At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown can chalk up a win for female power in the District government. Along the way, he got some sweet payback on a political rival as well.

On May 31, at the request of Mayor Adrian Fenty, Council Chairman Vincent Gray introduced a confirmation resolution for Narda Newby to serve on the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission.

Her nomination means that lobbyist and Fenty money bundler Max Brown can give up on his efforts to be nominated to the commission. In February, the lobbyist was nominated by Fenty to the powerful and perks-laden sports panel. But Councilmember Brown refused to hold a hearing on lobbyist Brown’s nomination, saying that he wanted more females to be named to commissions under the jurisdiction of his Committee on Economic Development.

Of course, Max Brown’s leading role in the campaign of former At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil had absolutely nothing to do with Kwame Brown’s aversion to Fenty’s original choice.

“Max is a good guy who I’m sure has a lot to offer the city,” says Kwame Brown, sticking to his original story on why Max Brown was never considered by his committee. “We just want to make sure we have a diverse group on a board of directors,” he says. “I’m excited that the mayor is so committed to advancing diversity.”

References Available for Comment

When you're a young, inexperienced administrator jumping into a demanding job, it's always nice to have some good references. It's even better if they are available for comment at your job announcement.

When Acting D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was introduced to the press today, Mayor Adrian Fenty made sure her patron was on hand. In response to a reporter's question, Fenty said that the recommendation of New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein "carried great weight" in his decision to hire Rhee.

Klein later said that Rhee is "a visionary with a passion about civil rights." He also endorsed Fenty for a second term saying that he hopes Rhee and Fenty can work together "for the next eight years."

Rhee, 37, has never managed anything bigger than the 120-person nonprofit she works for called the New Teacher Project.

Fenty Forgets His Own Takeover

Robert Bobb still seems like he can't pass on a chance to stick it to Fenty.

When it came time for Bobb to speak at the press conference introducing Rhee, Fenty introduced him as "School Board President Robert Bobb."

Bobb was quick to correct Fenty when he stepped to the microphone. "Actually, Mr. Mayor, after 12:01 a.m. today I am president of the State Board of Education."

D.C.'s two rookie councilmembers engaged in their first head-to-head negotiation over a pressing matter today. The talks took place over the traditional council breakfast, where members hash out their differences before each bimonthly legislative meeting.

It wasn't exactly a big fight. The battle was over seating arrangements on the council dais for Ward 7's Yvette Alexander and Ward 4's Muriel Bowser.

Alexander staked out her position very clearly: She was pushing for the seat to the far right from the audience perspective, next to Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells. The other open seat would have placed her with a colleague on both sides.

"I need to stretch my legs out in the exit row," Alexander quipped when asked about her preference. At close to 6 feet tall, Alexander put the premium on space. She also asked At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson to check out her left and right profiles and pick her best side.

But the willowy Bowser is no shrimp at 5-foot-10. She, too, surely had an argument for dibs on the aisle seat. Bowser must figure her constituents are more concerned about her position on the issues than her position on the dais. "It doesn't matter to me," she told Council Secretary Cynthia Brock-Smith. Bowser might have already figured out that the seats on the dais have wheels that allow plenty of maneuverability should more legroom be desired.

You might think At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown and Mayor Adrian Fenty have reason to be political rivals. After all, Brown was a co-chair of the Linda Cropp for Mayor campaign. His father was a field operative for Cropp. Brown also spiked the nomination of one of Fenty's fundraising wizards, lobbyist Max Brown, who was up for a plum post on the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission.

But relations between the mayor and Brown can't be too bad. Fenty's campaign strategist, Tom Lindenfeld, is among a select group of voters to have planted a Kwame Brown in ’08 sign in their yards.

Lindenfeld calls reports of tension between the two young politicians "overblown." He doesn't consider any differences between the mayor and councilmember so intense that he would back off from his political loyalties. "I've supported Kwame from the beginning," says Lindenfeld. "Why should anything change now?"

Photograph of Sign (Not Lindenfeld's) by Darrow Montgomery

With the Opening Day for D.C. pools fast approaching, the big questions are starting to be raised for Mayor Adrian Fenty: The queries don't have to do with whether residents will be charged admission to swim or if the Department of Parks and Recreation will have enough money for summer programs.

The pressing issue involves a cannonball. The cannonball dive, that is.

One of the biggest media days of the year for Fenty's predecessor, Mayor Anthony A. Williams, was his annual cannonball dive (pictured) that marked the official opening of the city pool season. The former mayor violated one of the golden rules of politics every time he took the plunge: never take off your shirt with the cameras running. Williams didn't shy away from displaying his physique. Over his eight years in office he took it off to reveal his various states of physical fitness each year.

Just before his last dive at the Turkey Run Recreation Center in 2006, Williams said he would like his successor to continue the tradition. And with a super-fit Fenty in the executive suite, supporters of the cannonball tradition figured they'd all get to see some kind of a Fenty beefcake routine.

But the mayor has yet to shy away from dumping tradition. New and different has been his catchphrase since the day he mounted a run for the city's top office. The cannonball---that was a Williams' thing---and he has no plan to repeat the former mayor's stunt.

That doesn't mean Fenty isn't planning a pool party. The official opening is scheduled for June 25. And he isn't ruling out a cannonball for the kick off---so long as the diver is a member of the media. "I was going to [dive]," Fenty told the radio audience of WAMU-FM's The D.C. Politics Hour With Kojo and Jonetta on May 25. "but [WRC-TV reporter] Tom Sherwood actually says he's going to do it."

Not so fast, Sherwood shoots back. "I would do it, but someone would have to offer up some cash," he says. "For $5,000, I'll do it."

Sherwood isn't contemplating a lucrative new career in professional athletics. But he does want his dive to produce something more than a good laugh. "I will ask the person to donate the money to a charity of my choosing," he says. "Everything has a price."

Here's a little something Ivy City residents who might have concerns about adult-themed clubs coming to their neighborhood should know: You already have one.

Club proprietor Bob Siegel isn't waiting to rebuild his adult-themed empire after his eviction from the stadium site. In order for Siegel to serve drinks and have live entertainment, he needs the council to pass legislation that would allow him to transfer the nude dancing license to the Ward 5 warehouse district. The city used eminent domain to chase Siegel and several other business owners out of their O Street SE digs near the new stadium.

For 10 bucks before 7 p.m., and $15 after that, patrons to his club at 2120 West Virginia Ave. NE are treated to a huge warehouse with all the accouterments Siegel once offered in Southeast. No alcohol is served.

After passing through pay station and being buzzed in, patrons can take a quick right past the sex toys into the "theatre," a large projection-screen TV in a small room that contains four large high-backed benches. At 1 p.m. today, only one patron was taking in the show.

Farther back in the sprawling complex is a black-light room and plenty of very dimly-lit side rooms. A patron or two hang close to the wall in the shadows. A sign in one of rooms reads: "Please dispose all paper towels, garments, and trash into the garbage bins."

In a better-lit area of the warehouse, a construction project was underway: Two workers were building a maze of eight-foot-high cubicles for the "glory hole" portion of the premises.

Siegel was on site, but he refused to speak about his burgeoning enterprise, sort of. "I'm not happy with the way your paper is playing this Harry Thomas thing up," said Siegel. His reference was to this week's Loose Lips column on the battle over legislation that would allow club owners displaced by the new ballpark a one-time relocation break.

Ex-councilmember Vincent Orange wasn’t the only D.C. dealmaker who felt it necessary to be seen at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention.

Board of Education President Robert Bobb was on hand. According to sources, he was there to mingle with several of his consulting-gig clients. Ubiquitous lobbyist John Ray wouldn’t miss a chance to schmooze with the D.C. power brokers far away from the scrutiny.

And for the first time in a long time, Mayor Adrian Fenty’s frat brother and campaign worker Sinclair Skinner was seen chatting with his buddy the mayor and circulating among the conventioneers.

When Vincent B. Orange Sr. was the councilmember from Ward 5, he never tired of talking about his biggest success. Orange claimed to have wrangled the Brentwood Home Depot during a trip to Las Vegas. For at least five years, the councilmember was part of the city's delegation to the gambling mecca for the annual conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

But Orange's departure from public life via a trouncing in the 2006 mayoral contest hasn't meant his Vegas streak was broken when reps from Target, Kmart, and JCPenney gathered in Sin City this week

Orange was sighted in the D.C. Economic Partnership booth yesterday, representing his new employer, Pepco.

Orange could not be reached for comment, but At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, who is in Vegas this week, confirms that Orange was shaking hands and slapping backs in the Partnership's 2,000-square-foot booth. It's one job his new bosses didn't have to train Orange for.

D.C. congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is taking up the task of keeping the Post's corrections column up to date. A missive from her spokesperson Doxie McCoy arrived via e-mail shortly before 11 a.m. indicating that a Washington Post story which stated that an unnamed Republican had placed a hold on the school reform bill was wrong.

Apparently, Norton has asked for a "review," of the bill, whatever that means. LL isn't quite sure what Senate rule gives her the right to ask for anything in that chamber. The review, according to the press release, is supposed to help obtain "quick passage instead of being sent through the traditional longer process."

Rather than go the correction route via the Post, Norton must have figured she'd get better play making the correction announcement herself. Press release after the jump.

Read More "Norton Corrects Post on School-Bill Hold" »

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans got screwed when the council passed pay raises for themselves last December.

The law grants raises only to councilmembers sworn in after Jan. 1, 2007. The starting salary for the two rookie lmembers who will be sworn in Tuesday night will be $122,000. Council vet Evans remains at the low end of the scale at $92,530. He'll get the $22,470 raise if he's re-elected to his seat in 2008.

But no one should feel too sorry for Evans. After all, the council is officially a part-time job---that is, councilmembers are permitted to hold outside employment.

The financial disclosure form Evans filed with the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance for 2006 showed his other employer---the Patton Boggs law firm---might have been following the pay-raise debate and figured Evans was due for a boost after some 16 years on the Council. His annual salary at the firm jumped from $187,000 in 2005 to $240,000 in 2006, according to his filing.

Two other councilmembers work outside jobs to supplement the meager council pay. At-Large Councilmember David Catania, who is general counsel for a Northern Virginia company, had not yet filed a financial report due May 15. George Washington University law professor and Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh was not in office during 2006 and is not required to file an outside earnings statement.

After a tough campaign, some political operatives might kick back for a while. And it seems like a person who worked from the 2005 beginning of mayoral election season straight through to the May 1, 2007, special election in Ward 4 would deserve a long vacation.

Not John Falcicchio. The guy who was "Johnny Business" for the Fenty campaign team, and helped engineer Ward 4 Councilmember-elect Muriel Bowser's victory, took only three work days off before starting his new gig in the mayor's office.

When LL made his weekly paper delivery to the mayor's John A. Wilson Building bullpen this morning, Falcicchio was in the middle of things, talking on the phone and chatting with other staff. He started work on Monday as a senior advisor to the mayor.

Falcicchio was mum on the specifics of his new job, but "it doesn't involve talking to the press," he said.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Mayor Adrian Fenty's staff is lucky they were turning their draft paper on school governance in only to their boss. Had it been delivered to an 11th-grade social studies teacher in the D.C. Public Schools, the author would be in real trouble.

Since the Fenty crowd is so fond of borrowing from the policies of other organizations, LL suggests a quick look at how DCPS views plagarism.

A check of the D.C. Municipal Regulations on disciplinary actions for schools lists plagarism as a "Level I Infraction," along with distributing profane materials and smoking. Even if Fenty has no plans to call someone in to his office and hand down a suspension, the mayor might be wise to assign the offending staffer the recommended "peer counseling, mediation, and/or conflict resolution."

Not that the Fenty crowd would look at any policies of the D.C. schools for inspiration.

The full text from Chapter 5 of the DCMR after the jump.

Read More "Fenty Staff Commits “Level I” Infraction" »

Finally---proof that payoffs for political favors can be beneficial for city residents.

Last Saturday, during an auction to benefit Eaton Elementary School, a basketball in a display case signed by Washington Wizards all-star Gilbert Arenas brought in $300 for the school. The ball, which is now in the hands of an unnamed Eaton parent, was donated by At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson.

He and eight other councilmembers received the encased balls as a gift from Wizards owner Abe Pollin. The sports mogul delivered the token of appreciation after the council voted in favor of a bill to raise taxes on a tickets sold for Verizon Center events. The revenue from the new tax will be used to fund a planned $75 million upgrade his downtown arena.

The Eaton auctioneer deserves a pat on the back for this one: The estimated market value of the ball, autograph, and display case is about $200.

During his days on the D.C. Council, Harold Brazil sometimes used fashion changes to make statements on various legislative matters.

In 2002, when the city faced a tight budget, Brazil shaved his trademark mustache as a sign of austerity. He wore a red Nationals baseball cap during key moments of the baseball stadium debate. After he left the council, a more relaxed Brazil sported a beard for a short time.

Now Brazil is showing off his straight-hair look. The usually curly-headed Brazil's tresses are now tight to his head and sweep back---think Al Sharpton with a short haircut. LL noticed Brazil's new ’do Thursday, when the lobbyist was making his rounds at the John A. Wilson Building. (Unfortunately, he was not toting a camera at the time.)

But Brazil must have been too busy to comment on his latest fashion statement. LL attempted to engage him in conversation on two occasions, but he refused to acknowledge LL's existence.

Victor Vandell may have lost the special election in Ward 7 to Yvette Alexander, but he certainly spent his last day as a candidate riding in style.

LL spotted Vandell leaving one voting precinct in a dark-colored luxury car, complete with a driver. The car drew a lot of attention from poll workers, mainly because it had Virginia license plates.

Vandell says the car was a gift "from a fraternity brother" who had rented the Mercury Grand Marquis and didn't need it for the day. "He figured I might as well use it to get around to all the precincts on Election Day."

The posh ride did not prove to be a difference maker for Vandell, who received 12 percent of the vote to Alexander's 34 percent.