It is called "fuzzy math"

Intelligent, adult, good government fiscal conservatives expect REAL balanced budget.

And yes, Ghandi is responsible in that he certified the budget as being balanced when it, in fact, was not.

Nonetheless, I will admit that bond ratings are generally the work of the jurisdiction's chief financial officer. Particularly in the District considering that the CFO is independent from the city, appointed by the Mayor (after his multi year appointment is up) but only fire-able by Congress. And yes, Williams did take the District out of congressional financial control with his work as CFO and passed the torch on to Natwar Ghandi. Those are facts. However, Williams, as Mayor, ensured that developers were attracted to and invested in the local economy. His work actually continued into his terms as Mayor.

Williams is, by far, the best Mayor, pound for pound, that the District has ever had.

He's done nothing to change the narrative that seemed to harden this past year: the guy just seems like a jerk. Not sure if Williams ever acted as petty as Fenty has.

Just like a Fentyite for to take credit for Nat Gandhi's hard work. It wouldn't have mattered if Fenty or Faith were mayor as long as Nat Gandhi was CFO the rating would have gone from A to AAA anyways. This is his work and Williams (with Gandhi before) not Adrian's.

D Rez is wrong on all of her "facts", as you correctly point out, Carlie. Nothing Fenty has done comes close to the success Williams had. Fenty has a worse record on civil rights, the one weakness Williams had.

Anyway, tonight shows that Obama's pussy footing is the wrong way to go. Did you see the pic of the fascist the voters of VA elected, surrounded by his troop of white Nazis? Frightening - but that's what happens when the Left is betrayed by double dealing, two timing, back stabbing liars like Obama, Emanuel, Biden, & the rest.

I too worked for Mayor WIlliams and he was the best for the time.

I disagree Fenty would not win if the election were held tomorrow...

I am basing that un facts. He had an over 52% disapproval rating and this was BEFORE today's current scandals.

Money cannot buy you a vote and because of DC small population all a rival would have to do is raise 750K if they had over 100 volunteers. In this city that is easy to do.

Anything over that is over saturation

Downtown Rez has a lot of the facts on the ground incorrect. It sounds good to say Janey had 15 years modernization plan and Fenty has a 5 year but those in know are saying these projects are overbudget, and shoddy.

Would you let a person build you a house in less than a month when the industry takes 3 months?

HMMM

I believe it was in his second term that he continued his record of stabilizing the finances of the District.

At that time, the city was able to balance its budget for TEN consecutive years between FY97 and FY06; the cumulative fund balance swung from a DEFICIT of $518 million in FY96 to a SURPLUS of nearly $1.6 BILLION in FY05.

During that same period, the District’s bond ratings went from “junk bond” status to “A” category by all three major rating agencies.

So, I'll say it again, Williams did all of the dirty work, through the financial control board, to place the city on par to being a world class city. I rank him among the nation's great mayor's.

With reference to the library renovations and recreation center improvements, I am certain that these projects will get done. They are certainly worthy causes. However, had this administration followed the appropriate contracting and procurement laws, and had the District Council been paying attention instead of photo op'ing with the Mayor at these inappropriately funded center renovations, they wouldn't at this stage be facing delays.

As a previous reader noted had Fenty continued the Williams practice of holding yearly citizen summits to allow input from the taxpayers on issues vital to the running of the city government perhaps he wouldn't find himself in the pickle he is in with Housing Authority and, dare I say, the law.

D.C. FINANCES

First AAA Bond Rating

The District has received its first AAA bond rating, making it eligible for lower interest rates for upcoming capital projects, according the city's chief financial officer.

Yesterday, Standard & Poor's assigned the highest possible rating to the series 2009A income-tax secured bonds and series 2009B income-tax secured refunding bonds. "The stable outlook reflects very strong coverage of annual debt service and a history of overall, long-term growth," it said.

The D.C. Council is expected to approve a resolution today to sell bonds to pay for dozens of capital improvement projects worth $652 million.

"In 2010 alone, we will make $4 million less in interest payments, which will go back into the District's general fund," Natwar M. Gandhi, the chief financial officer, said in statement. "We expect these savings to grow over the next four years to as much as $28 million."

The largest amount -- more than $158 million -- will help modernize public schools. Other projects include nearly $10 million for library renovations and construction and $54 million to improve recreation centers.

-- Nikita Stewart

Sweet, yes?

Since you don't know "most" parents in the District, your glowing assessment of Rhee's perceived success is suspect on it's face.

For the record a Strategic Plan is a process of defining it strategy, or direction, and making decisions on the allocation of resources to pursue this strategy, including capital and people. A Vision Statement outlines what the organization wants to be, or how it wants the world in which it operates to be.

There is a clear difference.The previous is very detailed and defines it's strategy based on THAT organizations overarching vision. What Reinoso did was to take another school system's strategy, developed based on it's unique local challenges and paste it onto the District system with no modification to it to tailor it to the District. I remind you, he admitted to cutting and pasting to meet a deadline.

Again, we are nearly a year away from election day and this Mayor is in effect campaigning against himself. At this pace, a "credible" candidate is not going have to do much more than show up without a criminal record.

You are right, we agree to disagree.

I didn't support Fenty then, as I question his morals and integrity and, to this day, my opinion has not changed.

Again, you miss the point, the question was why Williams left public service. It was to work in the private sector. If your memory fails you, this lovely city was "insolvent" when he took over. He brought it to solvency. When leaving public service he said that he likes working with broken systems. He was considering a presidency of one of the local universities after leaving which, too, was facing economic crisis. I am quite sure he has gainful employment. He was never sanctioned by the D.C. Bar for professional fiscal mismanagement. Junior was.

We pinged Williams for not knowing about go go, for being aloof and nerdy. In retrospect, those qualities are endearing for a mayor of a big city.

Fenty came in with a rep for constituent services, a homegrown talent who can relate to residents, who cares up speed bumps and lighting and hydrant problems, whatever. He promised the wonky get-stuff-down approach like Williams along with a side of good liberal politics: affordable housing, police accountability, etc.

The big problem facing Fenty is that he's acts like a king. His administration rarely responds to the council for requests for information. He fires people (Clark Ray) with little public comment. He all too regularly calls on Nickles to pick fights. He does not answer reporters questions on such topics as his kids schooling, his outside travel to Dubai (not exactly the Eastern Shore). And he rarely admits error.

When King Fenty is not cutting ribbons, he's dodging questions. We have tremendously high unemployment numbers, a homeless services budget still facing cuts, and the specter of a man feeding his frat brothers millions in contracts.

Not cool.

I don't think Williams would run again. Bobb is long gone. So who are the viable candidates?