Make of that what you will regarding the state of Barry---Fenty relations.

Yesterday, Jhingory was sitting behind Barry's nameplate on the council dais during portions of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's council testimony. Jhingory---a former elementary and high school teacher, as well as consultant to DCPS on special-ed transportation issues---tells LL that she's "excited about this opportunity and confident that I will learn a great deal."

In other council revolving-door news, Desi Deschaine returns to the John A. Wilson Building as Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans' new director of communications. He had been a community liaison for Mayor Anthony A. Williams for four years before taking a PR job with the Washington National Opera. The legendary sociopolitical butterfly replaces Sean Metcalf, who's now working on the upcoming Eagle Bank Bowl game.

Also in Evans' office, Logan Circle's Sherri Kimbel takes the constituent-services post vacated by beloved longtime aide Michele Molotsky, who's now running senior programs for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Elsewhere in council PR, Mike Price returns to At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown's office as press secretary after a stint running Brown's successful council campaign, and Brandon Todd takes over media duties for Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser from green-team vet Kristen Barden, who's now executive director of the Adams Morgan Partnership BID. And early last month, former Washington Times reporter David Lipscomb started as Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham's latest press secretary.

The admonition, which came in an administrative meeting this morning, was clearly in response to Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans' comments last week to Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry at the pre-legislative session breakfast meeting: "Stop fucking with my shit," Evans told Barry, apropos of the Franklin Shelter controversy, as reported (in Bowdlerized fashion) by the Washington Post.

Not that Evans is the only councilmember who can work blue on occasion. Scan LL's columns for some of David A. Catania's greatest hits. “If you’re going to play games with shit that really doesn’t matter,” he told LL for a recent column, “what are you going to do with the shit that really does matter?”

A higher level of politesse, Gray explained in the meeting, is necessary to maintain the dignity and decorum of such an august body, LL is told.

Why a recount in a race Silverman lost with only 35 percent of the vote? According to the release, that's because the BOEE certified the Sept. 9 election results "before completing its investigation, issuing a public report, or otherwise explaining massive voting discrepancies."

Silverman says he "does not anticipate that the recount will change the ultimate outcome of the Ward 2 election, but will seek a recount to help restore voter confidence, determine the source of the apparent error, and ensure that DCBOEE is prepared for the November general election and future elections."

Full release after jump.

SILVERMAN TO REQUIRE RECOUNT OF WARD 2 ELECTION

*MEDIA ADVISORY*

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 1, 2008

WHO: Cary Silverman, Candidate for Ward 2 DC Council

WHAT: Will file a petition with the Board of Elections and Ethics (DCBOEE) requiring a full recount of the September 9 primary for the Ward 2 seat on the D.C. Council in accordance with D.C. law.

WHEN: Thursday, October 2, 2008, 2 p.m.

WHERE: DCBOEE, 441 4th Street NW, Suite 250N

WHY: The DCBOEE certified the September 9 election results on September 26 before completing its investigation, issuing a public report, or otherwise explaining massive voting discrepancies, including how it eliminated 4,537 votes (including 2,997 votes cast for listed candidates and 1,540 recorded write-in votes) from preliminary results in the Ward 2 race between 9:37pm and 11:10pm on election night. This petition is a direct response to calls from D.C. voters, as only a candidate may require the DCBOEE to conduct a recount pursuant to D.C. law. Silverman does not anticipate that the recount will change the ultimate outcome of the Ward 2 election, but will seek a recount to help restore voter confidence, determine the source of the apparent error, and ensure that DCBOEE is prepared for the November general election and future elections. Silverman is filing at this time because certification of the election triggered a 7-day period during which candidates must exercise their right to request a recount.

# # #

Cary Silverman challenged 17-year Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans in the Democratic primary election on September 9, 2008. He is President of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association, a seasoned advocate, and successful lawyer who directs pro bono efforts in the DC office of one of the nation’s top law firms. For more information, please visit www.caryforcouncil.org.

This morning, Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi told the mayor and the D.C. Council---and later reporters---that according to his estimates, the District will take in $131 million less in fiscal 2009 than originally anticipated. (The fiscal year starts Oct. 1 of this calendar year.)

The shortfall, Gandhi explained, is primarily, but not exclusively due, to a foreseen decline in revenue from capital gains taxes paid by individuals---a consequence, he said, of "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."

Gandhi, characteristically, went to great lengths to put the number in context, explaining that the District remains in far better budgetary shape than surrounding jurisdictions. At one point, he said, "Two point five percent is not that big a deal....I'm confident that this mayor, this council can manage this."

Later, Gandhi clarified his statement, saying that the cuts will indeed have to be substantial: "That will mean a real impact on services, a real impact on people."

Those are impacts that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has thus far been able to avoid.

In March, Fenty released his fiscal 2009 budget, trumpeting a minuscule 0.7 percent growth rate in the annual financial plan. On closer examination, it wasn't quite the exercise in fiscal discipline he made it out to be. Virtually all of the savings were achieved through cutting unfilled employment vacancies, rejiggering financial instruments, and other accounting changes. No city program or agency saw a meaningful cut from the level of service it had provided the year before.

So will the revenue shortfall mean that Fenty will finally have to make a hard budgetary choice? There's optimists and pessimists on the matter.

In the optimist camp, count Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, Fenty ally and chair of the finance and revenue committee. Evans says it's entirely possible that the economy will rebound in the coming months, making it unwise to slash the whole $130 million at once. His suggestion: Make the cuts "on a rolling basis" by splitting the deficit into quarterly chunks.

"Are there $30 million of projects that we can delay to the second quarter?" asks Evans. "Yes!"

And the $131 million total, he says, "is a very small amount" to make up. He points to the fiscal 2002 budget, which had to be slashed in fall 2001 by approximately $300 million in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. That, he says, was figured out in two weeks.

Call At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania a pessimist.

The $131 million figure, he says, is "a best-case scenario, frankly."

Evans' 2001 analog, Catania says, doesn't quite hold because there was more new spending that year to cut into, and inflationary pressures on wage hikes and fuel costs were not as great. Real sacrifices, he says, will have to be made in the coming weeks. "This is going to be really tight," he says.

Mayoral spokesperson Mafara Hobson just released a perfectly meaningless comment from Fenty on the matter: "With the U.S. economy facing threats of a recession, the District of Columbia has been impacted by the country’s economic slowdown. Recognizing this financial shift, we will work with the Council and take the necessary actions to ensure the District continues to produce balanced budgets."

Hobson agreed it was reasonable to have a new spending plan in place by the D.C. Council's October legislative meeting, on the 7th.

At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson isn't convinced Fenty will pull the trigger on necessary cuts. "I'm afraid the council's going to have to make the choices," he says. "Somebody's gotta step up."

"I spoke to Mr. Evans yesterday and I congratulated him," says Silverman, who also posted a valedictory message on his blog last night. "I don't expect the outcome [of the election] to change." Silverman's campaign had sent out a press release Wednesday morning that said "it's too early to declare a winner or a loser."

Still, Silverman says he's not entirely convinced of the latest numbers' accuracy. Particularly, he says, he's not as worried about the phantom write-in votes as much as the phantom votes that were actually allocated to candidates. "They took away more of mine than more of his. You'd think they'd affect both of us proportionally."

"It's more confusing today than it was yesterday than it was the day before," he says.

To that end, he's dispatched a letter to the elections board asking the board to "take all steps necessary to restore trust in the election results." Silverman, though not asking specifically for a recount, thinks it might not be a bad idea: "This was not a huge election in terms of turnout," he says. "It shouldn't take a lot of time to take out the ballots and run them again, right?"

According to the unofficial numbers, Silverman won a single precinct---Precinct 2, in East Foggy Bottom, 17-11. (It also turned in, by far, the fewest votes of any precinct; it contains mostly George Washington University student housing.) The CW going in was that if Silverman was going to pull a Hoosiers-like upset, he had to run strong in Foggy Bottom and in the eastern reaches of the ward, in Shaw and Mount Vernon Square, to get carried off the court a la Gene Hackman.

Didn't happen for him: Evans' worst showing off of the GW campus was in east Dupont Circle, where he won 55 percent. West Foggy Bottom, the residential part of the neighborhood, went 59 percent for Evans; Silverman's home precinct, encompassing south Shaw and north Mount Vernon Square, went 64 percent for Evans, just one percentage point off his ward-wide margin. Unsuprisingly, Evans racked up huge margins in the western parts of the ward, garnering better than 70 percent in Georgetown and Kalorama.

Silverman declined to indulge in any postmortems, saying he'll wait until he has more confidence in the precinct-by-precinct numbers.

Just before 11 p.m., board spokesperson Dan Murphy appeared to inform folks that the tallies were being examined and news would soon come. About 45 minutes later, everyone was directed downstairs, tot eh One Judiciary Square lobby, for his official statement.

LL just returned from Shaw, where he accompanied Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans as they accompanied voters from the Asbury Dwellings senior complex to the polls.

"Jack, you got some buses for some seniors, but you got no seniors here," Fenty quipped to the young-at-heart crowd, before they were escorted into several minivans to cart them the four blocks to the polling place at Shiloh Baptist Church. At least four Evans aides were part of the escorting party, along with three Fenty aides. At Shiloh, they met two Evans pollworkers, one of whom was Shaw activist Alex Padro.

Fenty waved an Evans sign and greeted voters for about 20 minutes. "Tell all your friends and family [to vote]," he said. "Take nothing for granted!"

Padro, like a good pollworker, had the precise voter tally as of 10:30 a.m.: 125 votes. Earl Storm, president of the Asbury Dwellings tenant association, said he was getting 26 votes out from his building. All Evans votes? LL asked: "Ain't no doubt about it."

Evans' challenger, Cary Silverman, had a pollworker looking lonely outside Shiloh, bearing signs with an impromptu tag pasted on boasting of his endorsement today by the Examiner. Evans' signs had slightly more professional-looking stickers pumping up his Post endorsement---you can do that with $184,000 in the bank.

LL had the opportunity to quiz Fenty on his own endorsements. He has gone to bat for Evans and Ward 4's Muriel Bowser---both loyal mayoral supporters---but not for fellow Democratic incumbents Kwame R. Brown, Marion Barry, or Yvette Alexander. Fenty dodged the query: "I don't really have much comment about endorsements that don't exist. I have comments about endorsements that do exist."

He also declined to make a prediction or choose a preference in the hotly contested Republican at-large race, where challenger Patrick Mara is running on a platform of supporting many Fenty initiatives.

"I'm happing telling you who I voted for," he said. Fenty said that he had voted for Brown this morning.

Then LL asked who he had selected for the local Democratic party offices, and Fenty's ballot-disclosure pledge disintegrated: "I'm probably not gonna reveal that....Well, I told you I voted for Councilmember Brown!" (Evans, incidentally, says he supports current local party chair Anita Bonds.)

On his way back to the office, LL stopped by Republican incumbent Carol Schwartz' headquarters on U Street NW. Three Schwartz staffers were manning the phones and computers while the candidate hit the hustings in Ward 3.

GOP turnout, says Schwartz volunteer Jim Slattery, is "very slow, very low."

Where the campaign has precinct reports, "there have been eight or nine people," he says, but the yellow team has reason to stay upbeat: "What we've heard is that most of the people who have come out and identified themselves [as Republicans] voted for Carol."

LL has gotten reports from a Ward 3 precinct, at Jenifer Street and Connecticut Avenue NW, that Mara has a paid staffer working the poll. "Also they're very well equipped with donuts," a source says.

The decision comes in response to a complaint filed Aug. 28 by Dupont Circle activist Dave Mallof and three other Evans foes. OCF spokesperson Wesley Williams says there's no timeline on the investigation; nothing will be determined, he says, prior to tomorrow's primary elections, where Evans is facing a challenge from Mount Vernon Square activist Cary Silverman. Williams could supply no other details on a pending investigation.

It won't be the first time Evans has been subject to an OCF inquiry. In 2006, the office investigated the "Jack PAC," an erstwhile political action committee that paid for travel and sports tickets for Evans. A report issued by the office that year concluded that Evans did not violate any city campaign laws, though it recommended that Evans repay more than $6,000 to the committee, which he had already done.

Reagrding the current complaint, Evans campaign chief Keith Carbone says, "I am confident that there is no violation. This is an attempt to get negative press before an election."

According to reports filed earlier this week, Ward 2 incumbent Jack Evans has better than $184,000 in the bank; challenger Cary Silverman has but $3,440. Unopposed at-larger Kwame Brown has $144,000 in the bank. Republican at-large foes Carol Schwartz and Patrick Mara continue to duel; Mara's spent more thus far, but Schwartz has more in the bank going forward.

But the fattest kitty belongs to Ward 4's Muriel Bowser, who has been downright thrifty in her expenditures thus far. She has $224,000 banked.

WARD 2

Jack Evans
In: $20,596 ($605,324 total); Out: $48,672 ($420,718 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $184,606

The Skinny: Evans breaks the $600,000 mark on a ward council race. He did it with help from law firms Arnold & Porter and Arent Fox (and the latter's client, D.C. United), developers Forest City Enterprises, and Shaw race-baiter Leroy Thorpe ($200), among many others. In most parts of the country, the state party apparatus raises money to give to its candidates, but not here: Evans gave a hefty $10,000 donation to the D.C. Democratic State Committee. Much of the rest went to canvassers, consultants, and newspaper ads. (That controversial Current spot apparently cost $1,827.)

Cary Silverman
In: $12,591 ($48,360 total); Out: $13,553 ($44,995 total); Debts/Loans: $10,000; Cash on Hand: $3,440

The Skinny: Silverman's put together a nice little haul, garnering 83 mostly low-dollar-amount donors since Aug. 10. Silverman has also loaned $5,000 to pump up the campaign's bottom line. Most of the cash has gone to printing and to direct-mail firm Paul & Partners of Dulles, Va.

Christina Culver
In: $0 ($9,033 total); Out: $0 ($517 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $8,516

The Skinny: No movement at all from Republican Culver. But look at it this way: in looks equity, Culver is seriously outearning Silverman.

WARD 4

Muriel Bowser
In: $11,329 ($392,870 total); Out: $47,356 ($168,670 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $224,201

The Skinny: Watch out, David Catania---Muriel's taking pharmaceutical money! Bowser took $500 checks from PACs associated with both PhRMA and Pfizer Inc. That's in addition to big donations from McKissack & McKissack, the minority-owned engineering firm that rolls in government contracts, and baseball booster Mark Tuohey. Bowser continues to spend relatively lightly, mostly on printing.

Baruti Jahi
In: $1,150 ($12,840 total); Out: $10,815 ($12,772 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $168.30

The Skinny: Jahi raised a decent chunk, mostly from his home turf in Shepherd Park, and he's finally begun to spend it, mostly on an campaign materials from an Illinois-based outfit. Not much in the bank for the final weekend.

Malik Mendenhall-Johnson
In: $0 ($25 total); Out: $0 ($0 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $25

The Skinny: The suspense builds! What will Mendenhall-Johnson spend his $25 on as the final weekend approaches?

Report for Paul Montague had not been posted by last night.

WARD 7

Yvette Alexander
In: $14,125 ($155,605 total); Out: $28,169 ($133,761 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $21,844

The Skinny: Last time, LL scolded Alexander for getting her catering done at a Maryland rib joint rather than at Ward 7's own Fat Face BBQ. Alexander listened! This cycle's report says her campaign dropped $2,685 at Fat Face last month---way to keep the dollars local! As to where those dollars came from, Alexander, too, took a max donation from Pfizer, plus at least $2,500 from individuals connected to road builders Fort Myer Construction. She also raked in $1,200 from staffers working for Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray. Besides the barbecue, Alexander's spending big money on "consultants"---10 people with that title made $500 or more this reporting period.

Reports for Robin Hammond Marlin, Villareal Johnson and John Campbell had not been posted by last night.

WARD 8

Marion Barry
In: $20,695 ($217,090 total); Out: $14,950 ($209,142 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $7,948

The Skinny: LL spoke too soon when taking Alexander to task for her army of "consultants"; Barry's spent more than $13,000 on 15 paid consultants this reporting period, making from $3,100 on down to a couple of hundred dollars. Financing all this walking-around money? Old-time Barry crony Dickie Carter, for one; businesses and individuals associated with the garbage hauler donated $2,500. Also: Did Barry receive Bud Doggett's last political contribution? The parking mogul died Aug. 13 at age 87; his $500 check to Barry was deposited two days prior.

Sandra "S.S." Seegars
In: $762 ($20,535 total); Out: $1,441 ($7,241 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $13,295

The Skinny: Seegars' service on the Taxicab Commission pays off: Diamond Cab throws $500 her way. Question is, what is she waiting to spend it on?

Charles Wilson
In: $1,375 ($4,390 total); Out: $1,049 ($7,584 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $680

The Skinny: Wilson picked up a big $1,000 check from Paul Opalack, the chair of consulting firm Noblestar Systems Corp., who also hosted a fundraiser for Wilson earlier this week at his Georgetown home. One problem: There's a $500 max in ward races. Make sure you save $500 for the refund!

Reports for Howard Brown and Ahmad Braxton-Jones had not been posted by last night.

AT-LARGE

Kwame R. Brown
In: $40,320 ($575,163 total); Out: $51,971 ($431,046 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $144,117

The Skinny: Kwame continues to rake it in. That would be all fine and good, if he had an opponent. Brown continues to collect this money---much of it from construction and development concerns with potential interests in matters likely to come before his economic development committee---to spend, or not spend, on a race that he has essentially won already.

Carol Schwartz
In: $45,870 ($184,875 total); Out: $22,677 ($68,561 total); Debts/Loans: $40,356 loan from Schwartz; Cash on Hand: $84,762

The Skinny: Schwartz continues to play catch-up, pulling in the bucks from local Repubs plus the occasional where-are-they-now luminary (Bill Regardie, Sterling Tucker). She also is a strong believer in the local print media, placing ads in no fewer that eight publications (including this one), spending over $7,800 in the process. Also: The total receipts and cash-on-hand figures might be off; the committee seems to have double-counted Schwartz's $40,000-plus loan to the campaign as both a loan and a contribution---that means the total receipts are more like $140K.

Patrick Mara
In: $32,015 ($136,905 total); Out: $39,028 ($93,730 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $43,233

The Skinny: Mara's not purely a business-community toady any longer, bringing in a fair number of smaller donations from local Republicans. But, make no mistake, the biz folks still love him, with max donations from the Realtors PAC, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, and Clyde's. Fishy expenditure: a $1,000 in-kind donation from a Kinko's?

David Schwartzman
In: $421 ($1,421 total); Out: $0 ($39 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $1,832

The Skinny: Schwartzman continues to conserve that war chest for what's sure to be a knock-down, drag-out general election! Wooo!

Dee Hunter and Michael A. Brown were not required to file pre-primary reports.

SHADOW SENATOR

Paul Strauss
In: $5,045 ($35,655 total); Out: $6,063 ($15,610 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $20,045

The Skinny: Longtime political hand Marshall Brown is $2,000 richer thanks to Strauss, and former council staffer Aimee Occhetti also pocketed $1,225 in consulting fees.

Nelson Rimensnyder
In: $1,055 ($2,795 total); Out: $2,795(?) ($2,795(?) total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $0(?)

The Skinny: Rimensnyder's pulled in a nice haul of small donations ($25 from Terry Lynch!), and he indicates on his report that he's spent every last penny he has. LL thinks he filled out his form wrong, and he's actually yet to spend a nickel.

Philip Pannell
In: $1,805 ($6,355 total); Out: $80 ($201 total); Debts/Loans: $0; Cash on Hand: $6,154

The Skinny: Time's running out for Pannell to spend his kitty, pumped up with donations from Ward 8 folks, gay activists, and the Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain crowd.

In comments to LL, Rosenstein explained that he thinks it's time for a change. "I endorsed Adrian Fenty for real change in this city. I think that includes new views and new ideas and new ways of doing things on the council." He also cited the need for a "full-time councilmember," echoing one of Silverman's main talking points.

Furthermore, Rosenstein says, "I think 12 years is enough for a person to be on the council....Jack should be thanked for his time there, but it's time for him to move on." [Clarification: Evans has been serving since 1991, making this his 17th year in office; Rosenstein was speaking generally.]

The endorsement of Rosenstein, who writes a column for the Washington Blade, also marks a break from other elements of the gay community. The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club gave Evans a strong vote of endorsement in June, and The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance gave Evans a perfect 10 rating last month (Silverman rated a still high 8.5).

Silverman has picked up several endorsements from the neighborhood activist crowd over recent weeks, primarily from folks upset over Evans at his perceived focus on citywide development over bread-and-butter neighborhood issues. Evans continues to enjoy the support of most local institutions, with endorsements from the labor community, the business community, neighborhood newspapers, not to mention Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.

UPDATE, 1:39 P.M.: Rosenstein sent a statement, which is after the jump.

Today I am endorsing Cary Silverman for Council in Ward 2. I do so only after having thought about this very carefully.

I understand the potential value of having Jack Evans continue to serve and have his history and expertise on the Council. I can respect much of what he has done over the years. But I have come to the conclusion that it is time for a change and that the issues facing our City need new insight and we need some new blood with new ways of doing things on the Council.

I will vote for Cary Silverman because I think he is more in tune with with the needs and desires of Ward 2 residents and because he is highly qualified and has committed to serving as a full-time Council member with only one boss, the people of Ward 2. I think that Jack Evans has often resolved the conflicts of having two bosses , his law firm and the people, in favor of his law firm. That shouldn't continue.

I also question after 12 years on the Council how Jack Evans can only take credit for the good years without having to take some responsibility for the collapse of the City which was under his watch as well. In fact, I understand that it was in 2004 that Deborah Nichols first issued a report to the Council raising grave concerns over improper financial practices in the City's Budget Office and Jack, who had oversight authority of the agency, disregarded those concerns and held no hearings. Could we have stemmed the flow of money out of the City's coffers at that time had he done so is something we will never know. But he should have tried because that was his responsibility as Chair of the Finance Committee of the Council.

I also support Cary Silverman because that support is consistent with my support of Adrian Fenty. I worked hard to elect Mayor Fenty because I want to see change in the way we govern the District of Columbia. I supported him and continue to support him because I believe we need to move forward and move away from the old ways of doing things.

Jack Evans is an entrenched part of the old guard. It is time to move into the future and bring new eyes and new ideas to the Council which will continue to allow us to raise the bar and make life better for all who live here. I believe that Cary Silverman can help to make the District of Columbia the world class city we all know it can be.

He did not, though one local big shot did show in time---Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans.

That means that, ahead of Barack Obama's acceptance spectacular on Thursday night at Mile High Stadium, Fenty will appear only Wednesday with the rank-and-file to offer the District's delegate tally toward Obama's nomination.

Yesterday, Dupont resident and Evans foe David Mallof, along with fellow activists Ronald Cocome, Elizabeth Elliott, and John Hanrahan, sent a letter to the Office of Campaign Finance requesting an investigation of a "blatant violation" by Evans' campaign.

Rather than press federal Hatch Act concerns, Mallof & Co. are alleging misconduct by Evans in "misusing government resources" for campaign purposes. The ad, Mallof writes, "implies a clear endorsement by the Chief of Police Lanier, but nevertheless also was produced by Mr. Evans for campaign purposes on D.C. Government property in the Wilson Building, likely on government time (in daylight and with the chief in full uniform on duty), and with the full powers, 'brand,' and directly implied resources of the D.C. Council and MPD Office of the Chief of Police."

Mallof continues:

That this campaign chose the Chief of Police for the advertisement, not the chief dog catcher, is profound. The improper use of the image of our top public safety official portends a possible witches' brew of civic implications for D.C. and its integrity of governance. Your office finding such an ad is acceptable will almost certainly set into motion many subsequent and likely more dangerous situations in the future.

All four signers have connections to the campaign of Evans' challenger, Cary Silverman. Mallof and Elliott were listed among Silverman's endorsers in an press release earlier this month. Mallof has contributed the maximum $500 to Silverman's bid; Cocome and Elliott have donated more modest amounts. Hanrahan's wife, activist Debby Hanrahan, has donated to Silverman's campaign and has is listed in the press release as an endorser.

UPDATE, 2:05 P.M.: Evans campaign chief Keith Carbone responds: "This is nothing but the Silverman campaign trying to cause a distraction because they can't defend the fact that Cary Silverman is a lobbyist who has spent the last eight years advancing the Bush administration's agenda from pharmaceuticals to tobacco to Tom DeLay's cheeseburger bill to guns. While the Evans campaign is about the progress we are still making in Ward 2, I can't help but wonder why a Bush Republican is trying to sneak onto the D.C. Council through a Democratic primary."

Full letter after jump.

August 19, 2008

Ms. Kathy S. Williams, Esq.
General Counsel
Office of Campaign Finance
D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics
2000 14th Street, NW, Suite 420
Washington, D.C. 20009 via e-mail and local courier

Dear Ms. Williams:

Please allow this letter to serve as a formal, time-critical complaint of blatant campaign misconduct by respondent Council Member Mr. Jack Evans in the ongoing Ward 2 primary election. We undersigned formal complainants send this complaint to you, since we understand the OCF Director is out of the office this week.

1. Complaint and Charge: Attached is an original of the entire Dupont Current issue on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. See the campaign advertisement on page 12. We have determined the very same full-page, color ad ran in all the Ward 2 Current newspaper editions that week. This includes the Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, and Northwest editions, all covering well more than just Ward 2 in D.C. distribution and readership.

This ad is clearly applicable to 3 DCMR 3300. At its plain face, blatant violations occur regarding use of D.C. Government resources and personnel for campaign-related purposes, per 3 DCMR 3301.8, 3301.9, and 3301.10 at the very least.

The photograph in the advertisement implies a clear endorsement by the Chief of Police Lanier, but nevertheless also was produced by Mr. Evans for campaign purposes on D.C. Government property in the Wilson Building, likely on government time (in daylight and with the chief in full uniform on duty), and with the full powers, "brand," and directly implied resources of the D.C. Council and MPD Office of the Chief of Police fully projected in the campaign ad targeted to the September 9th election, and entitled "Working Together for Ward 2." As one final but pivotal point, we hope your office will properly interpret the term "resource." The good name of the MPD and its brand image of civic trust are very hard to win and more than easy to tarnish. Any company would view its brand as a major resource and a financial asset. In this case, taking the image of the Chief of Police in uniform was an illicit and cleverly premeditated use of a precious and fragile government resource of the highest order — for a political campaign. That the photograph may have been taken on another day for another supposed or even more casual reason is of no matter. The campaign subsequently used the resource of that moment and the brand of MPD illicitly.

Citizens rely on your office as chartered both to interpret the law and regulations, and to be proactive in your enforcement duties in situations like this, not merely to be narrowly responsive to a lengthy string of legalistic arguments that in this case need not be offered beyond the plain provisions of the law cited above. Therefore, no further laying out of the case need be offered in our minds. The only slight clarification we would like to add is that even if the Chief of Police was unaware of the advertisement being run or the possible further use of the photo, Mr. Evans and his campaign nevertheless clearly used government time, the huge cloak and patina of her mission-critical Office of the Chief of Police, and the full projection of D.C. government authority and its resources, illegally.

2. Request for an Immediate, Timely Finding within 7 Calendar Days: We understand you are busy this election time of year and that technically your office has 90 days to reply. However, given the time-critical impact of illicit communications on swaying possible election results, we believe a full two weeks is required to "cure" or remedy the violation in the media and in follow-up letters within Ward 2. Therefore, we respectfully ask you to rule by close of business (COB), Monday August 25th, which is a two-week cure window.

3. Recourse if Your Office is Unable to Find on a Timely Basis: An appeal will be filed and a re-run election demanded if needed to remedy a late OCF finding, upon a subsequent formal request for reconsideration and/or appeal to the Board and/or the D.C. Court of Appeals.

4. Implications for Our Civic Integrity and Your Office's Civic Stewardship: This matter is of grave importance because Council Members and the Chief set the pivotal example of legal and ethical conduct for thousands of other District civic servants. As an example, at its worst and block-level possible implication, no resident or small shopkeeper should have to worry about "toeing the line" with an ANC commissioner photographed with the beat patrolman or MPD District Commander in order to continue to receive police services. That this campaign chose the Chief of Police for the advertisement, not the chief dog catcher, is profound. The improper use of the image of our top public safety official portends a possible witches' brew of civic implications for D.C. and its integrity of governance. Your office finding such an ad is acceptable will almost certainly set into motion many subsequent and likely more dangerous situations in the future.

We four undersigned complainants thank you for your consideration. Please contact David Mallof if you have any further questions. And again, we respectfully seek a response in writing from OCF by COB Monday, August 25, 2008.

David J. Mallof
Elizabeth B. Elliott
Ronald Cocome
John D. Hanrahan

CC: Ms. Cecily E. Collier-Montgomery, Director OCF
Hon. Mr. Vincent Gray, Chair of the D.C. Council
Mr. Brian Flowers, Counsel of the D.C. Council
Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, Internal Affairs Bureau, MPD

Just in case you were wondering, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and police Chief Cathy Lanier are buds. That would be the takeaway from the ad, shown above, that appeared in Wednesday's Current newspapers.

But does that make also Lanier a scofflaw?

Federal law prohibits District and federal employees from participating in various political activities. According to the Web site of the federal Office of Special Counsel, which investigates violations of the Hatch Act, it's a violation to "engage in political activity while...in a government office" or "wearing an official uniform." Evans, as an elected official, is exempt; Lanier is not.

The picture appears to have been taken inside Evans' office in the John A. Wilson Building, the seat of District government, and Lanier is wearing her uniform. The picture also appears on Evans' campaign Web site, along with other pictures of Lanier and City Administrator Dan Tangherlini.

According to Evans campaign spokesperson Keith Carbone, Lanier "did not sign off on the picture and was not aware that we were using it." Traci Hughes, a police spokesperson, says, "We will let the [Evans campaign's] acknowledgment that the Chief was not consulted stand on its own."

Lanier isn't mentioned by name in the ad; the only thing remotely public-safety related is a mention that Evans helped bring ShotSpotter to Shaw. "The obvious point of using that [picture] is showing that Jack works closely with the chief of police," he says. "They maintain a pretty constant stream of communication about things. It's important to Jack to get frequent updates."

The picture certainly belongs to the "grip-and-grin" genre common to campaign materials in this town. They usually show up on direct mailings in a collage of various around-town photos. (Check out this blog post from Evans challenger Cary Silverman, for instance.) This one's a little different: It's in a paid ad in a community newspaper, it's huge, it's the police chief, and there's no other photos on it.

LL has inquired with the Office of Special Counsel as to whether (a) it is a violation to have your image used unwittingly for political purposes and (b) whether the Evans campaign is breaking the law by doing so. The office is currently reviewing the matter.

Kristopher Baumann, head of the union representing Metropolitan Police officers, isn't happy seeing Lanier apparently shilling for a political candidate.

Baumann says his group was the subject of a Hatch Act investigation in 2006, after candidates' campaign materials showed D.C. cops in uniform. Though the cops had never consented to having the pictures taken or their use in campaign ads, the union had to hire a lawyer to fight off the charges, which were eventually dropped.

Baumann says he takes the law very seriously. "What infuriates my guys and me, we bend over backward," he says. "We follow these rules hardcore....Here you have the executive and legislative branch of government just absolutely disobeying the rules."

Neither Evans nor Silverman, Baumann points out, asked for the police union's endorsement.

The Phillips Collection auditorium last night hosted what's probably the main event in this year's Ward 2 D.C. Council race, with Democratic incumbent Jack Evans meeting primary challenger Cary Silverman in a 90-minute debate sponsored by the Dupont Circle Citizens Association.

"Debate," however, might be a strong word for what took place. Under the, ahem, firm hand of moderator and Current newspapers publisher Davis Kennedy, Evans and Silverman rarely addressed each other directly and the dialogue was rarely heated. Time limits were strictly enforced by Kennedy, who cut candidates off---usually Evans---with a booming "THANK YOU, MR. EVANS!" Kennedy had a harder time keeping a lid on the crowd, who got raucous at points, and he also could have used a watch: He tried to end the debate a half-hour early before someone informed him there was plenty of time left.

For the most part, over a series on about 25 questions, the differences between the two candidates were minor or predictable. Both support lowering taxes, but Silverman made a big deal about "targeted" tax relief for small business and homeowners. Both hate aggressive panhandling, both think the local ANC should decide whether the sidewalks on 17th Street are brick or concrete, both support a green taxi fleet, and both think that exempting developers from parking requirements are a bad idea (hear that, Layman and GGW?).

This campaign, however, isn't much about the issues, so much as it is that some people don't like Jack Evans.

The old "full-time councilmember" question got the biggest crowd response of the night. Silverman came out strong, noting that Evans makes well over $200,000 yearly at the Patton Boggs law firm and notes "you don't know where it's coming from." OK, well-played, but then he took it farther, opining that there's a possibility that Evans is "getting influence money." That set the pro-Evans portion of the crowd off into a boo-and-hiss fest, making Evans look like the good guy when he countered with his time-tested response to the issue: "I have two full-time jobs: I'm a full-time councilmember and a full-time father to my three children." Awww!

Similarly, Silverman tried to score points on Evans' embrace of big-dollar earmarks over the years, but Evans parried well by saying his earmarks have been directed to arts groups who have a hard time getting District money any other way.

Silverman also had some fact-checking problems. In one of his more effective rhetorical feints, he used a question about declining tax revenues to hammer Evans on ballpark stadium spending, the new convention center, the tax scandal by reciting a litany of high-dollar figures connected in various ways to Evans. But when mentioned the ballpark, he said the $611 million went toward uniforms and lights---nope, the Nats wanted the city to pick up those items but the Nats lost the claim in arbitration. Then, the issue of a human papillomavirus vaccine came up; Silverman didn't seem to be aware that parents could opt-out their children from the vaccination requirement.

Silverman did score big on a question about whether the city should lock the Nationals out of the ballpark if they continue not to pay rent. Evans said, "My first instinct was to do just that." Silverman pointed out that Evans has been the most prominent public defender of the Lerner family and their tactics. "The owners of the team are very strong business people, and they take a very businesslike approach to the whole relationship. They enforce their rights to the extent they can," Evans was quoted saying in the Post.

And, as far as LL is concerned, Silverman has locked up the teacher's-pet vote. Asked to recap his background, Silverman noted he was elected class president and student-body president at SUNY Geneseo (a fact that also gets mentioned on his online law-firm bio). Gee whiz! (That's not that Evans didn't do some bragging of his own, pointing out he graduated from college cum laude.)

And when the subject of the noise bill came up, Silverman, prompted by the text of the question, referred to Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, who helped draft the bill and claimed it met all possible legal scrutiny. Cheh, of course, is also a constitutional law prof at George Washington University, and Silverman, a GW law grad, hitched his wagon to his former professor: "She knows what she's talking about," Silverman said. "I got an A in her class!"

The biggest moment, however, probably came in the wake of a question about the Heller decision. Both Evans and Silverman decried the ruling, but in a followup question asking whether business owners should be allowed to have guns, Silverman said he liked the idea. That, of course, prompted the Evans campaign to issue a press release within hours, decrying Silverman as "pro-handgun" and a "gun industry lobbyist."

"It is unfortunate that Silverman must learn the difference between representing his lobbying clients in the gun industry and serving the residents of the neighborhoods of ward 2," the release read.

Now LL's initial research indicated no evidence in federal lobbying disclosure reports that Silverman ever lobbied Congress for gun manufacturers directly; his firm, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, however, has long defended gun companies in various lawsuits, but there's no evidence LL could find that Silverman's been involved with any of those. So LL called up Evans campaign manager Keith Carbone, who says the connection is through the American Tort Reform Association, which Carbone says is funded in part by gun manufacturers.

"You ever see the movie Runaway Jury? Cary Silverman is Gene Hackman," Carbone says. Well, not exactly---in the movie, Hackman was engaged in a elaborate jury-tampering effort to defeat a gun tort; Silverman is part of a team lobbying for organization funded by a bunch of corporations looking to cut down on lawsuits, some of which might be gun manufacturers.

Concedes Carbone, "It's not like he's wearing a T-shirt that says Smith & Wesson."

On the Kojo Nnamdi show this afternoon, Silverman said this about the gun-lobbying charges: "I've never done a minute of work for the gun industry...and I don't know where that came from."

Other than the gun blowup, the best exchange came after a question about whether the candidates are following the law that no more than three campaign signs can be posted per side per block. Silverman said he'd been "very careful" to follow the law, pointing out that with his comparatively small war chest, "maybe it's been a little easier for me."

Evans countered with a gotcha, pointing out that Silverman has nine signs at the intersection of 13th and Massachusetts Avenues NW (Evans has three). Evans acknowledged his sign-hangers might have gone overboard and that he's asked them to comply with the law---though, he said, "I'm getting so much help from my opponent taking down signs, I'm not sure it's really necessary."