Sommer Mathis

The hiring and firing of individual public information officers is the kind of story that only journalists care about. These are the people who reporters rely on to get back to us quickly with accurate information, and when they appear to lose their jobs for over-sharing with the media, it naturally rankles. Not only is it a sign that the current administration is interested in making it more difficult for reporters to do their jobs, but the best PIOs, like Piringer, tend to have personal relationships with the journalists they talk to everyday. Nothing can set off a wave of resentment across an entire press corps like the removal of a decent flack.

But this particular move by the District, to stem the tide of information coming out of the city's fire department, should alarm anyone who cares about transparency and responsiveness in local government. It's also part of a larger picture that's emerged over the last several months of the current administration's desire to keep crucial public safety information out of the hands of the public.

Piringer's @dcfireems tweets were useful in a more basic way, too. They painted a broad picture of the work that emergency respondents in D.C. do every day. From the frequent (and no longer tweeted) "Ped struck" and "Cyclist struck" messages to the notes about downed trees, it was a reminder that things in this city don't stop when your commute ends. It's a shame, that in the process of "protecting" itself, the city's government is making even its good work less visible.

Yesterday, Mayor Adrian Fenty fired DYRS' interim-director and replaced him with AG Peter Nickles' "top aide" Robert Hildum. In today's WaPo story, the controversial attorney general had high praise for his side kick:

"Nickles said that Hildum's experience as a prosecutor is an asset at a time when some critics have said that the agency's focus on rehabilitation has come at the expense of public safety. 'I think Rob Hildum brings that terrific approach of balancing rehabilitation with protection of the community,' Nickles said."

But two Fire Department investigators turned whistleblowers may have a different view of Hildum's prosecutorial style. Hildum was instrumental in helping Fire Department brass ruin their careers.

In recent years, Greg Bowyer and Gerald Pennington spoke out repeatedly at what they considered to be shoddy investigative work by the Fire Department, racist hiring practices, and improper prosecutions by the OAG. They called out several cases–including the Eastern Market fire–which they claim were not handled properly by authorities. They have since been demoted for their efforts. Hildum was instrumental in Bowyer's demotion, erroneously claiming in a letter to the U.S. Attorney's Office [see PDF] that the investigator had committed perjury during a trial. Bowyer ended up detailed out of the fire investigations unit. He now works in a unit testing fire hydrants. The U.S. Attorney's Office never brought a perjury charge against Bowyer. [For the full accounting of Bowyer and Pennington's case see this timeline]. Hildum eventually wrote a damaging letter saying he wouldn't support any of Pennington's cases. Hildum's letter writing campaign began after the two filed a complaint against an OAG attorney (who was at one point a very questionable police officer; she resigned from the force while under investigation for covering up mistakes made in a missing person's case).

Pennington has been cleared of all charges but remains out of fire investigations; he's now the most-over qualified firefighter to ever ride an ambulance.

Hildum apparently shares many of the same dickish traits as AG Nickles. In Bowyer's trial board hearing, Hildum admitted that one of the reasons he wrote those critical letters is that Bowyer and Pennington had filed a complaint against one of his own.

Bowyer and Pennington have a civil suit pending in federal court. "The fire department and the Office of Attorney General retaliated against Bowyer and Pennington for refusing to go along with faulty investigations, prosecutions and cover-ups," says their attorney David J. Marshall. "Through their lawsuit, they intend to expose the motivation behind the actions taken against them and to correct the injustice that they suffered."

*classic file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

"It happened Thursday about 6 p.m. in the northwest section of the city. Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer says the truck was leaving the scene of a small kitchen fire when a 14-year-old male on a skateboard grabbed the truck to be pulled.

The youth fell and the truck ran over his foot. He was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries."

In my item (linked above, please read it!), I quote from two OAG lawyers' e-mails to the fire department. The two attorneys call out the department for their potentially damaging stonewalling on the discovery, and question whether fire investigators followed basic national standards when they worked the Georgetown library case.

In my calls to the OAG prior to publishing the piece (linked above, please read it!), I got nowhere. Nothing much beyond no comment, it's pending litigation, the usual.

A few hours after my item ran (linked above, please read it!), OAG's Kimberly Matthews called to say she really, really wanted to see those e-mails. Could I please send them to her?

I wondered aloud to Matthews: Why would you need me to give you e-mails your own people sent? Couldn't you get the e-mails another way like by asking the attorneys that sent them? After all, the e-mails were sent by her people.

I told her no dice.

I wonder if this is a ploy to try and figure out who leaked me those e-mails? Or am I just being paranoid?

Morning all. Late last night, we published a piece on the latest mystery woman in Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry's life: Sharon Bowen. Bowen, who resides in Ohio, received $50,000 in contract work from the legendary politico to work on poverty issues in Ward 8. Bowen, our sources say, was also Barry's girlfriend at the time (June 2007 to May 2008). For the piece, we detail her work and interview key players including Barry and Bowen's daughter. Meanwhile, the Hill Rag's The Nose examines Barry's legislative record and finds it lacking in accomplishments. The upshot: many of Barry's bills go nowhere and his priorities seem misplaced.

TREY JOYNER: The U.S. Park Police shooting of Trey Joyner on June 8 is getting a serious look by law enforcement authorities. On that Monday night, four park police cops in plainclothes moved in on Joyner as he was getting out of a car. When the officers tried to arrest him, allegedly a struggle ensued and he was gunned down. Witnesses at the time stated that Joyner was shot in the back and that the officers did not announce themselves. Now, WaPo is reporting that a federal grand jury is getting deep into the case and has subpoenaed an amateur video showing the chaos in Trinidad after the shooting. The WaPo scoop includes an interview with the filmmaker and has the man's video. Fox-5 finds Eleanor Holmes Norton is still fuming over whether or not the U.S. Attorney's Office should be leading the investigation into the shooting. If only all suspicious police shootings got this much attention.

HOMELESS FAMILIES: District officials plan to expand the number of beds for homeless families by 10 percent. But there's a catch: the extra beds will only be available in the winter. WaPo reports that means 75 more beds (WUSA also has the story). Key graphs:

"Nassim Moshiree, a lawyer with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said the officials who presented the plan seemed overconfident. 'This past spring, 88 families were living at the family shelter at D.C. General Hospital when the capacity was 75,' Moshiree said. 'Some had to stay in the cafeteria. They say they'll only need 75 beds there in the winter, when demand is high now. Where is their Plan B? They need a Plan B.'

Fred Swan, family services administrator for the Department of Human Services, said Moshiree voiced a common complaint. 'To a certain extent, we hear that every year,' Swan said. 'We'll make adjustments as needed.'

AFTER THE JUMP—Cathy Lanier dismisses the controversy over the "police" report in Fenty's car accident, Harry Jaffe continues to hammer away at the Pershing Park case, Fenty signs anti-crime bill, and much, much more.

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT: D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier doesn't get why the press—and maybe a few readers—are concerned over how the police handled Mayor Fenty's fender bender. "I think there has been a lot of things made out of nothing here," Lanier tells WJLA. Nothing? WaPo has more from Lanier on the accident. Key quote: "'[Fenty] stayed on the scene. The [mayor's] children that were on the scene, were taken from the scene, but he stayed on the scene while the other driver didn't,' Lanier said. 'There are no procedures that were not followed. We thought that it was important to get the report taken and then file the supplemental report when we got the information. The important thing was to take the report, and it was taken, The photos were not taken because the other driver left the scene. The mayor stayed on the scene. He could have left because it was a minor fender-bender — if this was anybody else, they could have exchange information and left the scene.'

MORE TROUBLE FOR PETER NICKLES: The Examiner's Bill Myers is reporting that there's a big conflict brewing betweeen AG Nickles and City Auditor Deborah Nichols. Key graphs: "City Auditor Deborah Nichols says she wants a look at the last few years of books of the Anacostia Waterfront Commission and the National Capital Revitalization Corp. but that Nickles is invoking attorney-client privilege to prevent access to important records. 'It's quite clear that the [Attorney General's Office] is inexplicably attempting to subvert the auditor's authority,' Nichols wrote in a July 2 letter obtained by The Examiner. Nichols called the attorney general's conduct 'unconscionable and unacceptable.'" Nickles says his actions were "appropriate." Myers goes on to explain why Nichols is so interested: "According to a source familiar with Nichols' audit, she also is asking questions about tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees the revitalization corporation paid to Michelle Fenty in 2006 as Mayor Adrian Fenty, then a D.C. councilman, campaigned for the mayor's office. The mayor's wife focuses her practice on global technology transactions and does not appear to have a background in community development." Meanwhile, Harry Jaffe compares the problems in the Pershing Park case to Watergate.

CAFRITZ FIRE: Today, Mayor Fenty plans on announcing the preliminary findings in the city's investigation into the hydrant problems surrounding the Peggy Cooper Cafritz house fire. WaPo reports that WASA has written a letters to City Administrator Neil O. Albert in an apparent attempt to push some of the blame on the Fire Department. Fenty is expected to hold a news conference today near the Cafritz home. WUSA reports that the Fire Department is already taking measures—measures that were recommended in 2007—to prevent such hydrant issues from happening again.

BUDGET TALK: Elissa Silverman and Liz Williams get all ProPublica on the District as they report out what happened to the city's federal stimulus money in the Hill Rag. They find that without the fed's help the District would be in total budget meltdown mode: "The stimulus is helping DC in two key ways. Plummeting tax revenues combined with increased demands for health care and other human services have created gaping holes in state and local government budgets everywhere. The District is no exception. About a quarter of DC’s budget gap this year and next will be plugged by various pots of money made available from the stimulus. Without that critical influx of dollars, the city would have had to make even deeper spending cuts that would have led to more job losses and slowed down our economic recovery."

CRIME BILL: WaPo reports that Mayor Fenty signed the emergency crime bill (minus the tricky anti-gang initiative). Fenty and Lanier praised the bill's new anti-loitering provisions, etc. Fenty still played the spoilsport: the bill's author Councilmember Phil Mendelson did not attend the bill signing photo op. He was not invited. Wondering why? Mendo did not support the anti-gang initiative.

FENTY'S SCHEDULE:
9:00 a.m. Remarks
Chain Bridge Fire Report
Location: 3022 Chain Bridge Road, NW

10:00 a.m. Remarks
Summer School Graduation
Location: Washington Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
Ballroom AB Level III

11:45 a.m. Remarks
Potomac Avenue Triangle Park Groundbreaking
Location: Intersection of Potomac Avenue, 13th, and I Streets, SE

1:30 p.m. Remarks
Marvin Gaye Park Groundbreaking
Location: Intersection of Division Avenue and Foote Street, NE

The one thing you don't mess around with in a tragedy is the body count. But yesterday morning during a press conference on the metro crash, Mayor Adrian Fenty did just that. Even though Metro and the Fire Department had confirmed that nine passengers had died in the Red Line accident, Fenty overruled those officials and confused everyone. Fenty decided presumably on his own that in fact only seven were confirmed dead.

Shortly after the press conference, the body count rose back to nine.

City Desk tried to figure out the discrepency yesterday. Was it a matter of government sources getting ahead of themselves? Was it simply a matter of confusion at the crash scene? Today, the Washington Post published a story which reveals the source of the mix up: Fenty.

The Post reports:

"The confusion over the number of casualties — even as Fenty stood with Metro officials at the news conference — emerged as a particular sore spot. A Metro source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials were debating whether they should count those dead people who had not been pulled from the wreckage, and Fenty apparently decided that he should not.

'It indicates that we're not really on top of it if we can't count to nine,' said Tony Bullock, senior vice president of Washington-based Ogilvy Government Relations, who was press secretary to Anthony A. Williams (D) when Williams was mayor.

Fenty said in an interview that he was using 'an abundance of caution' in releasing information and that he might have overdone it. 'Obviously, there's always things that could have been done differently,' he said."

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Today, the Nats lost more than just a game (the team got blanked 7-0 vs. the Mets), the Nats also lost use of its pyrotechnics. D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin put at least a temporary end to the stadium's fireworks displays. Rubin attended today's game, and after a fireworks display for the National Anthem ordered them to be stopped. Why?

Fireworks debris had fallen on the fire chief. According to a source familiar with the dustup, the chief then got super testy—at one point, invoking his fancy fire chief title.

Fire Department spokesperson Alan Etter confirmed the basic account via e-mail.

"[Rubin] said debris did fall on him – he was not hurt," Etter wrote. "He did have a safety concern, that's why the decision was made – so the process can be examined and adjusted, if necessary."

The firework company had been launching its pyrotechnics since the Nats called RFK home. The company's work had been vetted repeatedly. We're awaiting comment from the firework company. There's much more to this story.

Update 7:35 p.m.: According to a source, Rubin was hit with paper debris.

According to a fire department document obtained by City Desk, the fireworks company had a permit for its work at the Nats stadium. There are also clear lines of responsibility regarding fireworks safety. It appears that Chief Rubin overruled one of his own firemen when he shutdown the fireworks.

The document states that department "provides site safety for the pyrotechnics shot at the Nationals Ballpark on game days. The shoot is from the rooftop.... The shoot consists of multiple shots (National Anthem, team-on-field, and any home run/victory)."

The document goes on to state:

"It is the responsibility of the [fire department] inspector to communicate with the operator any observed risks or deficiencies and take the necessary actions to prevent injuries or damage. It is also the responsibility of the inspector communicate with the Nationals Command any observed risks or events that could lead to injury or damage."

Rubin would have had to overrule his own on-scene fire inspector to halt the fireworks displays.

"I know there's something going on. The fire inspector, it wasn't his call. The actual fire inspector on duty. I know it wasn't his call. It was 100 percent Chief Rubin's call and he was just there for the game. He wasn't there for official business," says a source familiar with today's events. The source says the fireworks were completely safe; there had been no complaints until today.

Fluttering-post-launch-paper debris, the source contended, was normal.

Rubin was not exactly diplomatic when he argued for the fireworks to be shutdown. According to the source, Rubin at one point told authorities: "Do you know who I am?"

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Earlier this morning three houses burned on the 2200 block of Douglas Street NE [fire department tweets are wrong on location]. It started at 2210 and spread into 2208 and then 2212. Here are some amazing pictures captured by a city source.

Yesterday's massive water main break in Adams Morgan stressed out Monique Lecomte and Joseph Currie. They reside at 1748 V Street NW. Today, they are dealing with contractors assessing the damage to their basement dining room and kitchen. Industrial dehumidifiers are at full blast. A contractor rips at the bottom of the walls in the dining room. But perhaps nothing hurt Currie more than what the Washington Post did to him with its story on the great flood of '09. There are some things more painful than wall mold.

Like being misquoted about the great flood of '09. Currie says he was a victim of a reporter's bad shorthand. The Post quoted Currie saying: "When I opened up the front door, all of the water rushed inside."

That is not what happened, Currie insists today. The water did not rush inside. Hopefully, historians won't make that mistake in their retelling of yesterday's dramatic narrative.

Imagine waking up at some godawful hour by a fireman or cop thumping on your basement door telling you that your home is flooding? Imagine then having to spend serious time a) worrying about the water; b) worrying if that water was going to seep into your 1919 Chickering piano; c) attempting to clear the small drain outside your door because it was starting to clog; and d) worrying about why water was seeping through the walls. Now imagine spending your entire day dealing with the minor water damage, the insurance people and their contractors. And then waking up to seeing your name in lights attached to a misquote?

Currie says water did not rush into his home. It seeped. And it pooled around the drain outside his front door. But it did not "rush inside" when he opened the door for the firemen or police. Now he must deal with the damage.

"I can't think of what we could have done," Currie says. I would like to say he was talking about the Post. But that would be taking his quote out of context. He's hurting enough.

Currie is actually talking about the physical problems the flood left in its wake.

In his dining room, the damage was minimal. Water corroded one wall or part of one wall–it had to be ripped up. The 1919 Chickering survived the great flood of '09, but it did not survive contractors attempts to move it. The move caused the legs to come off. The piano had to be propped up by an old trunk. He has two other pianos.

The kitchen floor was streaked with mud. An industrial dehumidifier hummed away. Mold was the real stress. It had been detected already in the walls. The mold particularly disturbed his housemate Lecomte. Lecomte purchased the row house 30 years ago from money she made teaching French to Peace Corps volunteers. She grew up in The Left Bank and followed a German lover to Washington. The relationship didn't take. But she stayed in the city and worked for various embassies before joining the Peace Corps. She now manages Curries career, occasionally getting him gigs in her native city and elsewhere.

The mold, and the prospect of more mold, bothered her. She also faces the prospect of losing her 15-year-old kitchen wallpaper. "What kind of bullshit is this," Lecomte says standing in her dining room.

Currie says he does not have PTSD. In fact, he does not know what PTSD stands for.

It might be a misquote to say Lecomte is suffering from a little post-traumatic stress. But we are sure she said this: "I want to go to France. I want to go home."

Photos by Darrow Montgomery

Few in public service have fallen harder. Recently, we chronicled Greg Bowyer, a fire department whistleblower who had been demoted from arson investigator to hydrant checker. Today, his hydrant checking duties were temporarily suspended in favor of rescuing some flooded bathrooms. This morning he attended to the Florida Avenue NW water main break–which still appears to be a problem–and helped citizens mop up their flooded basements and bathrooms. "We responded code one with lights and sirens," Bowyer says of his community service unit's response to the bathroom detail.

Bowyer adds he's "thankful for the unique opportunity."

"I'm not sure if this is a promotion from the hydrant detail or a demotion," Bowyer jokes. "It wasn't too bad today. At least I helped some citizens even if it was just cleaning the bathrooms out....After a year, I finally got a chance to respond to an emergency, although it was a water emergency."

First CFSA lost its spokesperson powers to the Mayor's Office. Now, it's the Fire Department's turn to refer all calls to Fenty spokesperson Mafara Hobson. At this point, I feel sorry for Hobson. Her job is busy enough with the on-going budget debates, the travel issues, etc. Now, she gets to field inquiries about the D.C. Fire Department activities.

Today, I e-mailed Fire Chief Dennis Rubin seeking comment for a story I am working on concerning whistleblower/Fire Investigator Greg Bowyer. I then followed up with a phone call to Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite to ask for Rubin's phone number.

By then, Rubin had already complained about my e-mail to Crosswhite. And my e-mail had already been forwarded to Hobson. I asked: why had Hobson become the Fire Department's vetting machine.

“I’m waiting to hear back from the mayor’s office," Crosswhite told me of my interview-with-Rubin request. "All communications go to the mayor’s office prior to us making comments.”

Update 2:31 p.m.: Fire Department is now on Facebook and Twitter.