Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry has written a letter to at-large colleague David A. Catania accusing him of a "personal vendetta" and saying he's "perplexed, appalled, hurt by your increasingly [sic] levels of disrespect."

That includes Catania's decision to walk out on Friday's press conference announcing an independent investigation of Barry's contract with Donna Watts-Brighthaupt after Barry used to opportunity to rail against Park Police. And also Catania's abortive investigation into what "essentially is a personnel matter" with a nonprofit he funded through an earmark.

Why such treatment? Instead of the race card, Barry pulls the gay card: "I attribute your latest actions to my 'no' vote on recognizing same sex marriages from other states."

Read More "Marion Barry Lashes Out at David Catania" »

This afternoon, LL and other reporters hoping to follow his Friday scoop showed up to a Wilson Building hearing room to hear testimony on grants earmarked last year by Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry.

We were all disappointed.

At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania, who called the hearing to examine the role of "fiscal agents" in administering Department of Health grants, read an opening statement then announced he was recessing the hearing.

Read More "Catania Abruptly Cancels Hearing on Barry Earmarks" »

Washington City Paper is reporting tonight that Councilmember Marion Barry has funneled nearly $1 million dollars in city funds to six nonprofits under the apparent control of his own staff. Barry first secured funding for the groups in June 2008. But here's the catch: This was months before the groups existed, city records show.

Furthermore, incorporation documents appear to be marred by highly irregular representations. Two supposed incorporators of multiple organizations say their signatures were forged onto the papers, and one alleged director is a person who doesn't exist. And the documents were drawn up by paid Barry staffers and notarized by a close political ally of Barry. A Barry associate closely oversees the operations of all the groups.

These actions are entirely unconnected to Barry's contractual dealings with former girlfriend Donna Watts-Brighthaupt but raise similar questions about his use of public funds.

Read the entire story on Barry's financial dealings, and his staff's involvement.

Photo By Darrow Montgomery

Screw the tanking economy: Der Schweinmeister is back.

On Tuesday, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham pre-emptively told reporters that he'll be directing a grant or two in his pending committee report. "We do have earmarks," he said, "but we have kept them to an absolute minimum."

Absolute minimum, eh? Quite a boast for a guy whose committee report last year LL called "a true masterpiece of the porkly arts."

LL spent this evening poring through his report, released today. Graham's barely lost a step. By LL's count, he's sent more than $6 million to favored community groups and to projects almost entirely located within his home ward. That's roughly the same amount he sent to Ward 1 groups and projects last year.

Where'd the money come from? Most of it came from three spots: $6.8 million came from the new "Sweeper Cam" program, where street sweepers are now equipped with automated cameras to record illegally parked cars. That revenue, from an estimated 237,500 $40 tickets, hadn't been figured into the 2010 budget. Another $12.6 million comes from "enhanced neighborhood parking enforcement citations"---in other words, more parking enforcement officers writing more tickets on nights and weekends. Graham also found $12.7 million in Metro funds "double counted" in the budget. So he spent that, too.

Now most of that went to fund various agency budget lines and to restore programs in other agencies. But a bunch of it didn't. Here's the full list:

Read More "Graham Still Looking Out for (Ward) No. 1" »

Last spring, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and the D.C. Council took heat from LL and others for their earmarks in the yearly budget. In his initial FY09 budget proposal, Fenty included $27 million in noncompetitive grants, which the council later upped to $70 million. Things got to the point that Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray pushed through new restrictions on the earmarking practice.

Needless to say, in these times of fiscal rectitude, earmarks are very, very hard to come by, and this year's draft budget legislation no longer includes the exhaustive list provided in the past. But the earmarks are still there; they're just smaller and harder to find. One honeypot that LL has been able to identify is the Neighborhood Investment Fund---a pot of money set up as a sop to the Washington Interfaith Network and other activists during ballpark negotiations in 2004. The NIF, which is funded with up to $10 million yearly from personal property tax revenue, was intended to fund revitalization projects in a dozen underserved neighborhoods through a rigorous planning process.

The mayor is proposing taking $11.6 million from the NIF and spreading it to various places around the government. Much of it, under the proposal, is to stay under the control of the deputy mayor for planning and economic development---for instance, a $2.1 million subsidy to "fully fund the operating expenses of parking operations" at the DC USA development in Columbia Heights. And another $2.4 million is being set aside, vaguely, to "[r]estore adequate funding for current economic development operations."

Read More "Mayoral Earmarks Include $2.1M for DC USA Parking" »