Bill Rice, longtime local government spokesperson and political junkie, has left the District's employ.

Rice, most recently spokesperson for the Office of Property Management, has spent many years at the city transportation department under director Dan Tangherlini. Rice's ousting comes weeks after Tangherlini's departure to federal government.

Rice was informed that his OPM position had been eliminated. That move comes after the city announced a serious revenue shortfall Monday, though it's not at all clear that immediate budget cuts would be necessary---the council is likely to vote to tap budget reserves. And for fiscal 2010, which starts Oct. 1 of this year, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty proposed in his budget plan adding an additional two employees to the agency's communications staff.

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If you pick one federal building in which to have you inaugural fete, make it the brand-new U.S. Department of Transportation. The D.C. Democratic State Committee's bash, the D.C. Presidential Inaugural Gala, is drawing a lot of gravitas from its surroundings alone. Trouble is, there's not a whole hell of a lot to keep the illusion alive. The Democratic State Committee is a chaotic and cash-poor organization with a different set of accounting problems each reporting period. So even though it's throwing a bash in these swank confines, the fare can be categorized charitably as "light refreshments"---i.e., cheese cubes and fruit. And the only notables on this evening have been Tommy Wells, Yvette Alexander, and Vincent Orange. No titles necessary with those names. Plus, the downside of running a shindig in a federal building is that you can't get rid of the security folks. They're like Bill Rice--everywhere you look, there they are!

Reporting by Mike DeBonis, writing by Erik Wemple

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