A compromise of sorts was in the works today: Councilmembers Jim Graham, Jack Evans, and Muriel Bowser, all supporters of the gang injunctions, proposed allowing the measures for six months in their own wards---1, 2, and 4, respectively.

That proposal didn't get very far with their colleagues.

"We cannot have a tale of two cities," said Harry Thomas Jr., who alluded to 'Jim Crow laws' in his comments on the debate.

At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson called it "a very convoluted approach to crime-fighting."

Ward 6's Tommy Wells reversed his earlier vote against gang injunctions to vote for them here (though he didn't endorse them to the point that he added Ward 6 to the compromise amendment): "There's a lot of ideology, there's a lot hyperbole...but I think it's a rational act for the council to do this and I think it's in the best interest of children."

In any case, the council voted the ward-only approach down, 5 to 8.

On the final, permanent crime bill, it passed 10 to 3---without the support of hardliner Jack Evans. "Unfortunately the bill before us is not the bill I had hoped," he said, recounting that a cop he had spoken to had described the final bill as "the criminal protection act." Bowser and David Catania joined him in a protest vote.

At last: Let the grandstanding end!

The reason as stated in the press advisory is not a shocker. Fenty and Co. plan on using yesterday's shooting to press for the controversial gang injunctions. According to the advisory: "The Fenty Administration and members of the D.C. Council will address the recent gun violence in Columbia Heights, and push for emergency enactment of a gang injunction."

Fenty will be on hand along with AG Peter Nickles, Assistant Chief Diane Groomes, and Councilmembers Jack Evans, David Catania, Muriel Bowser, and Jim Graham.

The grandstanding and/or Grahamstanding ought to reach epic levels.

Yes. Gangs are scary. But D.C. has plenty of tools already on the books. The District does not need to go into civil court with these new crime-bill tools. The Feds have long used RICO to take gangs off street corners. They've been quite successful. RICO is scary, too. Gang leaders like Kevin Gray and Tommy Edelin have found that out. Death penalty cases are now part of D.C.

There are also already civil tools the city has used like nuisance property laws that can target crack houses and shut them down. The results have been mixed. Innocent families have been targeted based on flimsy evidence.

There are also plenty of stay-away orders issued every day in D.C. Superior Court. It's now almost automatic for drug-related defendants (dealers and users) to be given a stay-away order from the area in which they were busted. So I'm not sure that the proposed civil court weapons are necessary.

There are some great things in the crime bill particularly aimed at stalkers. But the gang stuff seems redundant and wrongheaded. These amount to quick fixes that aren't very imaginative. Gang laws are already on the books, police and residents just need to use them in consistent and just ways.

Today, of course, WTOP's Mark Segraves breaks big Nickles news. He finds out where Nickles is living in the District. He also has a running twitter account of his interview with the cranky AG. Nickles won't say whether he registered as a Democrat or not. He'd only say he is a supporter of Fenty and Obama.

And finally, DC Watch, a few days ago, slams all the political posturing over the D.C. crime bill. The rant is old but still very worthy of your time.

The Watch writes:

On Monday, Councilmember Phil Mendelson held a committee hearing on the Omnibus Anti-Crime Amendment Act of 2009. The Fenty administration and its supporters have been hyping the bill as the miraculous solution to all DC’s crime problems, one that must be passed without any delay or doubt, and they have been Mau-Mauing and politically bullying Mendelson because he has actually insisted on holding hearings and on listening to opponents as well as supporters of the bill. The Fentyists have tried mightily to exploit every recent shooting, claiming that it could have been prevented had the bill been passed earlier. Ward One Councilmember Jim Graham did so on Friday, May 15, when he wrote to neighborhood listservs about a targeted shooting at 14th and Columbia that, “at least three police officers were right there at the shooting. There are various cameras, including an MPD crime camera at 14th and Columbia, and other cameras on the buildings. All of that is now being checked for evidence. All of this reinforces my support for fast council action on Mayor Fenty's omnibus crime bill.” Right. Three police officers right at the scene couldn’t prevent the shooting; more legislation could.