As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com.
Good morning, folks: Election Day is one half-fortnight away!
Marc Fisher today weighs in on the at-large council race. His read: “The real contest is between [Carol] Schwartz and Michael Brown, the perennial candidate who served on the city’s boxing commission and has run for mayor and Ward 4 council member.” Oof, guess that Post endorsement doesn’t count for much there, Patrick Mara. Fisher takes a sharp turn into lottery-contract territory, printing risible comments from Brown on the matter (without noting that he has taken donations from current contractor Leonard Manning and associates).
Meanwhile, colleague Nikita Stewart has news that Harry Thomas Jr. is endorsing Michael Brown, with more council endorsements rumored. LL hears that Marion Barry and possibly Yvette Alexander might not be too far behind. [UPDATE, 10:46 A.M.: LL confirms Barry’s endorsement.]
Bernard Demczuk‘s signature Supermarket Survey is out, reports WJLA-TV. Kwame R. Brown is unsurprisingly the top preference for the 500 local voters surveyed at local grocers. For the second spot, “the survey shows Schwartz barely edging out Brown,” with Mara a distant fourth. One problem: Schwartz was on the survey ballot. She won’t be on the election ballot.
The Examiner‘s Leah Fabel details the $100 million in DCPS budget reprogramming announced yesterday by Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. About $7 million is being pulled from 825 North Cap and sent to schools. AP also reports. The Post briefs the story.
Bloggers react to Jay Mathews‘ Post column yesterday about Rhee, her Teach for America experience, and the educational “Brat Pack.” Another blogger satirically conflates Rhee with Karl Rove.
Hollywood news with a D.C. twist: Via the Guardian, a remake of The Message, the 1976 biopic of the prophet Muhammad, is in the works. During their 1977 siege of the District Building, which killed WHUR-FM reporter Maurice Williams and wounded Marion Barry, Hanafi Muslims had demanded that the film be destroyed due to sacrilege therein. The remake, ostensibly, will not be financed by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
KELO V. NEW LONDON WATCH—-Michael Neibauer in the Examiner: “The District government is considering whether to use eminent domain to seize and redevelop nearly two dozen properties at three high-profile but long ignored intersections east of the Anacostia River.” Those would be Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and South Capitol Street SW, MLK and Good Hope Road SE, and Minnesota and Pennsylvania Avenues SE. Legislation has been introduced by Barry and endorsed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, though his office says use of eminent domain “highly unlikely.”
Via Bill Turque, American Federation of Teachers head Randi Weingarten responds in a statement to allegations she’s secretly interfering with contract negotiations: “We are proud of that work and are surprised that anyone thought it was being kept a secret….Unfortunately, Chancellor Rhee seems more concerned with who advises the union than what is really at stake—-raising academic achievement for D.C.’s students.”
Plant a tree, “vow to water and nurture it for two years,” get $50. Deets in the Post.
More on the North Capitol Street shooting Monday morning.
Local congressfolk ask U.S. Treasury to step in to help Metro, other transit agencies affected by AIG default.
MEDIA WATCH—-Bond rater calls Washington Post Co. outlook “negative.” Still got that A+ long-term credit rating though!
LL’s former publication, The Georgetown Voice, slaps Georgetown ANC Bill Skelsey for neglecting to turn in his ballot petitions.
Metro’s looking for folks to serve on their Riders Advisory Council, GGW notes.
Harriette Walters to be sentenced in March.
Jim Graham gets on camera for Channel 9 story about child prostitution. The hook? There was once a child prostitute in Ward 1!
D.C. COUNCIL TODAY—-10 a.m.: Committee of the Whole hearing on Bill 17-942: Public Schools Hearing Amendment Act of 2008, JAWB 500; 10 a.m.: Committee on Public Works and the Environment hearing on Bill 17-0807, Grocery Store Sidewalk Café in the Public Space Amendment Act of 2008, JAWB 412; 11 a.m.: Committee on Public Works and the Environment meeting, JAWB 123; 2 p.m.: Committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations hearing TBA, JAWB 123.
Vincent Gray release on today’s hearing: “Bill 17-942 would require the Chancellor to post a preliminary budget on the DCPS web site and in each school no later than 21 days before the Mayor submits the District’s budget and financial plan to the Council. Then the Chancellor would be required to seek public input before sending a budget proposal to the Mayor. The Mayor subsequently would hold a public hearing on a school funding plan prior to submitting it to the Council. Current law requires that two public hearings be held, with the first occurring sometime in the fall and the second occurring between 90 and 60 days prior to the Mayor’s submission of the budget to the Council. The problem is that current law does not recognize the mayoral takeover, and the DCPS budgeting timeline is not aligned with the District’s overall budgeting process and timeline. This legislation fixes that problem.”
ADRIAN FENTY TODAY—-10:30 a.m.: Update on plans to close budget gap, John A. Wilson Building, Mayor’s Press Briefing Room; 4 p.m.: Announcement on “ways in which residents can help the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) crackdown on robberies in the District,” with police Chief Cathy Lanier, MPD 1D HQ, 415 4th St. SW.