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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Another D.C. Council Hearing No-Show!“; “The Number Of Homeless Families In Need Jumps“; “Daycare Fight Continues: Union Files New Lawsuit“; tweets galore!

Morning all. Reliable Source with the scoop! D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is engaged to Sacramento mayor/ex-Phoenix Sun Kevin Johnson. ‘Rhee, 39, spoke Wednesday night at a Democrats for Education Reform/DC School Reform Now event downtown, and a pretty sparkly thing on her left hand caught the eye of more than one audience member.’ So transcontinental power couple, rad. But what does that mean for Rhee’s continued tenure here in D.C.—the two Fenty terms she promised to serve? ‘Rhee told us she’s not leaving D.C. They plan on a long engagement — no wedding date set, and none envisioned in the near term — and will keep this a commuter relationship for a while.’ (Also WRC-TV.) Sooo…when LL saw KJ in the JAWB last Friday, was he asking Hizzoner for permission to take his chancellor’s hand in marriage? JK—best LL wishes to the happy couple!

AFTER THE JUMP—Complete rundown of contract hearing antics; another possible Ward 1 candidate pops up; WaPo ed board tsk-tsks over UDC board fighting; Lanier says marriage debate may have prompted GU attacks; father of Bowman daughter sues District for wrongful death; and OCTOgate nears a conclusion

Read More “Michelle Rhee Gets Engaged: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Fenty Embraces “Signing Statement” Tactic“; “Pershing Park Case: Read The Document Nickles Didn’t Want You See“; “Giro d’Italia to Start in D.C.?“; tweets galore!

IN LL WEEKLY—Fast Company: Is speed an excuse for Fenty’s crony contracts?

Morning all. The D.C. Council is again convened in the fifth-floor chambers to examine Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s parks contracting scheme. LL will be watching on Chennel 13 and Tweeting away. Expected to testify are procurement chief David Gragan, acting parks director Ximena Hartsock, D.C. Housing Enterprises chief Larry Dwyer, as well as D.C. Housing Authority board members William Slover and Anthony Wash, and …Ron Moten? Not appearing will be DMPED Valerie Santos, who is tending to a serious family illness, and City Administrator Neil Albert, whose father recently died. LL sends his heartfelt condolences.

AFTER THE JUMP—Contracts probe likely to end in courts; the Cheh chem ban explained; Jonetta wants to know when the D.C. gov will get serious about procurement reform; Metro breakdowns traced to 27-year-old power unit; city attorneys try to hide documents because they’re ‘embarrassing’

Read More “More Questions on Fenty Parks Contracts: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Jim Graham Attracts a Potential Challenger“; “Did Investigators Botch The Georgetown Library Case?“; “OAG Calls, Wants Its E-Mails Back“; tweets galore!

Morning all. Yesterday was Election Day in a lot of places, but not the District. Still, a couple of ramifications for local politics here. First off, Maine failed to become the first state to have its populace endorse gay marriage by referendum, with 53 percent voting to overturn the state legislature’s May legalization vote. LL is anticipating a flood of fresh rhetoric from District gay-marriage opponents calling for a similar vote here. (And he still thinks D.C. should think about being first to approve gay marriage by popular vote; and good timing, BTW, to whatever gay-marriage supporters scheduled all the public hearings for before Election Day.) Then there’s the New York mayoral race, where incumbent Michael Bloomberg spent at least $90M of his own cash to win an unanticipated squeaker. What’s the message for other big-city chief execs, particularly those facing charges of regal, out-of-touch behavior, as they face re-election? Money isn’t everything!

AFTER THE JUMP—Another interesting election tidbit; complete legislative meeting wrap-up; local DA could be on the way; DCPS parent makes case for firing teachers; WTU embezzler set to go free; whodunit murder of U Street restaurateur; Metro chaos this morning

Read More “Local Lessons From Other Elections: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Couple Gets Engaged at Gay Marriage Hearing“; “Do You Miss This Man?“; tweets galore

Morning all. The WaPo editorial board harshens its language a bit in examining Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s parks contracting scheme. ‘The more you learn,’ it writes, ‘the more troubling it becomes. It’s critical that these deals be submitted to the council for thorough review and, if warranted, revocation.’ But even that admonition doesn’t come without some chastening for the legislative branch: ‘We would like to suggest to council members that if they truly want to get some answers, they should give government witnesses an opportunity to answer. The tendency of council members — as evidenced in recent public hearings — to interrupt, insult and bully those testifying does not reflect well on them; nor does it serve the public interest. The administration may have plenty to answer for here; let’s hear the answers.’

AFTER THE JUMP—Council to consider emergency measures to halt parks contracting; Thomas calls scheme ‘like Watergate’ (does that make LL Woodward or Bernstein?); Gray calls for DCPS CFO ouster; St. E’s lawsuit settled for a cool mil; council chambers see first marriage proposal (LL guesses); city tax error leads to mortgage nightmare; what is with all the hate crimeage at GU?

Read More “‘Let’s Hear the Answers’: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Why Adrian Fenty’s Parks Contracting Scheme Is an Outrage“; “Pershing Park Case: New Discovery Abuse Shocker“; “Funds Transfers to DCHA Total $120M”

Morning all. It remains to be seen just how deeply last week’s D.C. Council hearings will affect Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration, but this much has become increasingly apparent: The man does not play well with others. WRC-TV’s Tom Sherwood, David Lipscomb in Saturday’s WaTimes and Nikita Stewart and Tim Craig on Sunday’s WaPo A1 all cover the degeneration in interbranch relations that in retrospect seems destined from the start. But who could have seen the current nadir, where a 10-minute meeting last week between Fenty and Vincent C. Gray is seen as a hopeful signal of detente? The WaPo piece ends with a word from Tony Williams, who says he’s ‘confident’ that ‘important matters’ will bring the mayor and council together: ‘I certainly wasn’t lovey-dovey with them when I first started, but…I really took the council, no matter what the acrimony, as a coequal branch of government.’ Further evidence of ongoing acrimony below…

AFTER THE JUMP—Complete coverage of the parks contract scandal; lots of postmortem analysis on the Thursday Rhee hearing; at least one person is done with ‘what’s best for the kids’; Fenty does Jamaican triathlon Saturday; UDC board in vacancy crisis; more questionable HIV/AIDS spending revealed by WaPo; Trachtenburg may be gone, but his salary lives in infamy

Read More “Does Not Play Well With Others: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Liveblog: D.C. Council Grills Michelle Rhee on Teacher Layoffs“; “District Homeless Shelters Are Already At Capacity“; “Pershing Park Case: OAG Reverts Back To Stonewalling”

Morning all. Yesterday’s D.C. Council inquisition on the D.C. Public School layoffs wasn’t quite the 18-hour marathon that the last hearing was, but let the liveblogging LL say: eight hours was plenty. By the end of the day, a familiar story had emerged: The D.C. Council wanted things to happen one way (cut money from summer school), and the executive branch did things another way (cut money from local school budgets) with the imprimatur of Attorney General Peter Nickles and without transparency or explanation. Perhaps more shocking is that DCPS CFO Noah Wepman would have allowed a fiscal 2010 budget to be approved with a known deficit of $12 million or more without telling his boss, Natwar Gandhi. And, as Bill Turque notes on WaPo A1, ‘even some of Rhee’s most steadfast supporters on the council rebuked her for the bitter state of relations between the school system and elected officials.’ See also WaTimes, Examiner, WTOP, WAMU-FM, NC8, WRC-TV, WTTG-TV, We Love DC.

NB: Don’t expect a repeat of the drama at today’s hearing on the parks contracts sent to the D.C. Housing Authority. Neil Albert, LL is told, will not be attending. [UPDATE, 10:30 A.M.: Another council source says Albert has confirmed he will be there.]

AFTER THE JUMP—Machen moves closer to securing federal prosecutor nod; WBJ reports on city procurement problems, rise in contract appeals; city preps for census; suburbanites plunder D.C. for flu vaccine; and did Holder tell Chavous to lay off the prez?

Read More “DCPS Budget Gets Nickled: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Jack Evans Saves the Black Rooster“; “D.C. Police Release General Orders In Response To FOIA Fight“; “Peter Nickles Sends Flowers to Mary Cheh”

IN LL WEEKLY—The New Cronies: ‘God,’ some frat buddies, and $86 million in city spending.

Greetings all. LL is currently livetweeting/liveblogging the D.C. Council’s inquisition of Michelle Rhee and CFO Natwar Gandhi and their deputies on the Oct. 2 DCPS layoffs. NC8 has set up the hearing as a ‘day of reckoning’ for the chancellor. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty won’t be there. He explained on WRC-TV this morning that he won’t appear before the council, just as the likes of Michael Bloomberg, Richard M. Daley, and Barack Obama are not in the habit of making appearances before their respective legislative branches. A good, if self-aggrandizing answer. Also good (and self-aggrandizing) is his explanation for why he’s at war with the council over parks contracts sent through the D.C. Housing Authority: ‘If you run a $10 billion organization, there are going to be things you just don’t agree about at the end of the day.’

AFTER THE JUMP—City settles with Wilmot and IDI; suit by DPR child care workers is tossed from federal court; cops want murder tipster to call back; H Street Martini Lounge shuttered after fight; archdiocese threatens nuclear option on gay marriage bill; and is Mendo running for council chair?

Read More “‘Day of Reckoning’ Comes on DCPS Layoffs: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—’Pershing Park Case: OAG Finds 2,000 Pages Of Discovery Materials‘

Morning all. LL will make today’s preamble quite brief; he notes only that he neglected to note this Tom Toles cartoon that appeared yesterday on the WaPo editorial page:

(Hat tip to Chuck Thies for today’s headline.)

AFTER THE JUMP—WaPo editorial calls for investigation of parks contracts; TV reporters dig in; closed-door council meeting gets testy; key senator refuses to allow D.C. vote on defense approps bill; principal neglects to proofread court filing; judge stalking trial begins

Read More “Fenty Gets the Royal Treatment: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—’David Catania Gives Harry Jackson a History Lesson‘; ‘Nickles: Parks Contracts Are OK After All‘

Morning all! Today marks the one-year anniversary of Loose Lips Daily. LL finds it hard to believe that he’s already sacrificed 12 months’ worth of early mornings and late nights—through an election, an inauguration, scandals, and tragedies—to bring LLD readers the finest local political aggregation in town. In any case, hearty and heartfelt thanks to you, the more than 1,400 readers who have signed up for the LLD e-mail and the thousands more who have been reading at City Desk since that first, surprisingly short edition.

AFTER THE JUMP—First parks contracts are illegal, then they aren’t; same-sex marriage hearings galore (or gay-lore?); Rhee explains mass teacher hirings; crime lab gets the go-ahead; planning director walks the walk; Graham tries hand at (intentional) comedy

Read More “First Anniversary Edition: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—Fenty’s DCHA Contracts: Some Questions; Nickles: DCHA Contracts Must Go to D.C. Council

Morning all. Perhaps, on Friday evening, you saw that Attorney General Peter Nickles had determined that controversial parks contracts routed through the D.C. Housing Authority had to be approved by the D.C. Council (LL, Examiner, WaPo) and you thought, perhaps, that the brinksmanship between Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and councilmembers was finally easing. You’d have been wrong. News that Fenty, with Nickles’ blessing, had decided to keep ousted parks director Ximena Hartsock on the job pending her replacement prompted another high-profile tussle, as related in a Sunday WaPo B1 story. Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh called Fenty’s shop ‘almost…a lawless administration,’ prompting Nickles to retort that Cheh ‘has no idea what she’s talking about…She’s an angry woman.’ The AG went on to warn the council against rejecting the parks contracts, saying, ‘they’ll have to answer to the voters.’ So what now? Writes WaPo, in a slight understatement: ‘Few expect the tension to subside.’

AFTER THE JUMP—Council should have noticed the contract runaround sooner, Jonetta says; gay marriage hearing bonanza today; WaPo ed board wants Fenty to do some ’splainin’ for once; council digs in to SLED contract; Hill clock ticks on voting rights bill; Maryland man pimps foster child on D.C. streets

Read More “Council vs. Fenty—Is This War?: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—Fenty’s Explanation of Homeless Cuts Doesn’t Hold Water; Graham Slams Feds At Community Meeting; Claims His Remarks Were ‘Off The Record’

Morning all. In this week’s column, LL wrote about David Wilmot, Fred Cooke, and the old favored political class. Today we learn more about the new cronies. WaPo and Examiner both cover Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s attempts to send $72M in parks construction contracts through the D.C. Housing Authority, bypassing D.C. Council approval. The council, needless to say, is not happy, dispatching a letter yesterday demanding city officials show at an Oct. 30 hearing. Bill Myers reports that ‘Council Chairman Vincent Gray was furious when he found out,’ tapping his committee chairs in charge of economic development, parks, housing, and procurement to bring the hammer down. Mary Cheh tells Nikita Stewart, ‘It looks sneaky.’ So why be sneaky? Easy: Among a passel of contracts awarded last month, all are managed by Banneker Ventures, a firm with ties to Fenty frat buddies Omar Karim and Sinclair Skinner—the same guy who helped scuttle the lottery contract award last year.

AFTER THE JUMP—Pastors meet with Gray, vow to fight; Walter Reed development process kicks off; asbestos found at MPD facility, union freaks; carbon offsets go local; and Metro get closer to cooperating with Google Transit

Read More “The New Cronies: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN LL WEEKLY—Out With the Old: Fenty’s war against the old guard continues, with David Wilmot as main target.

Greetings all. WTOP’s Mark Segraves covers the maybe-candidacy of Don Peebles, noting that the megadeveloper has a large hurdle to overcome: He’d need to move back to the District. ‘His spokesperson says Peebles is registered to vote in D.C., but but public records show he isn’t and hasn’t been since 1999.’ (LL also notes that he is not taking the homestead deduction on the $5.9M Embassy Row mansion he purchased in 2007.) Says Mark Plotkin: ‘He’s lacking credentials when he himself does not care enough to register to vote.’ And WBJ’s Jonathan O’Connell delivers a more stinging reality check to Peebles, noting that he’d have to face ‘questions about his living in Florida, his not having voted in D.C. since the 1990s…and his willingness to sue jurisdictions where he does business.’ He also notes that Peebles ‘took some surprising shots at [Mayor Adrian M. Fenty]’s economic development work, criticizing developer Chris Donatelli for a practice—raising money for a political candidate who could help his business—that Peebles has built a 25-year career on.’ Snap!

AFTER THE JUMP—Sex-ed researchers says D.C. kids want Trojans; most taxi defendants were mere pawns, WCP finds; Gandhi can Nickle with the best of ‘em; more stories from laid-off D.C. teachers; rich guy flexes his political muscle in front of reporter

Read More “A Reality Check for Don Peebles: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—’Is DCPS Continuing to Hire Teachers After Firing 229?‘

Morning all. Surprise, surprise: There’s been no movement on teachers’ contract negotiations for a month, says a WaPo report by Bill Turque. The Oct. 2 layoffs of 229 teachers have brought the nearly two-year process ‘to another standstill,’ he writes. ‘The two sides have not met face to face since Sept. 21, and no bargaining sessions are scheduled.’ WTU President George Parker says his ‘number one priority’ is reversing the layoffs, saying ‘I feel a little indifferent to contract negotiations right now.’ Adds AFT’s Randi Weingarten, ‘There is no trust right now.’ Michelle Rhee’s take: ‘These talks have been at a standstill for two years.’

AFTER THE JUMP—‘Retarded’ to be stricken from D.C. law books; Councilmember Doolittle checks in; Michael Brown handed taxi oversight; police officer shoots man to death during DV call; ballpark building gets a tenant!

Read More “‘No Trust’ In DCPS Contract Talks: Loose Lips Daily” »

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Accused Taxi Briber Will Stay in Jail, Judge Says“; “Graham Withdraws From Taxi Oversight”

Morning all. It’s official: DCision 2010 is on for real. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was spotted knocking on Ward 7 doors yesterday evening, according to WaPo’s Nikita Stewart. Good thing, too: He’s got a new potential challenger—D.C. native and megadeveloper Don Peebles, who tells WBJ’s Jonathan O’Connell that ‘he will either run himself or support another candidate because of what he called “a continued pattern of a lack of oversight and accountability” under Fenty….”The current mayor lacks the integrity, competency, capacity and maturity to be an effective mayor, and he’s unable to get along with anybody else.”‘ A real race? Be still LL’s heart!

AFTER THE JUMP—Top city officials react to WaPo HIV/AIDS spending reports; 4,000 Metro citations issued to drivers, only 18 fired; oily rags brought down Cafritz mansion; business owner complains, mayor offers tickets; and should domestic partnerships survive same-sex marriage?

Read More “Don Peebles to Take on Fenty: Loose Lips Daily” »

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Morning all. The front page of Sunday’s WaPo featured one of those big-time investigative stories that it’s nice to know a major metropolitan daily is still capable of. Reporter Debbie Cenziper spent some 10 months examining the record of the city’s HIV/AIDS Administration, particularly its grants to housing providers, in a series called ‘Wasting Away.’ She found that the city ‘awarded more than $25 million from 2004 to 2008 to nonprofit agencies marked by questionable spending, a lack of clients, or lapses in record-keeping and care.’ But will Cenziper’s work have any meaningful political fallout? Not likely. The investigation spans the last years of Anthony A. Williams‘ mayoralty and the first years of Adrian M. Fenty’s, and the first article in the series traces much of the malfeasance to HAA supervisor Debra Rowe, who was fired last year by new HAA director Shannon Hader, a Fenty hire. Councilmember David Catania, who’s overseen the health department during the period in question, has been a firebrand on the issue of HAA mismanagement for years. So it’s as yet unclear what accountability might look like.

AFTER THE JUMP—David Wilmot doesn’t need banks for his loans; council hearing stretches 18 hours; Fenty goes one-on-one with a reporter (not LL); the DCHVRA could live after all; Kwame harbors lottery contract doubts; and Chain Bridge Road fire extinguished!

Read More “D.C.’s $25 Million AIDS Failure: Loose Lips Daily” »