IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Fenty, Transparency, Scrutiny: The Political Fallout of FOIA Reform," "Council Ices Statehood Committee," "Mount Pleasant NIMBYs Battle Over Haydee's," "Photos: Strasburg's Debut @ Nationals Park," "Triple Shooting Near Howard University"

Howdy. D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols finds that the District rarely enforces laws providing that city contractors hire local workers and pay living wages. Along with the city's high unemployment rate, and staggering homeless problem, LL wonders where is the mayor on this issue? Michael Neibauer reports: "District laws requiring that developers of taxpayer-funded projects hire D.C. residents and pay their employees a living wage are poorly monitored and rarely enforced, a new audit finds.The failure of multiple District agencies, primarily the Department of Employment Services, to manage or even implement the 'first source' and living wage programs has cost hundreds of D.C. residents potential jobs and the city government millions in potential tax revenue, D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols concluded in the May 18 report. District residents, Nichols reported, 'may not be receiving an equitable hourly wage rate.'"

Neibauer goes on to report: "Meanwhile, of the 700,000 jobs in D.C., 72 percent are held by non-District residents, said Councilman Michael Brown, D-At large, who has oversight of DOES as chairman of the Housing and Workforce Development Committee. 'When you’re looking at these high unemployment numbers,' he said, 'I don’t know what is a higher priority.' Only four of 16 development projects that Nichols reviewed met the 51 percent hiring requirement. The 12 that did not, including DC USA, Kenyon Square and the Mandarin Oriental hotel, amounted to 361 jobs and $14.3 million in earnings lost. While that is an estimated figure, Nichols wrote, 'it shows the type of economic fortune that could have occurred for the District and its residents had District agency officials and developers been more committed to FSA laws and processes.'"

More coverage via the Examiner's Alan Suderman: "Nichols found that Mayor Adrian Fenty's office had essentially ignored the city's Living Wage Act of 2006, which requires city contractors to pay workers at least $12.10 an hour. Nichols also noted that Fenty's administration, including Attorney General Peter Nickles, refused to allow her access to all the documents she requested for the audit. The mayor's spokeswoman and Nickles could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday."

And Nickles wants to toughen the city's FOIA laws making it that much harder for reporters and citizens to access government documents. If he won't turn over materials to the city's auditor, do you think he'll turn over materials to you? This LL bets our AG has spent more man hours stonewalling Pershing Park plaintiffs attorneys or suing lawyers in special education cases than going after contractors who fail to live up to their obligations to city workers. Council Chair Vincent Gray won't need a focus group to realize he needs to make this a campaign issue.

AFTER THE JUMP—Politics and Prose owners say store is for sale, more Tax Office Troubles, Trey Joyner's family speaks out, Fenty addresses Hadar resignation, and much, much more!

POLITICS AND PROSE: WaPo's Michael Rosenwald reports that the beloved bookstore is up for sale: "The store's owners, Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade, both 74 and so in synch they often wear the same colors without planning to, said they are simply too tired to keep steering Washington's most prominent non-chain bookstore — a premier stop on top-shelf author tours and a frequent setting for book talks on C-SPAN — through the uncertainty of an industry threatened by e-books. Cohen is also seriously ill. 'It's time for us to stop and let somebody else take over for the future,' Meade said in the 26-year-old store's cramped office. Cohen, eyes reddening, said, 'I just don't have the energy like I used to.' Meade and Cohen said that their 60 employees are nervous but that the sale should not be perceived as the store's final chapter. Despite doom and gloom in the industry, Meade said, 'there are no financial problems here. We make a good profit.'" More coverage via WBJ, DCist. On their blog, the bookstore's owners promise: "Although we are contemplating retirement, we anticipate maintaining a regular presence during the transition, and hopefully afterward. Our goal is to find new leadership to operate the business in the spirit which has been our hallmark. As always, we'll see you at the store!"

TAX OFFICE TROUBLES (AGAIN): The Examiner's Scott McCabe reports that a D.C. tax office investigator and a Bethesda businessman have been indicted on bribery charges: "Shelly-Ann N. Wicker, an investigator for the Office of Tax and Revenue, and John F. Craul, owner of a corporate tax consulting firm, were indicted on 28 counts of bribery and forgery charges. The alleged scheme lasted between 2005 and 2007, ending mere months before the FBI uncovered a different $50 million scandal in the same office. Reached by phone Wednesday, Craul called the charges ridiculous. 'I have never bribed anybody, and they don't have proof,' Craul said. 'If Shelly did it, she did it on her own.' Craul said he and Wicker were good friends, and he loaned her money and she paid him back. 'I wish I could afford to bribe somebody,' Craul said, 'but I don't have any money.'" The scheme cost the District roughly $106,000.

D.C. STATEHOOD: WaPo's Mike DeBonis assesses the District's failed efforts to win voting rights in Congress and where to go from here. Vincent Gray offers a simple solution: fight for statehood. DeBonis writes: "Gray and others explain their frustration as rooted in political reality: The Democratic Party has majority control of Congress, plus a Democratic president in Obama. But still the voting-rights compromise has failed. 'If we can't get it now, then when?' asked Gray, who is running for mayor. 'Why don't we just go for the whole enchilada?' 'There's a greater understanding that it's not any more difficult to get statehood than it is to get a single House vote,' said Michael D. Brown (D), one of two shadow senators elected by District voters to advocate for statehood. And that new understanding has been accompanied by second-guessing. 'Statehood is the big fish, and I think we should have put more effort in that originally,' said member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7), who heads up the council's voting-rights advocacy efforts. 'We would have made much more headway if we have just focused on that.' The failure of the one-vote compromise has also emboldened longtime statehood activists who have been overshadowed by the voting-rights establishment. 'It's an I-told-you-so moment,' activist Anise Jenkins said. 'A lot of people put a lot of energy and money into this effort, and it was a total misdirected waste of time.'"

METRO MESS: Unsuck Metro reports that Transit Union boss Jackie Jeter invoked slavery in an e-mail defending a Metro bus driver who punched McGruff the Crime Dog.

TRIPLE SHOOTING: Last night, three people were shot near Howard University, NC8 reports: "It happened shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday at 8th and V St NW, a block from the 930 Club. DC Councilmember Jim Graham says two vehicles met up at the spot and fire was exchanged. One witness said he heard two gunshots while leaving a building, then saw people disperse and one man squirming on the ground after being shot. Other people say they saw a victim running toward Howard University, then fall to the ground near the McDonald's." More coverage via WaPo, NBC4, WTOP.

Meanwhile most of those troublesome traffic lights have been fixed.

FENTY ON NEWSTALK: The mayor stopped by NewsTalk for an interview. WaPo's Mike DeBonis took notes: "Fenty also addressed why his well-regarded HIV/AIDS czar, Shannon Hader, abruptly left the city health department. He noted that Hader spent more than three years on the job, 'easily the longest-serving HIV/AIDS administrator by at least double,' he said. But would not address why she left—including rumors of a clash with health director Pierre Vigilance— saying only that 'for professional reasons, she's moved on.' DePuyt noted that Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chair of the health committee and usually an ardent Fenty supporter, called Hader's departure 'catastrophic' in a Post story today. But Fenty wouldn't directly address the claim: "We have momentum. We're on a upward trajectory," Fenty said, noting that Hader's replacement, Nnemdi Kamanu Elias, has a resume 'every bit as exciting and robust as Dr. Hader's was when we hired her.'"

TREY JOYNER: WaPo reports that Trey Joyner's family held a news conference demanding answers into his death, and for the park police officers to be held accountable: "Almost a year to the day of the June 8, 2009, incident, the family and supporters held a news conference Wednesday outside the John A. Wilson Building to say that the investigation is taking too long and they are looking for justice. 'It does take time to take care of business,' said Brenda Joyner, Trey Joyner's mother. 'But it shouldn't take this long.'"

INTRODUCING THE STRASBURGER: Perhaps nothing got more coverage than BGR's tribute to the Nats pitching phenom. Certainly more reporters covered this burger than the Nichols' audit on jobs. Here's just one story on the now-famous burger.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:

7:10 a.m. Guest
Fenty on Fox
Location: Fox 5

9:30 a.m. Remarks
Frank Kameny Way Naming
Location: 17th and R Streets NW

3:00 p.m. Remarks
Ribbon Cutting for Tewkesbury Condominiums
Location: 6425 14th St. NW

"They use these exceptions to deny anything," Morris told D.C. Councilmembers at a hearing this week on open government and transparency at the Wilson Building . “I don’t want to pick on the attorney general," Morris added. To which, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh quickly replied, greeted by laughter in Room 412, "Why not?"

Cheh's proposed Open Government Act of 2010 may cause major headaches not just for D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles (who cites "insurmountable challenges" in FOIA compliance) but also, as Loose Lips Daily alluded to yesterday morning, Mayor Adrian Fenty. As a mayoral candidate in 2006, Fenty did plenty to profess a new golden age of transparency and openness in how the District conducts its business. Instead, figures from Cheh's office show, the average number of FOIA requests denied by the city has only increased–quadrupling, in fact–during Fenty's tenure.

"Councilmember Cheh has been on a mission to reform government, so you can't assume her sunlight initiative was launched with politics in mind," local political consultant Chuck Thies tells City Desk. "That said, at this point in the campaign, Fenty can't be pleased to see his poor record on open government and transparency scrutinized,” adds Thies, who is supporting (but not working for) Fenty's opponent, Council Chairman Vincent Gray, in the upcoming mayoral race . “His practice as mayor contradicts what he preached on the 2006 campaign trail."

Kristopher Baumann of the Fraternal Order of Police’s police labor committee praised Cheh for her courage to push her legislation in what’s becoming a highly charged campaign season. "This is long overdue," said Baumann, whose union has regularly butted heads with the Metropolitan Police Department over public information access. "I realize you’re going to face pushback from the executive."

On Monday, witness after witness, from Carl Messineo of the Partnership for Civil Justice to Washington Post lawyer James McLaughlin to Jenny Reed of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, pointed to structural and procedural problems with FOIA compliance in the District and offered measured praise for Cheh’s open government reform efforts, which also include new rules for lobbying disclosure and calls for the creation of an Open Government Office to enforce FOIA compliance.

Others had harsh words for Nickles, who in a June 10 memo to Chairman Gray, wrote that "in the context of significant FOIA request volumes, increased complexity of the FOIA requests made, and reduced agency resources, the absence in our FOIA statute of a time-frame 'safety valve' similar to that in the federal FOIA is creating insurmountable challenges for the District. These challenges are felt first at the administrative level but are increasingly resulting in litigation outcomes highly unfavorable to the District, despite the documented best efforts of agency employees and officials to meet their obligations."

Some witnesses testified that the District wouldn’t face so much FOIA litigation in the first place if government agencies were simply more forthcoming with public information, or just comply with the current law. While the number of FOIA requests has remained mainly steady in recent years, the number of outright information request denials has increased during Fenty’s tenure as mayor.

"Some of these cases go back five years. They have been unable–no, unwilling–to comply with FOIA," Baumann said during the hearing.

Nickles, meanwhile, wants councilmembers to amend the FOIA law to extend the amount of time the District must respond to public information requests.

Cheh tells City Desk that the proposed Open Government Act shouldn’t be viewed through a political lens. “Fixing our freedom of information laws shouldn’t be controversial," she says. "We’ve been talking about reforming FOIA for a very long time. This reform is one that everyone should embrace.”

Mayoral communications director Mafara Hobson said Fenty's office is “thoroughly reviewing the legislation.” Spokespersons for the Fenty and Gray campaigns didn’t respond to calls for comment.

The messiah returned yesterday, arriving in the form of a 21-year-old man with a buzzed head and a 99 mph fastball. And you thought he would show up on a donkey?  Stephen Strasburg made his major league debut with the Washington Nationals, notching 14 strikeouts to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2. Sports announcers are still trying to hook their jaws back in place after hanging open all night. Jayson Stark, a reporter for ESPN.com, tells us what happened last night at Nationals Parks should have been impossible for a rookie in the Majors. When you have guys who are paid exorbitant amounts of cash to hit balls 500 feet, it might be a little tough to snag 14 Ks. In fact, it’s only been done five times since 1990! Folks, keep your jaws unhinged.

In other news, two fired Metrobus drivers are coming back behind the wheel. One was originally fired for a deadly car accident with a taxicab and the other for punching a police officer dressed as McGruff the Crime Dog. Be sure to read about the latter.

A vintage airplane flipped over at Reagan Airport yesterday. The World War II-era biplane flipped over its nose as it landed on the runway. The two passengers were uninjured.

The Fenty administration is coming under intense pressure from unions, disgruntled employees, taxpayers, citizens, journalists and others who are requesting information through the Freedom of Information Act. Attorney General Peter Nickles can’t even keep up with it all. If only Fenty could snag some of Strasburg’s stardom – alas.

Photo by Geoff Livingston/Creative Commons

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Will DC's Silly Scalping Rules Be Enforced For StrasburgStock?," "Photos: Demonstration at BP Headquarters," "D.C. Teachers 'Livid' About Union Election Debacle," "What About Ward? Robert Wone Case Continues to Perplex," "D.C. General's Family Shelter Back At Capacity"

Howdy. Shocking news out of the Fenty Administration. Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that HIV/AIDS Administration Director Shannon L. Hader—one of the city's best-and-brightest officials—suddenly resigned. WaPo's Darryl Fears has the story:  "After working to turn around a District agency that one city official described as 'dysfunctional bordering on comical' before her arrival, Shannon L. Hader abruptly resigned as director of the HIV/AIDS administration, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced Tuesday....Hader's three-year stint made her the longest-serving director in almost a decade, as other leaders came and went amid criticism for poor management and incompetence. Although Hader is departing to praise, the announcement of her resignation struck some as strange....In his remarks, Pierre Vigilance, director of the city's Department of Health, barely acknowledged the woman who had addressed the District's top health priority, fueling speculation that there had been tension between them. Hader's most ardent supporter in city government, D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), did not attend the news conference. Catania said he had a prior engagement and he would not address speculation that he was deeply upset at Fenty and Vigilance for allowing Hader to resign and accept a position as vice president of a health organization, the Futures Group. 'Her loss is catastrophic,' Catania said." [emphasis added].

METRO MEMORIAL CONTROVERSY: WaPo's Ann Scott Tyson reports that families of the Metro crash victims are upset over their lack of input in the upcoming memorial. Tyson reports: "'All of us are angry and disappointed,' said Kenneth Hawkins, whose brother, Dennis, died in the crash that left nine dead and 80 injured. 'I would have thought the interim general manager would have stepped up to the plate and embraced the families.' Hawkins and other family members only learned of a Metro remembrance service planned for June 22 at the Fort Totten Station when told about it by a reporter. Metro officials said that the families would be invited but that planning is still underway. 'We definitely will be extending an invitation,' said Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein. 'We are still firming that up.' Farbstein said a 'logistics meeting' on the event was planned for later Tuesday. 'When the plans are in place, the very first people we will invite will be family,' she said. 'At that time, we will share with them details of what we are planning and how we would like them to participate in the service.' Family members questioned why Metro did not ask well in advance for their input for the ceremony."

AFTER THE JUMP—Michelle Rhee becomes focus of campaigns, Nickles wants to relax FOIA law, Fenty uses focus groups to develop campaign message, and much, much more!

MICHELLE RHEE IS TOPIC A ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL: The Examiner's Alan Suderman notes that Michelle Rhee—and what her future would be under a Gray administration—is becoming a main issue in the mayoral race: "Rhee, who was hand-picked by Mayor Adrian Fenty, has become a shining star of the school reform movement and a major selling point in Fenty's re-election campaign. Under Rhee, test scores have trended higher and teachers recently approved a contract that sets the foundation for the nation's most robust teacher-incentive pay program. But Gray supporters are trying to deemphasize Rhee's role in the future success of the city's schools, saying the school reform laws Gray shepherded through the D.C. Council that gave the mayor control of schools are more permanent and transformative than Rhee's tenure as chancellor. 'He believes strongly that school reform cannot be wrapped around one person,' said Gray strategist Mo Elleithee."

FOIA REQUESTS: AG Peter Nickles fights government transparency with a whiny letter to D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray asking for major leniency in handling Freedom of Information Act requests. The D.C. Wire reports: "Nickles sent a letter to Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) last week seeking immediate legislation to extend the amount of time the city has to respond to FOIA requests. Under current law, the city has 15 days to respond to a request with an additional 10 days allowed for 'unusual circumstances.' But Nickles, whose office often processes requests sent to the administration, said he's increasingly unable to meet that deadline. He wants the city to adopt the provision of the federal FOIA law that allows for agencies to request 'unspecified additional time for a response in unusual circumstances,' Nickles wrote." In other words, if Nickles has his way, you can forget about your FOIA request being fulfilled anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the District's convention center hotel lawsuit is back on.

FENTY FOCUS GROUPS: The mayor, WaPo's Mike DeBonis reports, has turned to focus groups to help him develop his campaign message: "The groups, where a dozen or so voters discuss a topic with the help of a moderator, are common to modern, well-financed campaigns. But Fenty has prided himself on embracing the shoe-leather approach above all else, and the new tactics reflect the challenges he faces in moving from an insurgent, outsider campaign to defending his three years as mayor. The utility of the groups, campaign sources say, is seeing how voters react at length to what Fenty is saying and what he's doing."

CAPITAL BIKESHARE: DCist's Sommer Mathis doesn't seem to approve of the name for Arlington and D.C.'s bike sharing program. WaPo's Martin Weil reports that the name selection wasn't so democratic: "After taking a survey, officials in Arlington County and the District have decided on the name for a program that will make it possible to borrow a bicycle in one jurisdiction and leave it in the other: Capital Bikeshare. In what might be viewed as an affront to democracy, Capital Bikeshare did not garner the most first-place votes among the 1,164 people who took part in the online survey. Officials said Tuesday in a statement that 'George' was the favorite of 279 participants, with Capital Bikeshare the top choice of 199. But the survey also asked for second and third choices, and Capital Bikeshare received 512 total votes to 453 for George."

JOYNER SHOOTING: The Examiner's Bill Myers gets D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton to comment after Philly prosecutors have been brought in to investigate the Park Police shooting death of Trey Joyner: "Frankly, what I wanted from the beginning is an independent investigation," Norton said. "The history of police brutality [in D.C.] makes it hard for many communities to believe even in independent investigations....There is a very long and torrid history [of brutality] that has to be taken into account." LL wonders where Norton has been on the issue of police shootings before the Joyner case. It would have been nice to see Norton stand up for David Kerstetter.

Meanwhile, NC8 reports on one Northeast neighborhood plagued by burglaries.

MOCO SCHOOLS: May become a global brand, according to WaPo's Michael Birnbaum: "The school system will be paid $2.25 million to develop an elementary school curriculum that an education company will augment and sell around the world. The school system will also receive a small percentage of sales revenue once the curriculum is completed. The deal, rare in size and scope in the United States, was approved by the school board 6 to 2 Tuesday. Under the terms, Pearson, the world's largest education publisher, will acquire the expertise of one of the nation's top school systems and the right to use its name and its top employees as sales tools. 'I tend to look at it from the standpoint that we are broke,' Montgomery Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said. 'You have to have new ways of doing things when you don't have money.' School officials say that the money from the deal will allow them to double the dozen people who have been working on the curriculum, speeding its completion and saving money on implementation. The curriculum gives more attention to subjects that have been played down in the past."

HOLLOWAY SPONSORS CRIME FIGHTING TOOL: AP reports: "Beth Holloway opened the Natalee Holloway Resource Center at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington. Holloway said it will provide services that she initially lacked when her 18-year-old daughter vanished, such as access to government and media contacts and missing persons posters. 'I feel confident that it will serve as a point of light for all missing,' she said while standing in front of two photos of her daughter."

JONETTA ROSE BARRAS: Narrates one particularly painful mayoral candidates forum in which she is compelled to mention a certain bugle-playing candidate. LL feels Jonetta's pain.

WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT DOG PARKS: Andrew Lightman, the managing editor for the Capital Community News (Hill Rag, East of the River, etc.) sent out an e-mail yesterday to us media types venting that he's plenty sick of reporters believing/implying that streetcars and dog parks=stuff white people like. We thought his point was worth sharing. Lightman writes:

"I hate the recent use of the words 'streetcar,' 'dog park' and 'rec center' as race/class code words. So, I am going to rant to all you, since they have made a recent appearance in each of your respective publications....

Why is that folks can't just say WHITE PEOPLE? I guess it must be because there are no African-American dog lovers. I find that a bit strange being as a frequenter of DC parks and a dog walker at the Congressional Cemetery, both of which are filled with folks of all ages and races. I even work for a black man, who owns a canine. Recently, when I checked the Greenleaf Recreation Center, it was filled with residents from nearby public housing. Turkey Thicket's and Hillcrest's patrons are overwhelmingly African-American. I guess black folk like rec centers too.

Lastly, if you listen to the mostly white elders at the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, there is a perfectly lucid preservationist position against streetcars that focuses on overhead wires. I would suggest you talk to Monte Edwards, but I suspect that none of you has that much time to burn."

This LL is still confused about how dog park can cost $400,000.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:  No public events planned.

D.C. COUNCIL SCHEDULE:

10 a.m.
Committee on Finance and Revenue (meeting)
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 120

1 p.m.
Committee of the Whole (Hearing)
Bill 18-801, "Closing of Public Streets and a Public Alley and Dedication and Designation of Land and For Street Purposes in Squares 3765, 3767, 3768, and 3769 Act of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 412

2 p.m.
Committee on Housing and Workforce Development (Round Table)
PR18-0860 the "Whitelaw Disposition Approval Resolution of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

3 p.m.
Committee on Housing and Workforce Development (Round Table)
District Funded Affordable Homeownership Programs: Long-Term Housing Affordability Restrictions
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Strasburg Arrives: Let the Gouging Begin!," "D.C. Schools Now Model For West Virginia," "Fenty Booed At Dunbar Commencement," "How The Gun Lobby Shot Down D.C.'s Congressional Vote"

Howdy. Good thing Mayor Adrian Fenty has never given a speech about transparency and/or accountability in front of a roomful of reporters and government watchdogs. Then he may have heard some really sustained boos. The Examiner's Alan Suderman reports that during Monday's hearing on Councilmember Mary Cheh's open-government initiative: "Many speakers complained that routine requests for information were often ignored or improperly denied by city departments. Those kind of complaints are nothing new and aren't unique to the District. But the District's problems, Cheh and other speakers said, have only gotten worse under the administration of Mayor Adrian Fenty, who rose to power on a platform of accountability. The average number of Freedom of Information Act requests wholly denied by the city has quadrupled under Fenty, while the average number of requests has stayed constant to previous administrations, according to figures from Cheh's office. But Attorney General Peter Nickles said in a memo that records requests are becoming more complex as city resources to answer them are shrinking. He's asking the Council to approve legislation that would allow the city to extend the deadline for answering requests beyond the now-mandated 25 days." [emphasis added].

AFTER THE JUMP—Rhee faces probe, Fenty gets booed for real, more problems for DYRS, Helen Thomas retires, and much, much more!

D.C. School's Chancellor Michelle Rhee is facing a probe by the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. WaPo's Bill Turque reports that the compliant alleges "that Rhee violated the law by soliciting donations from private foundations that reserved the right to pull their funding if there was a change in the school system's leadership. Cecily E. Collier-Montgomery, the office's director, told Robert V. Brannum on Friday, in response to his complaint, that there was 'reasonable cause to believe that a violation has occurred' and that 'a full investigation is warranted in this matter.' Collier-Montgomery's finding was first reported over the weekend by WTTG (Channel 5). Rhee raised $64.5 million from four private foundations (Broad, Walton, Robertson and Arnold) to underwrite pay raises and performance bonuses under the new contract ratified last week by the Washington Teachers' Union. The foundations, which have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to education initiatives across the country, stipulated in letters that they reserved the right to review their commitments if there was a "material change" in the D.C. school system's leadership. Brannum, president of the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations and a supporter of D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray's mayoral campaign, alleges that Rhee contrived to protect her job by accepting the leadership clause as a condition of the private funding — constituting a direct personal financial benefit. In a statement Monday, Rhee spokeswoman Jennifer Calloway said the allegation is without merit. 'The chancellor did not seek that condition and in fact wanted unconditional funding. She had no role or choice in the conditions the funders decided to impose,' Calloway said."

WAPO EDIT BOARD calls BS on the Rhee probe (which Jonetta Rose Barras did in the Examiner yesterday): "IN ANY OTHER city, an official who manages to raise millions of dollars from credible organizations to improve public schools would get a commendation. Not so in the District of Columbia, where the reward for such effort is a suggestion of wrongdoing. Equally incredible is that officials in the city's Office of Campaign Finance are actually investigating these half-baked allegations against Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. Let's hope reality sets in before there is real harm to education reform. Ms. Rhee has been put on notice that she is being investigated in connection with the solicitation of private foundation grants to help fund the new teacher contract. Four nonprofit groups have pledged $64.5 million to help underwrite raises and bonuses for D.C. teachers; as is standard in such donations, the donors have conditioned the money on consistency in leadership and the reform agenda. That, though, constitutes a conflict of interest to Robert Vinson Brannum, a civic activist and fierce critic of Ms. Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who brought the June 2 complaint. It's hard to think that anyone could conclude that Ms. Rhee sought these monies to ensure her continued employ as schools chancellor. Nonetheless, the Office of Campaign Finance concluded there may be 'reasonable cause to believe that a violation has occurred,' and it warned Ms. Rhee of the possible need for 'subpoena, depositions, interrogatories, interviews and audits.'"

NOW IT'S NINE: The Examiner's Bill Myers reports that at least nine District wards have been charged with murder: "Last week, authorities charged 16-year-old Javon Hale with murder in the May 28 shooting death of day laborer Manuel Sanchez. Hale had been committed to the custody of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and was out from a private group home on a weekend pass, a source with knowledge of his background told The Washington Examiner. Hale is at least the ninth juvenile ward to have been charged with murder since the beginning of the year. His juvenile history was first reported by Washington Post columnist Colbert King. Another city ward, 17-year-old Durand Lucas, was killed Saturday, shot down in the wee hours in Anacostia. He is at least the third juvenile offender to have been killed this year while in city custody."

FENTY BOOED AT DUNBAR COMMENCEMENT: WJLA has the video and the story on Fenty's rough moment just before giving the commencement address at Dunbar. But were politics at play? Vincent Gray thinks so. WJLA reports: "Both Mayor Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent Gray appeared at the event. Gray said he had initially been invited to deliver the commencement address, but was told a few weeks ago that he would only deliver welcoming remarks. Gray, a Dunbar graduate who is challenging Fenty in the September Democratic mayoral primary, suspects politics determined who actually spoke. His spokesperson, Doxie McCoy, says she believes Gray's initial invite came from a panel of students and teachers. "I received some indication a number of weeks ago that the students and people associated with the school would like to have me as the commencement speaker," Gray told ABC 7 News. Some students concur. They wanted Gray, less for his politics than his history. 'I did cause he was a graduate of Dunbar Senior High School,' said Dunbar grad Monica Matthews." Key quotes: "The confusion about the top speaking slot led to some speculation. 'I don't know,' Gray said. 'I guess these decisions are made by the Chancellor and the Mayor. I don't know.' As for Mayor Fenty: 'I didn't even know there was an issue about the speaker. I'm sorry if there is an issue because the day belongs to the kids.'" More coverage via D.C. Wire, DeBonis.

DISTRICT MAY BE RUNNING SOUTHEAST HOSPITAL: D.C. Wire's Tim Craig reports that "The District will auction off the United Medical Center property in Southeast Washington next month unless an agreement can be reached with the current owner, Specialty Hospitals of America, over how best to salvage the troubled facility. Attorney General Peter Nickles filed a foreclosure notice last week stating that the auction would be held July 9 on the steps of the John A. Wilson Building. Nickles has accused Specialty of defaulting on its lease by failing to pay its bills on time. The city is in talks with attorneys for Specialty to try to reach an agreement, but Nickles said the foreclosure notice was needed to set "an end date" for the talks. If an agreement is not reached, Nickles said, the city will seize the 17-acre United Medical Center property at the auction and operate it as a city-run hospital until a new owner can be found."

METRO MESS: Yesterday, a 10-car train was put on the Green Line thus violating Metro's mandated 8-car train limit. WTOP reports: "The problem? Metro trains are supposed to be a maximum of eight cars — so two cars were stuck in the tunnel while the train pulled into the station. No one was able to get on those last two cars. The long train made it through eight stations before it was finally taken out of service at the Waterfront station. Metro's Steven Taubenkibel says a station manager contacted the Command Center to report the long train. Metro has removed five employees from service while an investigation takes place. The Tri-State Oversight Committee has been notified. This isn't the first time a 10-car train has made its way onto the Green Line. Last August, a 10-car train left the Greenbelt Station and was in service for about 20 minutes before a passenger alerted the train operator about the long train."

FENTY MAILING: Have you received your Fenty campaign pamphlet? D.C. Wire's Nikita Stewart reports that a Fenty media blitz is underway: "Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who hit black radio stations with a go-go advertising campaign Memorial Day weekend, has now sent voters what appears to be his first mass mailing. The campaign literature boasts that Fenty is 'getting results' and 'getting things done.' It appears to embrace Fenty's reputation for being arrogant and for not working with other elected officials — an approach that his advisers are hoping will put a positive spin on that image and will register with voters. In large type inside, it reads, 'If it weren't for Mayor Fenty's leadership ... we'd still be waiting for' the modernization of schools, development and recreation centers and playgrounds." Meanwhile, Gray is endorsed by Alice Rivlin, who headed up the financial control board.

SHARON PRATT WELCOMES BEING RELEVANT AGAIN: WaPo's Mike DeBonis interviewed the former mayor at a Gray fundraiser over the weekend. She seemed more than ready to defend Gray's work in her administration: ''That's a debate we can win,' Pratt said Sunday evening at a Gray fundraiser. 'That's a debate that Vince can win hands down.' The Department of Human Services in Gray's directorial days encompassed myriad social programs totaling more than $1 billion in yearly spending — one-third of the city budget at the time. What was once under Gray's purview is now split between not only the human services department, but the Department of Health, the Department of Health Care Finance, the Department on Disability Services, the Child and Family Services Agency, and the Department of Mental Health, among other agencies. The ex-mayor — who entered office as Sharon Pratt Dixon, left office as Sharon Pratt Kelly, and now, in business as a consultant, is simply Sharon Pratt — says that in spite of the fiscal challenges Fenty alluded to, she and Gray can boast a record of reform. 'We were out there early on providing disposable needles and condoms, and we were able to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS,' Pratt said. 'We brought that infant mortality rate down, that was under Vince's leadership. We had terrific prenatal care programs, and we dealt with a whole lot of the ongoing issues that we inherited in a compressed period of time....There's almost not an issue that ultimately that we didn't address. That was Vince.'"

HECHT'S WAREHOUSE is still in limbo as a judge stalls the New York Ave NE building's foreclosure proceedings.

CARJACKING: NC8 has a follow-up on the retired cop's carjacking over the weekend. Apparently, the cop returned fire on his assailants. Is that legal?

CHIEF RAMSEY: Ex-D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey still doesn't like D.C. Police Union chief Kristopher Baumann. He called him a bad name in a Philly newspaper. WaPo's Mike DeBonis reports: "Old animosities were rekindled in a Philadelphia Daily News story published today on the high legal and back-pay bills exacted by police officers fired by Ramsey, now in charge of the Philly police, and subsequently reinstated. Reporter David Gambacorta consulted D.C. police union chief Kristopher Baumann, who drew on his many years of watchdogging the Ramsey-led Metropolitan Police Department in offering this assessment: 'It's not that hard to fire a police officer. What Ramsey cannot do is fire them appropriately.' The top cop's retort: 'He's a [expletive], and I don't care if you quote me on that.'"

BWI: WAMU reports that full-body scans are coming to BWI.

HELEN THOMAS: Yesterday, the long-time reporter and headache to multiple presidents and press secretaries retired over her stupid anti-Israel remarks. Dana Milbank writes: "It was a sad end to a storied career. You'll find no defense here of her anti-Semitic suggestion that Jews should 'get the hell out of Palestine' and 'go home' to Poland and Germany — where they were slaughtered by the millions. There's no excuse for that, and Thomas deserved what she got. Yet the White House press corps will be diminished without Helen front and center, and not only because she was in that job before the current president was born. She brought a ferocity to her questioning that has eluded too many in subsequent generations. At a time when others were getting cozy with sources, her crabby, unrelenting hostility was refreshing. 'When are you going to get out of Afghanistan?' she challenged President Obama two weeks ago. 'Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse? And don't give us this Bushism, 'If we don't go there, they'll all come here.''"

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:

3:00 p.m. Remarks
Personnel Announcement
Location: 825 North Capitol Street, NE

They wanted the D.C. Police to cough up their operational procedures and general orders. In other words, just the rules on how the police are supposed to govern themselves, and utilize their authority with the general public. The complaint stated:

“Public disclosure of the operational policies and practices, orders and staff instructions of the police department is essential for policing in a democratic society and to establish accountability….The D.C. FOIA mandates that the MPD specifically make public and make available upon demand its policies, procedures, manuals and staff instructions….Additionally the MPD is required to publish a general index of all such records unless the materials are promptly published and copies offered for sale.”

Today, the Partnership announced that the D.C. Police Department has finally complied with the FOIA.

The Partnership had filed its lawsuit in early February. That's months of stonewalling. Anyway, now you can read the department's general orders and operational directives for yourself.

The Partnership has put the documents online. It's an invaluable resource that will help the public better understand how the police operate. And that's a good thing.

3:35 p.m. Update: City Desk reached Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder and attorney with the Partnership.

"It's finally time that they begin to come into compliance. They are not in compliance because we don't have everything yet." She adds that the D.C. Police Department should post all its regs on its own website.

I am not sure how the p.r. firm will help. The best p.r. doesn't get made with a press release. The best p.r. comes from beat cops responding to citizens, solving cases, and, well, not stonewalling when reporters ask simple questions or request the most basic information allowed under FOIA law. The department has 15 days to respond to a FOIA. The Post reports that the police department failed the 15-day rule on a huge percentage of requests. One request the police haven't responded to dates back to June 2007.

The department claims its FOIA problem is a manpower issue. They just haven't had the personnel. Really? How is it different than other agencies? I'd assert that the police department has more press personnel than all other city agencies–maybe more than the mayor's office.

How many press people does the Department of Mental Health have? One.

Child and Family Services Agency? One.

The Department of Corrections? Zero.

No, it's not a personnel problem. It's a problem that goes deeper than how many bodies are taking reporters' phone calls. Anyone want to guess why the department fails to respond to FOIAs?

The other day Carl Kerstetter sent me the above picture of his son David with his medals from his military service which included a tour of duty during the first Gulf War. The picture shows what David was before his mental-illness reared up and took over much of his life. On November 6, he was shot and killed inside his Logan Circle home by D.C. Police Officer Frederick Friday. While the incident is still under investigation, my cover story on the subject raises many questions left unanswered.

I am using this new picture of David as an excuse to complain about the latest stonewalling on the part of the D.C. Police Department's press office.

A month after the shooting, I submitted a FOIA to the D.C. Police Department's spokesperson Traci Hughes. The FOIA was very simple. I asked for e-mails sent from a few police officials to the officials at the Department of Mental Health. My request gave a specific time frame and a specific subject matter to search. But after I sent my FOIA, I heard nothing back from police brass.

I waited. And then I waited some more.

After a month, I started regularly calling and e-mail Hughes about my FOIA. She replied that I needed my FOIA number. I told her that I never received a letter from her with a FOIA number. How should I know what my "FOIA number" is?

To refresh her memory, I sent her a copy of my original FOIA with the date attached. I then waited some more. But I kept calling her office and e-mailing her.

I finally reached Hughes on the phone. She told me that she was writing my rejection letter while we were on the phone. Awesome! She said that my FOIA was being denied because it was "overly broad."

I asked Hughes: How can I fix the FOIA since it asks for specific information from specific officials for a specific time period. I mentioned that when a similar issue came up with the Department of Mental Health, its FOIA officer worked with me on a compromise.

Hughes said she wasn't going to help.

How sweet.

Even better: I am still waiting for Hughes' rejection letter. Now, Hughes is on maternity leave.

I'm gonna say it: She shouldn't come back to her post as police spokesperson. The city and the press deserve better from its public officials.

It has been four months since I sent my original FOIA request. And two months since I sent a follow-up FOIA on a related matter. I do not think D.C. Police Department could be more indifferent to FOIA regs.

There's a big missed opportunity here, though. There are plenty of Mailer scholars—or just garden-variety lit nerds like myself—who'd love a peek at the file. So why won't washingtonpost.com, which prides itself on pioneering new ways to make stories sticky and engaging online—post a few jpegs or PDFs from it? If nothing else, I'd like to see the FBI agent's attempt at a review of Mailer's book about the '68 conventions, Miami and the Seige of Chicago. "It is written in his usual obscene and bitter style," the agent explained.