D.C. Don't Stand for Democracy City: The good news from Friday night's budget dealing between the White House and Congress was that D.C. libraries, rec centers, and other services—like trash collection—didn't have to close. The bad news was that, once again, Congress has decided to play D.C. Council, with President Obama's blessing. City officials still aren't even sure exactly what the budget agreement does to local laws (besides banning local funding for abortions and reinstating a voucher program, it might also ban needle exchange funding), but they know they don't like it. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton should definitely vote against the deal when it comes up on the House floor later this week. Wait, what? Oh. Never mind. -5 But late in the day, Mayor Vince Gray and several councilmembers were in the process of getting arrested by Capitol Police for blocking Constitution Avenue to protest the deal—which means years of talk may finally be yielding to action. +2

Trees, Our Mortal Enemies: And now, a very sneezy episode of Meaningless Rankings by National Organizations. The weather finally warmed up today—which meant it was time for the city's trees to unleash their deadly barrage of pollen on unsuspecting residents. D.C. is, officially, only the 25th worst place to live during spring allergy season, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. But last year, the District was 46th—which means things have gotten worse in a hurry. Remind us never, ever to set foot in Knoxville, Tenn., which came in first. -2

Suspect Stung: A word of advice on what to do if someone tries to enlist you in a plot they say they're hatching to bomb Metro stations—don't. The man the FBI says happily agreed to join them in a phony bomb conspiracy, Farooque Ahmed, was sentenced today to 23 years in prison. We take the Metro often enough that we're glad to see authorities are taking threats to its security seriously. But we've also read the Constitution often enough to wish authorities would concentrate on people who might have been dangerous even if they hadn't been recruited by the FBI. -1

Dog Whistle Politics: You might need Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity to explain the coincidental timing in the next two pieces of news. First, Sekou Biddle adviser/Kwame "Fully Loaded" Brown father Marshall Brown tells the Post that white D.C. voters "believe more in their dogs than they do in people." Then comes word that a new pet shop called Green Paws D.C. will open in Bloomingdale. Maybe Brown, who was dumped from Biddle's campaign late in the day, can go work there? +1

Friday's Needle rating: 59 Today's score: -5 Today's Needle rating: 54

The longtime white population, the people who got involved in statehood, civil rights and environmental causes, thought of this as a black city. But the new white voters aren’t involved like that. They want doggie parks and bike lanes. The result is a lot of tension.

The new people believe more in their dogs than they do in people. They go into their little cafes, go out and throw their snowballs. This is not the District I knew. There’s no relationship with the black community; they don’t connect at church, they don’t go to the same cafes, they don’t volunteer in the neighborhood school, and a lot of longtime black residents feel threatened.

We have wondered if snowball fights are the new kickball. Still, Brown's channeling of Courtland Milloy feels about as fresh as well, organized kickball.

Why single out lazy white folks who couldn't name their councilmember, let alone locate the nearest soup kitchen? I can think of a lot of white people—and well, people—who tried to connect with Shiloh Baptist Church about its derelict properties. Does that count? I can think of at least two very engaged white people running in the at-large race that deserve way more attention than Brown's candidate and now former employer.

I'd argue that the majority of D.C. residents don't give a shit about civic activities. How many ANC races go uncontested every year? How many people actually watched the last CFSA hearing? How many black, white, whatever residents are actually going to vote in this special election?

And what has Brown done but enrich himself and his offspring by taking advantage of  a cynical and ambivalent citizenry?

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Brown (along with fellow politico and ex-Barry aide Bernard Demczuk) is first among local politickers as a denizen of Ben's Chili Bowl, and as a friend of its proprietor, Ben Ali, who died today at 82. He remembers his longtime friend with this line: "He came here ansd he wanted to do three things: He wanted to have a family, which he did; he wanted to have business, and he did; and he wanted to help somebody, which he did."

Ali, he says, "helped the entire community in any way...whether your church needed anything or your school needed a playground or you just needed a place to meet, you could count on Ben." And, he says, Ali made his restaurant a sort of sacred space for local officials and operatives looking to do a little business, have a quick bite, or make a big splash.

"You had to have a place to meet, have to have a place to sit down and invite people to. So it was Ben's Chili Bowl," Brown says. "Everybody from from Loose Lips to whoever, everyone's had to be there one way or another. It had black people, it had white people, it had old people, it had rich people, it had young people. It had gays, it had straights. It had upper class, middle class, no class. They all came."

The litany of politicos that Ali welcomed into his restaurant is legion: "Tony Williams, that was his very first stop after winning, the very first place he went to have a press conference was Ben's Chili Bowl. Charlene Drew Jarvis had to go through there; Dave Clarke had to go through there; Jim Graham had to go through there; Marion Barry, he lived there! I could go on and on and on."

Famously, of course, Barack Obama made an impromptu stop at Ben's in January with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, shortly after arriving in town for his inauguration.

But for all the politicking going on inside, the restaurant itself has never been a political establishment. Brown believes that the only tiume he saw Ali allow a political sign inside the place was when his son, Kwame Brown, ran for D.C. Council. "They just don't do it," he says.

(Kwame Brown just released a statement calling Ali a "wonderful family friend and true inspiration," not to mention "a civil rights pioneer and the embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit.")

The true testament to Ali, Marshall Brown says, is that "everybody was welcome....My enemies! Sometimes I'd be sitting next to them, having a damn chili dog! They were there at Chili Bowl."

UPDATE, 1:15 P.M.: D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray has a statement of his own, calling Ali "a well-respected and iconic figure in the shaping of the historic U Street corridor." He ends with a brag: "I am a regular patron."

UPDATE, 6:30 P.M.: An addendum from another operator, consultant Chuck Thies: "Funny, I always felt welcome at Ben's EXCEPT when Marshall Brown was there....In 2006 David Bowers held his At-Large Council campaign kick-off at Ben's, Marshall Brown was there running the show. Brown saw me, took a bee-line across the room and said, 'What are you doing here, this is my house. Get out of here right now. Back in the day I could have you fucked up.'"

Thies adds a disclaimer: "I don't want to come off looking anti-Ben's," just anti-Marshall.

Those of you searching for a candidate chomping at the bit to take on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and his $2 million-plus war chest, look out: An honest-to-God 2010 mayoral challenger has made his first nibble.

Well, his dad has, anyway.

Marshall Brown, the longtime political organizer and father of At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown, sent out an e-mail on Sunday night soliciting support for a mayoral draft campaign aimed at his son.

"Would you lend your name to the Kwame Brown for Mayor Draft Committee," the short e-mail asks, telling recipients to "send this to your email list." Two sources consulted by LL also report getting calls from Marshall Brown inquiring whether they might lend support to a Kwame-for-Mayor campaign.

Marshall Brown, reached today, said he was merely passing on the message as a favor to someone he identified as Reggie Robinson.

LL reached Robinson this afternoon; he said he's part of "a bunch of people" who would support a Kwame Brown run: "I mean, we just began to talk about it, that's all." Marshall Brown, he says, sent out some e-mails, and "I sent mine to different other people."

Robinson, a 69-year-old retiree from the D.C. Department of Employment Services, says he's been a friend of Marshall Brown for about 40 years and has known Kwame Brown "since he was a youngster." He's supporting a mayoral run for the younger Brown because, he says, "I think he's qualified for the job."

As for the current mayor, he says, "I'm just totally dissatisfied with him, period—his attitude, everything about him."

Told about the messages his father had sent out, Kwame Brown seemed incredulous. "What?" he exclaimed. "You don't have no e-mail that says that!"

LL informed Brown that he indeed did: "No, it's impossible!"

Brown said he knows "three or four Reggie Robinsons," and thus had no idea who might have been responsible for the creation of the pitch.

LL expressed to him some incredulity that his dad would send out such a message without his knowledge. "I haven't spoken to my dad in about two weeks," he says. "I'm just as shocked as you were if you got an e-mail like that."

Pressed on his electoral intentions, he said, "I have no interest as I've mentioned a hundred time. I dunno how many times I've said it....I'm flattered that people think I've done good work, but right now, I'm concentrated on being an at-large councilmember and a father and that's it."

LL pressed him for an absolute no-2010-run pledge. He didn't get one. "At this moment, I'm not running for mayor," he says. "I'm continuing to focus on education, getting job training for people, and being a great at-large councilmember for the District of Columbia."

Marshall Brown, as it happens, took virtually no visible role in his son's take-no-prisoners re-election campaign last year. The elder Brown, however, has deep city political ties that served his son well in his insurgent run against Harold Brazil in 2004. Less successful was his stint as Linda Cropp's field organizer in 2006. Most recently, he was paid handsomely for running Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss re-election campaign last year.

As for his dad's antics, Kwame Brown says, "Fathers always have aspirations, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery