Early next week is one of the great annual events in District politcking: the trip to the yearly convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers in Las Vegas. There, from Sunday to Tuesday, local politicos, bureaucrats, and developers do their damnedest to land commitments from big-time national retailers.

In past years, Mayor Anthony A. Williams was a frequent attendee, as well as then-council economic development committee chair Vincent Orange and occasionally a couple of other councilmembers. This year, the delegation has grown: eight councilmembers—Chairman Vincent C. Gray, Ward 2’s Jack Evans, Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser, Ward 5’s Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 6’s Tommy Wells, Ward 7’s Yvette Alexander, Ward 8’s Marion Barry, and At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown—and seven council staffers are slated to attend, in addition to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Neil Albert, and three of his staffers.

And, as with so many instances of intergovernmental relations these days, there are apparently some issues. The council has had a hard time getting a complete schedule of meetings from the executive branch. That’s important, LL’s sources say, because it gives the impression that the mayor is calling the shots as far as who can attend which meeting with which potential retailer.

“We want to be on the same page, so were disappointed the executive is making the sole decisions,” says Alexander. “We don’t want to look like we’re disorganized.”

Gray, a source says, requested a full schedule from a mayoral staffer at a meeting yesterday but has yet to receive one. LL is also told that Brown, current chair of the economic development committee, was none too happy with the snub. Reached by LL, though, Brown declined to feud with Hizzoner. “There’s no problem,” he says.

LL also attended this morning’s memorial service, organized by the local Fraternal Order of Police, for fallen officers from local departments. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty arrived very shortly before the ceremony, pressed the flesh with the assembled brass, and avoided any confrontation, near as LL could see. Fenty handled a tricky situation with a lot of class.

Background: The day prior, the FOP sent a letter to Chief Cathy Lanier saying Fenty’s “presence will not be welcome and will not be by invitation” and that Hizzoner “does not respect the sacrifices made by members of the law enforcement community on a daily basis.”

During the ceremony, the only mention of Fenty’s name came from a member of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police brass, who briefly thanked him in the course of paying tribute to a fallen officer from her force. Fenty sat quietly front row center as bagpipes droned out “Auld Lang Syne.”

After the service, Fenty left the room, met reporters outside, read a statement and refused to take any additional questions (something he rarely does—usually, he takes questions and just repeats the same talking points over and over again).

In the statement, Fenty paid tribute to “the grace, the professionalism, and the dignity of this ceremony” and recognized the “the hard grief that goes to any family member who has lost someone in the line of duty.” To D.C. police and officers from other jurisdictions, Fenty said, “my continued condolences, my support for all of your efforts—you are true heroes.” That was it—short and simple.

Then the press corps headed over to FOP president Marcello Muzzatti, who wasn’t quite so reserved. Asked about Fenty’s decision to appear, he said, “That was his prerogative to come if he wanted to. I think we made our point. I think the message got out.”

LL asked Muzzatti whether it was appropriate to inject politics into such a solemn occasion. “Absolutely not,” Muzzatti retorted. “The issue was injected yesterday. Today is about the memorial service….The membership wanted to make a statement to the mayor and they did yesterday. And that was yesterday.”

That line of reasoning falls pretty damn short, LL thinks, when yesterday’s politics means that today the entire local media corps shows up to cover the feud.

Fenty’s full statement after the jump.

UPDATE, 4:38 P.M.: Kristopher Baumann, head of the FOP’s bargaining unit, calls in to draw a distinction between the “lodge”—headed by Muzzatti—and the “union,” which he heads. LL was imprecise is saying that Fenty had outclassed the “union.”

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Mayor Fenty attended today’s memorial service for fallen police officers, despite getting last-minute dis-invitation to speak at the annual event. The Fraternal Order of Police told the mayor his remarks would not be welcome in a letter yesterday, citing his handling of the DeOnte Rawlings shooting. Fenty didn’t respond to questions about his soured relations with the union.

Officers in attendance didn’t reserve their grumbling for the mayor. I collected gripes about the drain of increased patrols, and worries among higher ups about Chief Cathy Lanier’s continuing efforts to reshuffle leadership positions in the department (by my scatterbrained count, two district commanders have made “lateral” transfers in the last two months.) The service comes just before something called National Police Week, May 11 - May 17, in which bus loads of police from across the country come to D.C. to remember officers killed in the line of duty. I’m told there’s also so some good-natured drinking involved.

In his column this week, LL held forth on the glories of budget earmarks—in particular, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s move to porkify money from ballpark-related development.

LL said of Fenty’s move, “Don’t expect much opposition on the D.C. Council,” and explained how At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown had appropriated dollars for his own favorite groups, “all but ensuring that the budget will continue to be nicely porked with ballpark dollars for years to come.”

Well, seems LL was dead wrong: According to draft budget legislation being passed around the John A. Wilson Building yesterday—a draft that reflected changes made during a six-plus hour closed-door meeting of councilmembers Wednesday—the council plans to cut out the mayor’s “community benefits” maneuver when they take up the budget next Tuesday. No word on exactly what happened, but it looks like Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray’s followed through on his pledges to get a handle on earmarks. Also no word yet on how the $2.23 million projected to flow into the community benefit fund will actually be spent.

Other tidbits from the draft legislation:

What’s out? A provision that would require city agencies to closely track their employment positions….language that would have made DCPS subject to the same budget-hearing procedures as any other agency….several provisions concerning youth services, including one that would establish a central “Office for Youth Mentoring” and another that would required training in child-abuse reporting….the proposed “budget reserve,” which would be used to pay settlements and judgments and other unforeseen city expenses.

What’s in? The watered-down “Healthy DC” plan….the $10 million for Ford’s Theatre….the Klingle Road closing provision.

More to come.

Remember, a few years back, when every politician in town was going nuts over Mayor Anthony A. Williams‘ plan to build a city-financed ballpark? Williams figured out a way to whip the votes to get the stadium deal through: create a “Community Benefit Fund” that would collect certain ballpark-related revenues that would be dished out for various neighborhood needs. Of course, for councilmembers to be allocated a piece of that money meant they had to play ball (har har) with Tony.

Several councilmembers did. Kevin Chavous, then Ward 7 councilmember, got $5 million for projects in his ward. Sharon Ambrose, then Ward 6 councilmember, got the same amount for her bailiwick. Sandy Allen, then Ward 8 councilmember, was promised tens of millions for development projects in her ward. Vincent B. Orange Sr., then Ward 5 councilmember, got $12 million for pet projects of his own, including laptops for kids at McKinley Tech High School. Tens of millions more was set aside for city schools and libraries.

According to estimates published in press accounts at the time, the fund was estimated to eventually bring in as much as $450 million. This year is the first time that the District’s chief financial officer is certifying that there’s any money actually in the fund—but only about $2.23 million. And, under Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s spending plan, not a dollar of that will go toward any of the projects Williams negotiated.

Instead, the money is being used for earmarks, including a half mil each for the Greater Washington Sports Alliance and the Lincoln Theater, plus $398,000 to “explore the feasibility of a D.C. Children’s Museum.” (The Williams allocations aren’t stripped out, but Fenty’s items are simply placed above them in the ballpark authorization law.) LL goes into much greater detail about the earmark game in his column to be published tomorrow.

Fenty’s budget czar, William Singer, says the move was a result of the low revenues seen coming into the fund, which come out of a tax-increment-financing district around the ballpark and other development-related sources. “We’re kind of recognizing that a modest amount of money is coming in,” Singer says. “Rather than wait 20 years to cross off one item…we’re saying, let’s just spend it on the community now.”

Also worthy of note: The community benefit money that wasn’t allocated through Williams’ horse-trading is supposed to be divvied according to a process that includes extended comment periods and “input from Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, community groups, the faith community, representatives of the labor community, representatives of the business community, and other community stakeholders.”

But under Fenty’s proposed budget, all those procedures are replaced with the following sentence: “The Mayor, through the annual budget process, may make a request for an appropriation for expenditures from the Community Benefit Fund.”

Fenty, of course, voted against the ballpark deal and owes no fealty to any of the four aforementioned ex-councilmembers. And the Williams horse-trading always had a hint of charade to it—meant, as it was, merely to provide short-term political cover for a deal unpopular in most parts of the city. Or, as Singer puts it, “Those were and always have been totally empty promises.”

Williams is traveling and was not available for comment. LL’s calls to Orange were returned by a spokesperson for his employer, Pepco, saying there would be no comment. Allen and Chavous did not immediately return calls for comment.

Singer says a time may come when the money might be used as Williams & Co. intended. “If a whole bunch of money started coming in to the fund, of course we’d come back to the list.”

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty might be a Barack Obama supporter, but his hand-picked education czar is opting for a different approach, at least when it comes to improving schools. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, in comments on Thursday night at a gathering of the Korean-American Coalition’s D.C. chapter, endorsed the education plan of Arizona Republican John McCain “far and away” over those of either Obama or Hillary Clinton.

Rhee, in a speech at Tony Cheng’s Restaurant in Chinatown, referred to herself as a “card-carrying Democrat” (LL forgot to ask to see the card), yet endorsed McCain’s approach based on his willingness to reauthorize the controversial “No Child Left Behind” legislation. Both Clinton and Obama have been highly critical of the law and its effects.

“I think they’re pandering, quite frankly, to the teachers’ unions and other folks,” she said.

In comments after the speech, Rhee explained that her support for NCLB arose from her belief in accountability and the need for hard goals for school systems. She called herself as a “huge proponent” of the federal law and said she was “incredibly disappointed” with the lack of Democratic support for the law—though she did say she had a “laundry list” of things she would change with the statute.

Why might an urban school superintendent favor No Child Left Behind? Well, for a cynical view, look at the political cover it provides: Long-failing public schools are required to be “restructured,” a process Rhee is going through currently with several DCPS schools. Without such a federal impetus, big changes—which can extend to the brink of privatization—can be difficult to justify to parents. “Blame NCLB” certainly is a handy refrain to bring to parent meetings explaining the need for such drastic measures.

For the second year in a row, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has proved himself faster than the city’s premier alt-weekly local-politics columnist.

This morning, congressional/bureaucratic/judicial/media types gathered at Anacostia Park for the yearly Capital Challenge three-mile race, a fundraiser benefiting the D.C. Special Olympics. Fenty, a special guest participant, finished the race in approximately 18 minutes flat (official results haven’t been posted yet, and since Fenty was a VIP entrant, his time won’t be posted anyway). LL came in at about 21:50.

That’s a pretty good improvement for Fenty, who was in the 18:40s last year, good enough to beat the previous LL’s 20:14. (Fenty’s improvement, though, wasn’t as stark as the current LL’s, who ran a 26:38 last year.)

Other great accomplishment for Fenty: He beat LL’s boss this year. Last year, Mr. Fuego y Frio turned in an 18:35; this year, he was in the low 18:20s. Not good enough to beat Hizzoner this time around.

And Fenty can rest assured knowing his rep precedes him—overheard several times among skinny cross-country types gabbing shortly after the race: “I can’t believe you beat Fenty!”

PS: Apologies to Dave Namamura Nakamura for stealing your shtick here.

To be “interim” or not to be “interim”? That is the question surrounding Peter Nickles, who has served Mayor Adrian M. Fenty as acting attorney general over the past three months.

Yesterday, Nickles taped an interview on NewsChannel 8’s NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt. DePuyt asked the controversial consigliere whether he planned to lose the interim tag anytime soon, which would require him moving out of his longtime Great Falls, Va., home and into the District, not to mention contentious council hearings. Nickles has certainly tackled his job with gusto as of late, recently filing suit against scores of scofflaw landlords.

Nickles’ reply:

The big issue that I have, I’ve been living in one place in Virginia for 44 years. I came into the District every day for those 44 years, and helped build up a law firm from about 80 to about 750. I’ve been the mayor’s lawyer for a long time, his friend, a great friend of his father. I have great investment in the success of this administration, so it’s something the mayor and I are talking about. But this is a great mayor, he’s doing great things. I want to be part of it.

Nickles may also have dropped an oblique hint earlier this month when LL was chatting with him before a press conference on taxi meters: He mentioned that now would be a great time to invest in District real estate.

Nathan A. Saunders, general vice president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, today filed suit in federal court against leaders of his union and city administrators, alleging that he was “systematically punished and retaliated against” for speaking out on labor issues.

The lawsuit is the most explosive manifestation to date of a feud that had simmered quietly in the past year. WTU President George Parker (pictured) and Saunders were both elected in 2005 at the top of the first slate to be chosen since the 2002 Barbara Bullock scandal sent the WTU into receivership. With mayoral takeover of the D.C. Public Schools and the selection of Michelle Rhee as chancellor, friction grew between the two labor leaders, as Parker showed a willingness to work with Fenty and Rhee on possible contract reforms. Saunders, during that time, has stuck to a tough line on protecting teachers’ contractual rights.

Named in the lawsuit are Parker, WTU Chief of Staff Clay White, Al Squires and Edward J. McElroy of the American Federation of Teachers (the WTU’s parent organization), four members of the WTU executive board, and three unnamed DCPS employees. The various defendants are charged with offenses including fraud, racketeering, and breach of fiduciary duties. In the complaint, Saunders says he has been exposed to “direct intimidation and retaliation impacting employment benefits, rights and privileges” for speaking out on labor issues, including Rhee’s attempts to reclassify central-office employees as “at-will.”

“They tried to shut me up,” Saunders tells LL.

In his complaint, Saunders alleges that at a December meeting of the WTU executive board, a member attempted to pass a resolution allowing only Parker to speak for the organization; the motion failed, according to the complaint. Despite that, Parker issued a memo on “Media Policy & Guidelines” outlining that the only official WTU position can come through the union’s communications staff. Saunders’ suit also tells of a phone call that he overheard between Parker and Squires where they discuss ways to silence him by tampering with DCPS personnel records.

This isn’t the first time Saunders has sued his own union. Back in 2002, Saunders came to prominence by filing suit against Bullock, the WTU leadership, and the AFT alleging financial mismanagement, which resulted in a settlement.

The backdrop of all this are the ongoing negotiations over a new teachers’ contract; the last contract expired last October. Rhee, in the past, has advocated overhauling the processes by which teachers are reassigned to schools.

Reached by phone, Parker declined to comment. “I’m not aware of the lawsuit,” he said. “I don’t know what the content is so I have no comment”; for similar reasons, DCPS spokesperson Mafara Hobson also declined to comment.

UPDATE, 4:35 P.M.: Another interesting allegation from Saunders’ complaint: That Parker and White “embezzled, stole, or unlawfully and willfully converted WTU money and funds to their own use or the use of others.” There are related charges of fraud and money laundering. Specifically, Saunders alleges a “diversion of WTU funds, though an out of state company, to a family member over a protracted period of time,” as well as an “undecipherable $10,000 finder’s fee” attached to a rental contract.

Photo of Parker by Darrow Montgomery

Right when you thought the Lincoln Theatre was all cashed out, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced earlier today that the District plans to develop two city-owned properties behind the theater and use a portion of the funds generated by the properties to support the theater’s future operations.

Fenty says its his hope that the two properties on the 90,000-square-foot parking lot will bring in enough revenue to help keep the cash-strapped 88-year-old theater afloat.

Early last year, Lincoln officials threatened to shut down the once-popular theater due to lack of finances until the D.C. gov put up a $200,000 grant to keep the doors open. The District also spent another $1.5 million last year for capital improvements that are nearly complete.

Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham and At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown also attended the announcement today outside the theaterss U Street entrance.

“We want to bring the Lincoln Theatre where it should be,” said Graham, who has been on the theater’s board for 10 years.

It was a shame the announcement did not take place in the back parking lot so everyone could see where all the action was taking place. The District is requiring that any development will provide ongoing financial support for the theater and include at least 7,500 square feet of flexible event space. Bids for the site are due by July 18 and construction is scheduled to begin by October of this year.

Opened in 1922, the Lincoln Theatre is known for hosting big-name performers, including Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Early next month, Maya Angelou is scheduled to celebrate her 80th birthday there. Maybe she can give over her birthday cash to help out?

—Whitney Boyd

Allow me to clarify my earlier bit of reporting: When Mayor Adrian M. Fenty says there’s no deadline extension for cab drivers to install meters, well, there’s actually a deadline extension.

The mayor’s office handed out a press release this morning titled “District to Enforce May 1 Deadline for Taxi Meter System Conversion.” The release goes on to detail how that simply isn’t true. Yes, taximeters will be required come May 1, but there will be no meaningful enforcement until June 1. Warning tickets “displaying a $1,000 fine” will be issued during the month of May, but they don’t have to be paid.

“We intend to uphold the May deadline,” Fenty said this morning, before explaining how intention doesn’t exactly match reality: “Like anything else in our law, they will get a warning.”

So why not just push the deadline back to June 1 and get rid of this strange non-deadline deadline?

“There’s always some staggered implementation,” Fenty says.

Interim Attorney General Peter Nickles did say that if a driver is caught during May with an installed meter that he or she is not using, then in fact, that driver would be “susceptible to a fine.”

Just who will enforce the meter law? Taxi inspectors will be doing the bulk of the job, along with city police who will be doing “spot checks” (most likely, Nickles says, while taxis are parked at stands). Passengers can also narc on nonmetered cabs by phoning in the driver’s name, company, and license number to 202-645-6018 or e-mailing that info to dctc@dc.gov.

UPDATE, 12:15 P.M.: Sophistical press release is after the jump.

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Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is announcing right now that his administration will not give D.C. cab drivers an extension for their May 1 deadline to place meters in their taxis. The matter is in the news lately, thanks to a lawsuit by the drivers that challenges the administration’s ability to ram through this regulation.

A D.C. Superior Court judge yesterday ruled against the cabbies, leaving them little more than a week to get their meters installed. The situation prompted some talk about pushing the deadline back, but Fenty this morning closed the door on such leniency.

—reporting by Mike DeBonis

UPDATE, 12 P.M.: Turns out that though Fenty says there’s no extension, there actually is an extension. Read more.

From Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s public schedule for tomorrow:

10:00 am
Attendee
Pope Benedict Papal Mass
Location:
Nationals Park
1500 South Capitol Street, SE

6:00 pm
Remarks
Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance Distinguished Service Awards
Location:
Washington Plaza Hotel
10 Thomas Circle, NW

Washington Post this morning reports that the Fenty administration has been a bit selective in dishing out coveted tickets to the Washington Nationals. Some D.C. councilmembers get ‘em, but Fenty leaves others off the list.

Those left on deck include At-Largers Phil Mendelson ,Carol Schwartz, and Kwame Brown. Not hard to figure out why those people would get stiffed, considering that they have shown little hesitancy to put a little water in the tank of the Fenty machine.

Another shunned councilmember: Ward 7 rep Yvette Alexander. What’s the deal here? Alexander hasn’t done much antagonizing of any sort since replacing Vincent Gray, who jumped from the Ward 7 seat to the council chairmanship in 2006.

So the verdict is this: Ticketgate is part petty pique and part disarray/incompetence. Right in line with a grand District tradition, in other words.

Last week, the city’s tourism bureau launched a new branding campaign with the slogan Create Your Own Power Trip. And it is just puntastic: The “Seat of Power” advertisement shows some people peering up at the statue in the Lincoln Memorial. The “Fire Power” advertisement shows some magenta fireworks exploding across a dark sky. And the “Soul Power” image shows a guy with dreads sitting with an adoring woman in a jazz club. But the picture that really caught the DC Republican Committee’s eye was the “Power Play” advertisement, which shows Mayor Adrian Fenty running in a t-shirt that says the name of his parents’ store: Fleet Feet. Here’s the money–Ha! More puns!–quote.

“Mayor Fenty is asking DC taxpayers to sacrifice $100 dollars in new taxes and fees in his FY2009 budget all while promoting his family’s business in taxpayer funded ads,” stated DC Republican Committee Chair Robert J. Kabel.

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