Let the amendments begin! The Sick and Safe Leave bill is up on the council dais; sponsor Carol Schwartz has introduced a substitute that keeps things largely intact and doesn't address the main issues the business community have. Never fear---Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans is on the scene. He's got seven amendments, drafted with the assistance of Council chair Vincent C. Gray, at-large member David A. Catania, and, undoubtedly, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. This could take a while. ---Mike DeBonis

Anyone doubting the strength of organized labor in this town, think again: A bill that would allow the District to enforce limits on daytime noise was tabled without debate this morning at a meeting of the D.C. Council's committee of the whole, thanks in no small part to union protesters.

The Noise Control Protection Amendment Act, sponsored by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh and Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, was prompted, among other things, by the amplified demonstrations of the Black Hebrew Israelites on or near H Street NE. Under the bill, noise greater than 70 decibels, or 10 decibels above ambient noise levels, would be subject to sanction.

Cheh introduced the bill, citing the need for some checks on daytime noise that's currently unregulated "no matter how long, no matter how unrelenting, no matter how amplified." She mentioned that she had met with members of the labor community, who were concerned that the bill might interfere in union protests, but noted that the bill had gained the support of the Service Employees International Union. Cheh, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, also said she "completely confident in the ultimate constitutionality" of the bill.

Immediately afterward, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans moved to table it, a manuever that under council rules requires no debate. The motion passed 7-5, with Evans, Jim Graham (Ward 1), Muriel Bowser (Ward 4), Yvette Alexander (Ward 7), Kwame Brown (At-Large), Phil Mendelson (At-Large), and Chair Vincent C. Gray in favor; Cheh, Wells, Marion Barry (Ward 8), David A. Catania (At-Large), and Carol Schwartz (At-Large) opposed the tabling. Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. was absent.

What gives, you may ask? Our man on the scene, Arthur Delaney, reports that more than 100 members of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO and its affiliated organizations showed up for the council meeting wearing red T-shirts. After the vote the group set off around the Wilson Building thanking members and their staffers for putting the kibosh on the bill.

OK, folks, we're about six hours into the Potomac Primary, and LL's been working the phones. Here's what he's got:

Anyone willing to stick their neck out and make an early judgment says that turnout is high. Anita Bonds, chair of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, says people are out to the polls in D.C. in significant numbers. "My thinking is that we may be having very brisk turnout in the District of Columbia," she says.

The early numbers back her up---at least compared to four years ago. Here's some secondhand key precinct numbers from after the a.m. rush:

• Precinct 25, Goodwill Baptist Church, 1862 Kalorama Rd. NW---500 (2004 ballots cast: 544)
• Precinct 52, St. John's College High School, 2607 Military Rd. NW---270 (2004: 291)
• Precinct 66, Backus Middle School, 5171 South Dakota Ave. NE---900 (2004: 821)
• Precinct 89, Hine Jr. High School, 335 8th St. SE---estimated 1,200 on the day (2004: 518)

Currently, the GOTV operation should be in full swing for Obama. Tom Lindenfeld, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's longtime political honcho, says anywhere form 800 to 1,200 canvassers should be on the streets using as many as 250 private vehicles to ferry folks to the polls. (Unlike the mayoral race, this is an all-volunteer operation.) Obama made an appearance on Capitol Hill this morning, but he's not jetted off to Wisconsin for his next race. (Hillary Clinton's already in Texas.) Obama campaign aide John Falcicchio reports a few minor problems, such as long lines driving seniors away and broken scanner at a Ward 6 precinct that has since been fixed.

Today's also a big day for politicians not on the ballot---particularly D.C. Council candidates who have their best opportunity between now and the September primary to reach likely voters.

In the at-large race, Carol Schwartz challengers Adam Clampitt and Dee Hunter are on the street. (Well, Clampitt himself isn't on the street, but he has an excuse---he's on a mission. As in he's a naval reserve officer on assignment for exercises through the end of the month.) Clampitt campaign manager Lane Hudson reports covering the morning and evening rushes at about 25 to 30 precincts. The most enthusiastic man of the day so far is Hunter, who says that his 30-some volunteers are on pace to pass out some 10,000 pieces of literature today at a similar number of precincts.

As for Ward 2, the Jack Evans machine is out in force, reports campaign manager Keith Carbone. Certain reports had reached LL that Clinton electioneers were doubling as Jack backers (not surprising considering Evans' endorsement) but Carbone says there's no connection between the two campaigns aside from anyone's personal preferences. Challenger Cary Silverman reports that his people are out in force (though one source reports there was no Silverman rep during the a.m. rush at the key Precinct 18 at Shiloh Baptist Church, in the middle of a Shaw neighborhood where Evans is vulnerable).

As for tonight, the mayor and the official Obama crew will be at the Madison Hotel, 1177 15th St. NW, the grassroots crew will be at Busboys & Poets (of course), 14th and V Sts. NW, and Clinton folks will be at Penn Quarter Sports Tavern, 639 Indiana Ave. NW. Put any other results watches in the comments.

As I indicated yesterday, support is shaky at best for At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz's Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, though it will come to a vote today.

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans moved to table the bill after Council Chair Vincent C. Gray spoke in favor of taking time to take a closer look at the bill. Evans and At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania both cited the declining economy for the need for further study. The motion to table failed 7-6, which seems to bode well for for the bill passing today.

On the other hand, this is a first-reading vote, so if it passes, there's still another whole month where further amendments will likely be developed.

UPDATE, 2:05 P.M.: Bill passes. See you in a month.

This week, Loose Lips ran his Secret Santa column, resurrecting a tradition in which LL gives back to all those who have given him so much. Problem is, LL had to skip of lot of deserving folks in the Wilson Building and elsewhere, which has made for several unhappy politicos. All this week, LL's been going around, saying he'd make a "supplemental appropriation."

That's a job I'm pawning off on you, readers. Here's a selection of folks LL didn't have room in his stocking to bestow with gifts, but are probably deserving all the same. Let 'em have it in the comments:

• Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham
• Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans
• Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh
• Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser
• Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells
• Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander
• At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown
• At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz
• Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Neil Albert
• Fire Chief Dennis Rubin
• Fenty Communications Director Carrie Brooks
• Soon-to-be-former Attorney General Linda Singer
• Legendary tax thief Harriette Walters
• And anyone else is fair game, too...

Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss has made no bones about the fact that he'd like spots for him and his daughter in the city's Verizon Center skybox for the Jan. 7 Hannah Montana concert.

Well, he asked. And he's been denied.

"Neil Albert told me there's no room," Strauss says, referring to the deputy mayor for planning and economic development. That means Strauss won't be sitting with Albert, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, City Administrator Dan Tangherlini, schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and offspring.

Strauss says he's moved on to Plan B: Appealing to the Verizon Center itself for any spare seats.

"I haven't given up hope yet," he says. (There's always Plan C: A glimpse at StubHub reveals that two nosebleed-section tickets could be his for $240 apiece.)

Strauss says he'd love to take his daughter to future skybox events. "She's 9," he says, "so I hope there'll be other opportunities."

Last night, lawyer and neighborhood activist Cary Silverman kicked off his campaign to unseat four-plus-term Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans.

At the HR-57 jazz club on 14th Street NW, Silverman told about 50 supporters, "I think we need a change of priorities in Ward 2." His campaign slogan: "Neighborhoods first."

In a press release this morning, Silverman claimed more than 100 supporters showed up in all. He'll need a some more: Evans' campaign reported about $135,000 in the bank as of July 31; it's already spent some of it doing polling earlier this fall.

Silverman hammered on some of Evans' perceived vulnerabilities---mainly the perception he's too focused on citywide financial and development issues to the neglect of his home ward. In his comments, Silverman mentioned the long-shuttered Watha T. Daniel Neighborhood Library in Shaw and took a shot at one of Evans' pet projects in the process: "Seven years for a library, three years for a baseball stadium---that's not neighborhoods first," he said.

He went on (and on) to recite a laundry list of concerns, including crime, vacant property, support for small businesses, and a "culture of corruption" in D.C. Before and after the speech, attendees enjoyed free beer and wine and a spread of veggie samosas, feta pinwheels, and beef empanadas.

Silverman's base, such as it is, is in the gentrifying eastern half of the ward. He's a past president of the Logan Circle Community Association and is currently president of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association. Like Evans, a lawyer for Patton Boggs, Silverman makes his living as an attorney, for the Kansas City-based firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon. But in another dig at Evans, Silverman's promising to give up his high-power legal gig.

A slick Silverman campaign sign on display at the party referred to the candidate (boldface his) as a "successful lawyer at a top law firm who will commit himself to serving communities---full time."

Also likely to enter the race is Rob Halligan, president of the Dupont Circle Citizens Association. Halligan says he's "probably still running, just thought it was still a little early to declare."

OK, folks, they're about to get started in the Council chambers. After your typical round of grandstanding opening statements from councilmembers, you'll have a panel of civic activists before getting into the real meat of the lineup: fired Deputy CFO Sherryl Hobbs Newman, District Auditor Deborah Nichols, and, the man himself, CFO Natwar M. Gandhi. Follow along on Channel 13.

Things to watch out for:

Who's running the show? Right after the scandal broke, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans almost immediately announced that his Committee on Finance and Revenue would investigate. By the end of the week, the hearing was a joint production with the Committee of the Whole, which essentially means that Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray bigfooted Evans.

What's Newman's excuse? Dozens of fraudulent six-figure checks, some as large as a half-million dollars, went out the door without Newman catching on. How exactly did that happen?

How far back does the malfeasance go? The CW before Tuesday was that Gandhi was bruised by the scandal, but that he would survive. But an Examiner story Tuesday suggested that the phony checks date back as far as 1999, when Gandhi was overseeing Tax and Revenue. Then yesterday's Post accounting put the total losses at almost twice the original estimates of $16 million.

Who goes after Gandhi? The CFO has built up tremendous political goodwill over the years, and now he's going to have to cash it in. Virtually the only councilmember willing to take on Gandhi over the years has been David A. Catania. But Catania told me earlier this week he was not planning to nail Gandhi personally.

***

1:14 P.M.: OK, so Vince is in charge. He's gracious enough to introduce his "co-chair," Jack.

1:18: Jack: "I thought I'd been here long enough to see it all."

1:23: Evans' question for Gandhi: "Why should he not bear the same responsibility as those who have been fired?" It's gonna be a long day, Nat.

1:28: It took Kwame Brown eight months to get his reimbursement check for a Vegas convention trip, thanks to zealous auditing. Where were the auditors this time? he wants to know.

1:30: Oof. So much for Catania laying off the jugular: "To be honest at this point, my prejudice is not in favor of [Gandhi's] continued tenure." But not just yet, he says. Gotta find out what happened first.

Read More "Tax-Scam Hearing Liveblog" »

Today's hearing on the tax scandal, a joint effort between the Committee on Finance and Revenue and the Committee of the Whole, kicks off at 1 p.m. Check back around then for the liveblog.

Here's the witness list:

Panel 1: good-government types Marie Drissel, David Mallof, Anna Escobar, and Gail Dixon

2. Sherryl Hobbs Newman, former deputy CFO, Office of Tax and Revenue. (Read all about Newman in this week's LL.)

3. Deborah Nichols, D.C. Auditor

And the main event...

4. Dr. Natwar M. Gandhi, Chief Financial Officer

If only Natwar M. Gandhi had been more of a train buff.

If so, his financial security might be in better shape right now: In April, Amtrak tried to lure Gandhi, the city's chief financial officer, with a $250,000 salary plus a $100,000 signing bonus. In order to keep the man widely credited with restoring the District's fiscal health over the past decade, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty decided to up Gandhi's salary from $186,000 to $279,000.

Now, in the wake of the quickly expanding property-tax scandal, the bloom has come off Gandhi's rose for the first time in his 10 years of District service. And his most persistent critic, At-Large Councilmember David Catania, now suggests that the raise needs to be rolled back.

"He should go without this recently approved pay increase," Catania said in an interview this afternoon. "I think that would be in bad form....I'm at the point where that should be rescinded."

Gandhi was not immediately available for comment.

On Thursday, the council's committee on finance and revenue will hold hearings on the scandal. Catania, who has clashed with Gandhi repeatedly, most notably on baseball-stadium financing, says he plans to focus on improving oversight for disbursements across the District government.

"I don't want to pile on with Nat," he says. "This is not a time to be engaged in that. This is about how quickly we can put a plan in to restore confidence in this government."

"President Jarvis told me, 'This is not a roast,'" said WRC-TV newsman Tom Sherwood, warming up as MC of this year's Southeastern University Gala at the Washington Hilton.

The yearly benefit for the private school in Southwest D.C., headed by former Ward 4 Councilmember Charlene Drew Jarvis, is well-known as a forum for elected officials, business bigwigs, media types, and other big shots to loosen up and show their sense of humor. Sometimes they get a little too loose: Last year, Sherwood got in a bit of trouble for referring to himself as "not as white as Jack Evans, [but] blacker than Harold Brazil." The MC alluded to having to write an apology letter to Brazil for last year's act.

Sherwood, in fact, did keep things less controversial this year, with a few jabs at the likes of developer Victor MacFarlane and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig. The killer material of the night fell to others. And it did turn into a roast of sorts, mainly of D.C.'s most roastable character, Marion S. Barry Jr.

The entertainment, billed as "As the District Turns: A Humorous Spin on the City We Love," kicked off with a "Dreamgirls" act featuring the ladies of the D.C. Council. Ward 3's Mary Cheh, Ward 4's Muriel Bowser, and Ward 7's Yvette Alexander all donned slinky black dresses (a sequined number for Bowser), feather boas, and long white gloves for their act. None of the three's dance moves were ever quite in sync, but Alexander---definitely the Beyoncé of the group---clearly knew the words better than the other two. Not in attendance: At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz, who was represented late in the act by a proxy holding a campaign picket.

Next up was a skit lampooning the distribution of those coveted low-numbered license plates---Channel 9 anchor Derek McGinty played the low-tag czar, and among his supplicants was former Mayor Anthony A. Williams. (Williams, of course, was not included on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's low-tag list earlier this year.) Williams' begging---"Remember me? Tony Williams? We're talking...executive baldness"---didn't get very far with McGinty.

His retort: "Only Marion Barry gets to be mayor-for-life and gets a low tag."

After that was a Top 10 list of sorts---"If D.C. became a state"---given by a number of other D.C. councilmembers, plus Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi. Gandhi had a lame joke about how the state bird would be a cockatoo because it's "always talking but never really saying anything"---you know, like a chief financial officer! Ward 6's Tommy Wells saved the groaner: "I thought the state bird would be the Anthony Williams, because of its propensity to fly."

At-Large Councilmember David Catania also had a good one: "The state drug czar is....I'm not even touching that one."

Then WRC-TV weathercasters Chuck Bell, Veronica Johnson, and Bob Ryan engaged in a painfully bad singing sketch, exacerbated by a malfunctioning microphone, that sent dozens to the ballroom doors.

Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton took the podium to put a little bit of a federal perspective on things, lightly bashing Michigan Sen. Carl Levin and WTOP commentator Mark Plotkin. Her sharpest line, however, connected a neighboring state's proposal to tax immigrants to the long-proposed D.C. commuter tax: "Interesting idea, Virginia: Tax people who cross your borders for good and services. Good thinking!"

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton recorded a video message for the occasion; it made fun of, among other things, her own controversial laugh, but there were a couple of local zingers. The best: "This is an exciting time for the District....There's a bold new baseball stadium to delight 40,000 fans. And there's parking for at least a thousand of them."

The skits were over, but the Barry roasting continued. Council Chairman Vincent Gray took to the podium for a valedictory speech that was supposedly to be low on laughs, but the chairman read a selection of straight-from-the-dais quotations from his colleagues.

His closer: "Marion said, 'Mr. Chairman, I want everyone to know that everyone should get a piece of the rock,'" Gray recounted. "True story!"

This photo, from Wednesday's announcement that the city will be spending a portion of a budget surplus on the D.C. Schools, is currently in rotation on the front page of dc.gov:

I know the Mayor & Co. don't want to look too gleeful when spending taxpayer money, but jeez--turn those frowns upside down!

Look up, guys--you got a $155 million surplus! It's not so bad!

Today is Car-Free Day in the District of Columbia, which provided city politicos a chance to prove their ecocredentials during this morning's commute.

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, who masterminded the holiday, rode his bike to work, as did City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans took Metro. But several other councilmembers chose less purist modes of transport.

At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz, for instance, says she was picked up and driven by a staffer to a morning appointment. She cited a rather bulky briefcase for the chauffeur treatment. She did, after the appointment, walk the remainder of the trip to the John A. Wilson Building. Her trademark Jaguar remained parked at home, she says.

The biggest splash came from At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, who arrived with Wells atop a police-issue Segway he rode all the way from his Hillcrest home. LL suggested to Wells that the Segway was cheating, seeing as it has a motor that has to be charged off the electric grid. Gotta watch that carbon footprint, Kwame!

Wells defended Brown's choice of wheels, calling them "in the spirit of the day." Brown said his conveyance was inspired by a sense of empathy: "I wanted to see what it was like for the disabled."

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander chose not to eschew internal combustion for her commute: She showed up on a sharp purple Vespa Granturismo scooter. In her defense, she did manage to scooterpool: Friend and Hillcrest resident Darryl D. Rose piloted the petite vessel to the Wilson Building while Alexander held on behind.

"I drive a Land Rover," she says. "I had to wean myself off."

And it seems that Car-Free Day might turn out to be Car-Free Morning for the D.C. Council. At the Council's pre-session breakfast meeting, discussions turned to transportation down to the Capitol for today's Senate vote on District congressional representation. Gray offered use of his official car and a van to ferry councilmembers the 13-and-a-half blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue NW for the vote.

Shaw resident and provocateur Ray Milefsky is proposing a solution for how citizens can band together to clean up accumulated trash on city streets. On the Third District community Listserv, he writes: “I am thinking a trip to deliver it to Jack Evans’ and Mayor Fenty's homes à la Michael Moore would be effective with cameras rolling and posting it on YouTube. The Washington Post seems to like these kinds of stories nowadays.”

Don’t forget TV news, Ray. At least one local news crew seems ready to pick up the trash delivery story. On Thursday, Channel 7 reporter Kris Van Cleave (above) e-mailed Milefsky: “If you go ahead with this plan to 'relocate' the debris, I'm pretty sure I can get a camera there. Would you please keep me posted?”

As the Foggy Bottom/West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting was about to conclude Wednesday evening, Eastbanc President Anthony Lanier asked hopefully if the crowd wanted to see his company's plans to remake two blocks in the West End. Derisive laughter provided the answer: No, the community did want to hear anything about development plans for Squares 37 and 50. What it wanted was for Lanier and the evening's other guest, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, to explain why public property on those blocks was approved for sale to Eastbanc in emergency legislation passed July 10 without a public hearing.

Evans took much of the heat and responded by being reasonably contrite. Although he insisted that the process was legal, he conceded that "notice should have been given" of the D.C. Council's intent to vote on the proposal, which would convey the neighborhood's library and fire station and a police department building to Eastbanc without a competitive-bidding process.

The councilmember suggested several times that the community might come to like Eastbanc's scheme to incorporate a new library and fire station into two large structures that would include housing and perhaps some retail. But he vowed in the future to vote on the issue strictly as instructed by the area's ANC and the Foggy Bottom Citizens' Association. He even offered to support reconvening the city council in a special session to reconsider the land sale, although he cautioned that such a session was unlikely.

"I would not have done this today," Evans said. "I don't want to get myself in this mess again. This is the last thing I expected to happen." (That seems disingenuous, especially since West End residents recently battled a bid to upzone Square 37, preventing much the sort of large-scale development the Eastbanc deal would bring.)

Read More "Emergency Fallout: No Shelter for Evans and Eastbanc" »