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.

At the budget markup for the D.C. Council’s committee on economic development, chair Kwame R. Brown is proposing to take the responsibility for RFK Stadium away from the Sports and Entertainment Commission, which has operated the stadium in its various forms for 45 years, and will give it to the city’s Office of Property Management.

Developing.

UPDATE, 3:20 P.M.: Brown has he’s frustrated with his inability to get reliable financial info from the SEC. “It’s almost like trying to get information from the White House right now.” Carol Schwartz, who oversees the OPM budget in her own committee, wants a guarantee that the stadium money will move over. “Show me the money!” she says. Marion Barry is opposing; Jack Evans is looking extremely exasperated, as is SEC honcho Bill Hall, who is sitting in the chamber.

UPDATE, 3:35 P.M.: Brown’s maneuver fails. He agrees to strip the RFK transfer from the committee’s report, pending clarification on how to move the money to OPM.

This afternoon, the D.C. Council’s public works and environment committee voted to strip $2 million meant to reconstruct Klingle Road NW from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s budget proposal. Furthermore, the committee voted to add language to budget legislation requiring the road to remain closed, effectively overturning a 2003 council vote to reopen the road.

For LL’s take on the whole sordid story and how it got to this point, read this.

Committee chair and Ward 1 councilmember Jim Graham supported spending the money, as did Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser. Ward 3’s Mary Cheh, Ward 7’s Yvette Alexander, and at-large member Kwame R. Brown opposed doing so. Ward 8’s Marion Barry, though not a committee member, also showed up to speak in support of keeping the road closed.

The full council is free to revisit the decision when the budget legislation moves forward next month.

Updates to come.

UPDATE, 3:50 P.M.: A subsequent amendment by Cheh moves the $2 million in local money to alley repairs and earmarks another $2 million out of the District’s federal funds for environmental remediation of Klingle Valley and construction of a recreation trail.

UPDATE, 4:17 P.M.: After the markup ended, Graham vowed to take the matter to the full council at the May 13 budget session. He also said he intends to hold a public “roundtable” on the Klingle issue in the two weeks interim. “I think there’s going to be a lot of discussion,” he says. During the hearing, Graham had proposed delaying any vote until such a roundtable could be held. Cheh & Co. voted it down; “The public had had ample time….I don’t know anything that’s been debated more than Klingle Road,” she said.

UPDATE, 7:30 P.M.: The Fenty response, from spokesperson Carrie Brooks: “The Mayor will defer to the judgment of the members of the Committee on Public Works and the Environment on this issue. Having served as a councilmember for six years, he certainly appreciates the legislature’s role in shaping the District’s budget.”

In this week’s column, LL detailed the political machinations beneath the latest resurrection of the interminable Klingle Road dispute. In the process of counting the votes on a $2 million budget line item to move forward with road reconstruction, LL chose to count At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown as a “Spineless Wind-Twister” thanks to his comments in favor of further debate of an issue that has been debated for 17 years.

Well, yesterday, Brown called LL up and gave him an earful for lumping him in with Ward 8 Councilmember Marion S. Barry Jr. in that category. LL visited Brown’s office and listened as Brown explained his deep convictions—and campaign promises—against spending local money on Klingle Road repairs.

So there you have it folks: LL is officially pulling Brown from the Spineless Wind-Twisters and putting him amoung the proud ranks of the Bleeding-Heart Tree-Huggers. That’s brings the running count to eight anti-road votes, four pro-roaders, and one unknown.

Brown’s conviction also means that the mayor’s $2 million Klingle Road line item isn’t going to make it out of the council’s committee on public works and the environment. Committee chair and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham favors spending the money, as does Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser, but the other three committee members—Mary Cheh of Ward 3, Yvette Alexander of Ward 7, and Brown—are all now unequivocally on the record against it.

Look for that $2 million to be directed elsewhere at the committee’s April 30 budget markup.

Photo of Klingle Road 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

In a town where Barack Obama got better than 75 percent of the vote, this wasn’t supposed to happen. But it did anyway: Hillary Clinton picked up an extra District delegate to the Democratic National Convention last night. For that, Obama supporters have only their own to blame.

The D.C. Democratic State Committee met in the John A. Wilson Building for almost three hours to select a pair of unpledged add-on “superdelegates.” More than 20 signed up to run for the two slots, voted on by the 80-odd members of the committee. “Unpledged” in this case is a bit misleading; most delegate candidates’ presidential preferences were already widely known to voters.

The days and weeks before the vote saw furious lobbying of the 80-some committee members—especially on the Obama side—to sway votes to their presidential candidate. Obama organizers hoped to prevent a split vote by steering support to two delegate candidates: Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander, a longtime state committee member and favorite of the old guard, and lawyer Miriam Sapiro, a relative unknown favored by the grassroots types.

Though a number of the 25 candidates on the ballot withdrew before the vote, seven Obama supporters ended up running, while only two Clinton supporters only three Clinton supporters only two Clinton supporters stood: Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 3 resident Mary Ann Miller, and lawyer and ex-council staffer Aimee Occhetti.

Clinton’s name never came up in Thomas’ brief remarks before the vote; he instead chose to talk up his own qualifications and big-picture issues. “The issue is what are we going to do when we get to Denver that best represents the District of Columbia,” he said. (Rumors had swirled that Thomas planned to switch to Obama, but Thomas knocked those down after the vote: “I haven’t changed,” he says. “I’m consistent.”)

The actual candidates’ names rarely came up, in fact. The division within the Obama camp was briefly aired when candidate Linda Nguyen rose to say, “I only have 2 minutes to convince you to vote for me…not someone you promised the mayor you’d vote for.” That earned her hearty boos from the crowd. (Line of the night, though, came from Occhetti: “If you call me at 3 a.m., I will definitely try to answer the phone.”)

In the end, Alexander cruised to victory, but Sapiro came up two votes short; she got 22 to Thomas’ 24. Check after the jump for a full tally of the results (i.e., which Obama folks didn’t get with the program).

Delegate Potpourri

• Unsurprisingly, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray and At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown took the two spots reserved for PLEOs—party leaders and elected officials. Shadow Rep. Mike Panetta appeared on the original ballot but withdrew before the vote. In remarks after the vote, Gray said, “My life’s aspiration has been to be a PLEO. I’ve finally arrived!” Panetta says he plans to run for an alternate pledged at-large spot set to be selected on May 3. Barring that, committee chair Anita Bonds announced to the crowd that Panetta would be serving as the delegation’s Official Blogger in Denver. Says Panetta: “One way or another, I’ll be there.”
• Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans showed early in the meeting to greet the crowd but quickly left. Since the decision came down that both PLEOs were to be Obama-pledged, Evans did not appear on the ballot. Gray announced after voting that Evans would be running at the May 3 meeting for a pledged at-large slot for Clinton; Gray lobbied the crowd on Evans’ behalf.

Read the rest of this entry »

LL ran into former At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil at the Wilson Building yesterday afternoon. Brazil, as LL reported a couple of weeks back, gave $100 to his 2004 nemesis, Kwame Brown. His comments: “I’ll give him some more. I think he’s doing a good job.” —Mike DeBonis

Joe Fengler is pissed. The member of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6A, which serves Stanton Park, Lincoln Park, H Street NE, and other “East Hill” neighborhoods, is a strong proponent of the enhanced noise regulations that failed to proceed at a Tuesday D.C. Council meeting.

Perhaps the biggest reasons he’s pissed: Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander and At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, both of whom had supported the noise bill in the past (Brown was a co-sponsor), voted to table the bill on Tuesday.

Incensed at the flip-flop, Fengler wrote in an e-mail to his ANC colleagues and councilmembers that he’s “personally prepared to debate the merits of this bill with Alexander and Brown in a public forum over the next three weeks.”

Oh snap! Full e-mail after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Loose Lips attends the Obama Victory Party after polls closed on the Potomac Primary.

Loose Lips queries D.C. Councilmembers about The Real Super Tuesday, the Potomac Primary on Feb. 12.

Just when you think the terrible trend of randomly hung nooses is petering off, one ends up in the brand new baseball stadium. The noose was found Tuesday. According to NBC4, the worker who hung the noose was in his first day on the job for Reston-based Truland Systems, an electrical subcontractor. Another employee is expected to be fired today. The news broke last night, and apparently the political response couldn’t wait until the morning. This press release from At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown appeared in my box at exactly 11 p.m. last night:

Brown: I WANT ANSWERS NOW!–Brown to hold roundtable on noose discovered at ballpark

Tonight, At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown was outraged after learning a noose was discovered in a break room at the new ballpark. An employee from Truland Systems Corp. was identified as a culprit. Brown, who chairs the Committee on Economic Development and has oversight of the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, will hold a roundtable next week to investigate the incident.

“I want answers now,” exclaimed Brown. “This is an outrage. I will fight tooth and nail to discover the truth of what happened. I will also do what’s in my power to ensure that companies with a proven history of discriminatory practices never get contracts or do business with the District of Columbia. Hate crimes will not be tolerated.”

Brown is meeting with Clark/Hunt/Smoot and DCSEC [today] at 11:00 AM to begin the Committee’s inquiry. He is also considering a measure that would require the District to take into account the proven discriminatory history of a company and its employees when awarding city contracts.

When it comes to Truland’s “history of discriminatory practices,” the news coverage has already touched upon a sketchy incident. Five black electricians were fired recently after a Truland worker criticized their work and made what they considered to be derogatory comments.

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…

From Mayor Adrian M. Fenty:

“Our city has lost a true legend today,” said Mayor Fenty. “From the earliest days of Home Rule to the present, as an elected official and a private citizen, Hilda Mason was a force behind the voting rights movement and the education of thousands of young people. On behalf of the entire District of Columbia government and the residents we serve, I want to extend my deepest condolences to Councilmember Mason’s family and friends.”

From Councilmember Kwame R. Brown:

“While I was saddened to hear of the loss of former Councilmember Hilda Mason, I have been and continue to be inspired by her steadfast dedication to the District,” said Brown. “I believe that her spirit of civic involvement will continue to encourage more residents to become active members of the community. I’m grateful for her tireless commitment to education and to providing our city with full voting representation in Congress. She helped lay the foundation for a brighter future for all District residents.”

And the Post’s obit is up. Unsurprisingly, it’s been in the can for a while—co-byline J.Y. Smith’s been dead himself almost two years.

UPDATE, 4:02 P.M.: From At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson:

I am sad to have learned of the passing of former Councilmember Hilda Howland Mason. But it is a blessing that she lived a long life full of great contributions to humanity – as a teacher, civil rights activist, warrior for Home Rule and statehood, and legislator. The shoes of her predecessor, Julius Hobson, were hard to fill, but I think she filled them. Her many years on the Council were marked with progressive legislation aimed to improve the lot of the average citizen. She was always known as a lady of grace and dignity. Her passing is another moment in closing of the curtain on a great generation.

At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown is introducing a bill at today’s Council meeting to finally give some names to buildings on the University of the District of Columbia’s Van Ness campus.

Right now, the buildings are numbered, which, in a perverse way, has always seemed to fit the campus’s cold, ’70s-era architecture. And the numbers don’t really make sense. The campus has nine buildings; the numbering starts at 32 and goes to 52, obviously skipping a whole bunch of numbers along the way.

Brown’s proposal, which has gained a number of cosponsors, would name each campus building after a different UDC alum, as determined by a seven-member commission. Good move, Kwame, but one question: Why not do what just about every other campus on the face of the planet does and use the names to raise some money for the school? Restricting the names to UDC alums is a noble gesture, but wouldn’t throwing some high rollers up there be even better for UDC?

UPDATE, 11:45 A.M.: Brown, via a spokesperson, says that “while it doesn’t specifically mention it in the bill, the idea is ultimately to work with sponsors to support the renaming of each building when an alumnus is chosen to be honored.”

A document distributed by the Washington Nationals has gay and lesbian activists up in arms.

The memo [PDF] outlines the Nats’ “Vendor Procurement Program,” which, the document says, “is a significant business, public relations, and legal issue for the Nationals.” It goes on to outline a five-point affirmative-action policy, the last point of which is a promise that the team not “discriminate against any employee or applicant…because of race, color, ethnic status, religion, sex, age, national origin, disabled veteran status, Vietnam era veteran status, or disability.”

Conspicuously absent: any mention of sexual orientation.

Legally speaking, the omission doesn’t mean a whole lot, considering that anti-gay discrimination is prohibited under the D.C. Human Rights Act, which covers all of the criteria in the Nats’ policy, plus sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, familial status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, and place of residence or business. And the employment policy for the team itself, as listed on its Web site, includes sexual orientation as a protected class.

But relations between the baseball team and gay activists are particularly touchy considering that the Nationals’ stadium required the destruction of the city’s largest—well, only—gay entertainment district, meaning even perceived or inadvertent slights are grounds for mistrust and bad feelings.

Soon after receiving the document in a September meeting, longtime activist Philip Pannell dispatched an e-mail to Gregory McCarthy, the Nationals top local-affairs liaison, explaining his concerns and asking for a meeting.

“It is no secret that Major League Baseball has a history of being one of the most homophobic enterprises in our country and the omission of sexual orientation in its printed anti-discrimination policy may not be a simple omission…,” Pannell wrote. “Having a Gay Day once a year is not enough.

McCarthy, a former aide to Mayor Anthony A. Williams, wrote back, saying he’d asked the team’s general counsel to “ensure that our policies reflect local law (and local sensibilities)” and asked for more time to formulate a response.

Pannell followed up with a note last week, and when he did not hear a response from McCarthy, he took his concerns to the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, which had a meeting Monday.

Rick Rosendall, VP of political affairs for the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, says his group has also gotten involved.

Rosendall says this is “an opportunity for the Nats to show their respect for, and connection with, the D.C. community of which they are a part.” Adding sexual orientation and other categories covered by the Human Rights Act to the Nats’ policy, he says, “would be an affirmative way to show their commitment to and embrace of the District’s policy.”

McCarthy referred questions on the matter to Nationals spokesperson Chartese Burnett, who says that Nationals President Stan Kasten had called Stein Club leaders today to ease their concerns. “They did have a conversation, and it was a positive one,” she says.

And after the issue was brought up at the club’s Monday meeting, At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, who was present, contacted the Nationals on the club’s behalf.

“They’re working together to clarify the policy,” says Brown spokesperson Mike Price.