D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray this afternoon described the motivation behind a pair of stories alleging improprieties on his part as being "clearly political."

The first, and more serious, story was penned by Jeffrey Anderson in this morning's Washington Times. It detailed various small jobs done on Gray's home by William C. Smith & Co., the politically powerful local development company. The second, a Washington Post story by Tim Craig, involved his use of council stationery to ask Comcast for a $20,000 donation to the local delegation to the Democratic State Committee. Gray addressed the controversies in an afternoon appearance on NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk With Bruce DePuyt.

Regarding the DNC allegations, Gray made the case that the fundraising effort was focused on voting-rights awareness, and thus kosher. Given that the check benefited local Democrats attending a political convention, it's awfully questionable distinction to make. But he gets points for this realization: "'If I had to do it over again, I certainly wouldn't have used the stationery."

As for the work on his Hillcrest home, Gray insisted "there was no impropriety that was involved."

Read More "Vincent Gray Calls Misconduct Allegations ‘Clearly Political’" »

It's been a good week for WTOP reporter Mark Segraves. On Monday, he broke a story about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's use of public resources to facilitate his bike training rides. Now, he tells LL, he's inked a deal to host his own TV show.

No name has yet been determined, but starting next month, Segraves will be taking over the public affairs show on WDCW-TV now hosted by Chris Core, the longtime WMAL-AM talk show host now at WTOP.

The show, Segraves says, will be 30 minutes long, will be predominantly in interview format, and will cover more than strictly city politics. The show will have a more regional focus and will cover various current events, social issues, and cultural matters.

Segraves will also keep his duties at WTOP. Same goes for Core, who says he's signed a contract to embark on a new project, although he's forsworn from sharing details ahead of an official announcement. Core says he put in a good word for Segraves with Channel 50 management.

Read More "WTOP’s Mark Segraves to Get TV Show" »

Just got a Washington Post local text alert telling me that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is threatening to cut off funding to District HIV/AIDS programs.

Huh?

The local text alerts are used once or twice a day, mostly to get the word out about rush hour traffic backups, but also about major breaking news events---the election of Bob O'Donnell McDonnell as Virginia governor, the execution of John Allen Muhammad, to give a couple of recent examples. But news of a letter from a federal bureaucrat telling District bureaucrats they're in some shit if they don't shape up (which they probably will)?

This is not to take away from the diligent and excellent reporting of Debbie Cenziper in exposing massive oversight failures in the D.C. government. She and her paper deserve every award they're going to get. But a big part of landing these prizes is documenting (and sometimes overblowing) the institutional response to your stories. My guess is that if, say, the Washington Examiner or Washington Times or this paper had broken the story, there would not have been a text alert this afternoon.

In case you were doubting the tight relationship between the Washington Post editorial board and the upper echelons of the Fenty administration---particularly schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee---check this e-mail, sent on Oct. 5 from Rhee to embattled parks-and-rec director-designee Ximena Hartsock:

Spoke to Wapo ed board folks about you today. Told them you are the most qualified person possible, that you have amazing capacity and that everything you do has your hallmark of excellence. They'll write a good piece for tomorrow.

Et voilà.

Read More "How to Get a Sweet WaPo Editorial" »

It's been a week now since Ted Loza, chief of staff to Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, was arrested on federal bribery charges.

LL and other news outlets have explored a lot of angles in the arrest's aftermath, but there's a media angle that's been neglected: Graham's press guy was just getting settled in.

"Thursday was my second day," says Brian DeBose. "I came in, and I was starting to just get myself acclimated to the computer and the system. And, you know, by 12:30 the FBI came in to Ted's office," he says, "which vastly changed the job."

Read More "Graham’s New Press Guy Picked a Lousy Day to Start" »

Check out NewsTalk With Bruce DePuyt at 4 p.m. on NewsChannel 8.

LL will be on, along with WTOP's Mark Segraves, to talk Ted Loza and Jim Graham, and also about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's poll numbers.

Tune in!

Fifty-one percent of District residents polled in recent days disapprove of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's job performance, according to WJLA-TV, and get this---"even more believe he cares more about advancing his career than about the city's needs."

The poll, echoing another poll done earlier this summer, shows an emerging racial split on Hizzoner. Where 23 percent of blacks approved of Fenty, 66 percent of whites approved.

And members of his own party like him less than others: "Among Democrats, Fenty had a 54-percent disapproval rating. Throughout the survey, Democrats judged Fenty more harshly than Republicans or independents, who make up a very small percentage of District voters."

Read More "Majority of Voters Polled Disapprove of Fenty" »

Yesterday a story with "Fucking" in its headline rocketed to the top of the Google News front page. This earned Google four complaints.

Two months ago City Paper ran the words "Suck Your Dick" on the front cover. The image went up online the day before and elicited nary a peep, but when the issue hit stands, woo boy. We got so many complaints we had to to divide up a list of angry callers to phone back. Also, it got us on Fox, which redacted the headline to "'You Put Me Out in Denver 'Cause I Wouldn't (blank) (blank) (blank)'." (Since when is "Your" a standards and practices issue?)

Google News has a reach Washington City Paper couldn't even dream of approximating. It is, however, consumed one person at a time, not displayed on a newsstand kids could conceivably walk by and ask their parents about. This possibility, though no specific instance of this happening, motivated many of our angriest letter-writers. Someone got so angry that s/he swore publicly her/himself!

Some folks might be satisfied with the "innocent explanation" presented in this morning's Washington Post editorial on the enrollment of Mayor Adrian Fenty's twin sons at Lafayette Elementary:

Mr. Fenty's neighborhood school, West Elementary, has only one fourth-grade class. Most studies show that twins, particularly if they are of the same gender, should be in separate classes for both learning and social development. That's apparently why Ms. Rhee -- using a process employed for other families in similar circumstances -- assigned the boys to Lafayette, where the existence of four fourth-grade classes made it easy to accommodate them. The school is also in Ward 4, where the Fentys live.

Some folks, on the other hand, might not be satisfied.

Read More "Why the WaPo’s Fenty Schooling ‘Explanation’ Is Not Convincing" »

Great lunch read for everyone: Matt Labash's lengthy profile of Marion Barry in this week's Weekly Standard. (Yes, the Weekly Standard).

Barry admitted Labash into his inner life, a courtesy not extended to Washington City Paper, including a tour of the mayor-for-life's home, featuring a look at his bedroom urinal. Oh, and Barry shows Labash his nipple. Read it!

Note that semicolon up there in the title. You see how beautifully I deployed that? I learned punctuation as a copy editor, a job that I took at Spin 14 years ago. There, I first changed like to such as and made bands its rather than theys. I mastered the en dash and the difference between prone and supine.

Prettying up the writing of other journalists, much like answering their phone calls, is a job that isn't making it through the recession at many publications. Here at City Paper, we used to have a receptionist. We also used to have two copy editors. You will no longer find those job titles on our masthead.
Read More "Disappearing Media Jobs: 1) Copy Editor; 2) Receptionist" »

Key line: "In those instances where you call it 'trouble,' it’s been other people who have done that."

So the Washington Post appeared to want to make you pay big bucks for meet-ups with their reporters and editors. Politico had the scoop on the Post scheme in which Publisher Katharine Weymouth would host "salons" in which lobbyists and association muckety mucks would pay large sums of money to hobnob with Posties, Obama administration officials, and members of Congress.

Let's stop and just say it: This is/was really, really dumb. Unethical and dumb. Yesterday, Weymouth published a "Dear Reader" letter apologizing for the now-abandoned salons. It reads in part:

"A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only problem."

I wonder if the Weymouth has to put a stop order on the hot appetizers she planned on serving to D.C.'s elite. I hope the Post doesn't have to eat the cost of the flower arrangement orders. And I hope they got a deal on those fliers they're not going to use. Next time: Evites.

Read More "Post Salon Scandal Gets Full Take Down" »

So how did the Red Line metro crash death toll jump to nine last night then fall back to seven this morning and then back up to nine? Last night, City Desk reported that three news outlets---WUSA9, WTOP, and WJLA---had confirmed that nine had died in the crash. WTOP cited the D.C. Fire Department as its source. WJLA had cited Metro.

This morning, Fenty stated that the number of confirmed dead was actually seven. That number soon increased back up to nine.

At least one fire department official is trying to figure out how and why there was so much confusion. One reporter City Desk contacted speculates that it may have to do with just the gruesomeness of the scene.

Read More "Metro Crash Death Count: WTF" »

Bishop Harry Jackson, leading opponent of gay marriage in the District, entered the No-Spin Zone this evening.

Jackson was featured in a five-minute segment midway through the O'Reilly Factor, as proof, according to host Bill O'Reilly, of "the staggering hypocrisy of the left and media that enables the far left to do these things."

Some backstory: On June 5, Lou Chibbaro Jr. reported in the Washington Blade that Jackson had only recently registered to vote in the District and that he listed his residence as a one-bedroom apartment in the Whitman, a Mount Vernon Square condo building. That, of course, is germane because he is (a) a proponent of a referendum on a District law and (b) required to be a registered District voter to do so. Earlier this week, Chibbaro added to his report, reporting that virtually no one at the condo building had seen Jackson and that Jackson is maintaining his residences in Maryland.

On Wednesday, at a hearing before the Board of Elections and Ethics, Jackson took time to decry the disclosures, calling them a threat to him and his family and an attempt to intimidate him and other same-sex marriage opponents.

On O'Reilly, he continued his protestations.

Read More "Bishop Harry Jackson to Bill O’Reilly: ‘They Hacked Into My Records’" »