In his first year of office, Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration cranked out a whopping 572 denial letters to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filers, a rate more than quadruple–nearly quintuple!–the prior year under his predecessor. Numbers culled by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh's office (as part of her push for reform) indicate the city bureaucracy has never looked back, rejecting a [...]
Roy Morris describes his struggles in getting D.C. government agencies to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests as "Kafkaesque."
"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, [...]
As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!
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 [...]
No secret, they target elites
With tasty (and overpriced) eats
The yuppies will revel
They've reached a new level:
A station for only smoked meats
The soda tax met its demise
For reasons that most can surmise
M. Cheh could have scored
With Freeman on board
But not with those industry cries
Oh whoopsy, the CDC said
There's news that we shouldn't have spread
We told you [...]
As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Defense Challenges Alleged 'Wipe Marks' On Victim Robert Wone In Cover Up Case," "Toxic D.C. Tap Water Tops Off Week of Gloomy Health [...]
If you are a train-loving geek
The groundbreaking news of the week
On top of the hike
The prices will spike
At times they call "peak-of-the-peak"
Hey kids! Mary Cheh is so clever!
(And Peeps are a worthy endeavor)
Her prank was delayed
For Vincent's parade
It's awkward, but late sure beats never
The nice folks at Big Bear want booze
A quest they could possibly [...]
As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Is There Still Room For Seniors At The New 15th and U?," "Peaceoholics Took Betts Suspects On Retreat," "Disc Jockeys Irk Desk [...]
I was out of town so forgive me for mentioning this old news. On Saturday, WaPo analyzed Mayor Adrian Fenty's small-time jobs plan through the eyes of Councilmember Mary Cheh. WaPo describes the mayor's plan, which was announced last week, this way:
"The mayor committed to partnering with the 50-church Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) to create [...]
One year ago, the D.C. Republican Committee gave Ward 3 Councilmember Mary M. Cheh a hard time about her constituent newsletter. Chairman Bob Kabel and Executive Director Paul Craney jabbed the green-minded legislator for neglecting to note the publication's greenness.
"You recently mailed Ward 3 residents an unsolicited newsletter that failed to indicate if it [...]
Quick recap here on Ward 8 Councilmember Marion S. Barry Jr.'s latest misdeeds. And by "latest," here, we're not considering his long record of tax offenses.
In an explosive report issued yesterday, Special Counsel Robert S. Bennett alleged that Barry had done the following:
UPDATED AT 9:45 P.M.
Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat
Contributions This Period: $171,391 ($171,391 total)
Expenditures This Period: $8,611 ($8,611 total)
Cash on Hand: $162,780
The Skinny: Say what you will about Graham, the man is simply a powerhouse fundraiser—from the lawyers to the restaurants/bars to the developers to the just plain ol' folks, the bespectacled one knows how to [...]
5. Attend couples' counseling with Peter Nickles. The attorney general, quite simply, does not like us very much. The District's top lawyer—the man who called Councilmember Mary Cheh an "angry woman"—seems kind of angry himself, if you ask us. He won't speak to certain members of our staff (i.e., Jason Cherkis), whom he recently dubbed, [...]
As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—Famous Channel 4 sportscaster George Michael dies at 70. Also, more on the snowball fight, as City Desk reports on an effort by D.C. police [...]
D.C. Police Union Chief Kristopher Baumann has reviewed Ret. Judge Stanley Sporkin's report on the missing and/or destroyed evidence in the Pershing Park case. Baumann says he has concluded that there can be only one next step: The case should be referred to the Department of Justice.
“There needs to be an independent prosecutor set up," [...]
Late last Friday, Ret. Federal Judge Stanley Sporkin's investigative report [PDF] on Pershing Park was made public. The long-awaited document totaled 18 pages and included findings based on interviews with 14 individuals. Legal Times declared the report's conclusions "fairly modest." The report found no smoking gun, WaPo observed. After a quick read of the report, [...]
