wrong signals. All around the country...the view is to give the mayor the authority and hang with the mayor, hang with the chancellor, and give the new structure a chance to work."
9:51 am
Did Nickles really say that you don't see the White House cutting the Council's budget?
9:55 am
And what does the Attorney General for the District of Columbia have to do with any of this? I could see if the Mayor's general counsel had something to say on Fenty's behalf, but Nickles isn't the Mayor's counsel. He's the AG, and he's supposed to be focused on stopping crime, legal compliance, and regulatory issues.
(Sorry for the back to back posting.)
10:15 am
Good luck Mary Cheh! Mary is the only non-corrupt, intelligent council member. Nickles is a thug, sticking his ugly nose in business that should not concern an "attorney general:.
Why don't we demote Nickles and banish the stupid AG title. If Nickles is an AG, then I'm kissing cousins with my cousin, former US AG & renowned torturer Al Gonzales.
& can't we send Nickles back to Virginia? We don't need or want his sniveling creepy ugly face in DC anyhow.
11:09 am
You're right, Wrack. Should be Congress there, not council. Mea culpa.
11:29 am
Way to grease your shoe Ms. Cheh! You can cut the AG's staff too. The only thing he is doing right now is acting as a spokesperson for the mayor. You don't need a lot of money for that!
11:42 am
Hmmmm. From my vacation vantage point, it seems that as some of us predicted, several council members are or about to take whacks at fenty, his budget and his programs.
There are real disagreements, but we can't help but believe council members feel slighted and abused by the very public dismissive attitude of the mayor and his executive branch; whether it's withholding constituent baseball tickets or key witnesses at council hearing. The mayor is the big dog in d.c. But the council can inflict a thousand nicks and cuts to make the mayor miserable.
"Play ball" is not just a baseball term.
12:20 pm
Right on, Tom! Game on - & I see the council taking down the big dog mayor. Investigative reporting and committees. Independent counsel. Fenty will fall in the autumn.
12:22 pm
The council has the power of the purse. Use it or lose it. Take down the big dog mayor.
8:41 pm
Hey Tom, even being on vacation you just can't help reading loose lips. I know the feeling. I am so happy to finally see the council do the job we elected them to do. I've never been a Fenty fan and now I have plenty of company in my fellow posters. He's really lost touch with reality and taken the taxpayers for granted. YUK!
11:51 am
Somebody, anybody, but Adrian Fenty.