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."

Gray went on describe his relationship with Chris Smith, the president and CEO of WCS&Co., which, he says, stretches back some 15 years to his time as executive director of Covenant House, when Smith;s company built youth housing and other projects. "There's a longstanding relationship here," Gray said. "Chris Smith is a guy of impeccable integrity. I like to phrase it that he's the best blend of economic development and social justice that hes ever seen."

The renovation project, he says, came about this way: "When I wanted to do a renovation on my house, I turned to him, and he said that he though that his company could help me."

Gray repeated that he paid in full for the work that was done, that no favors were extended. He went out to emphasize that this was intended to be no small job, that WCS&Co. helped identify an architect that he paid for. The small jobs mentioned in the Times story---painting a room, changing a door, washing a driveway---were incidental. "Had this larger project not been on the table, they never would have done the work," Gray insisted.

Then there's the issue of the payment. The WaTimes story implied that Gray only paid for the work done once the paper started asking questions. Gray says he got an invoice on Oct. 30, and paid it within two weeks, adding that he was not aware of reportorial inquiries until Monday, after the bill was paid. "My payment was not in response to anticipation of a story from the Washington Times."

DePuyt asked a smart followup about whether he had put any money down, as home-improvement contractors often require. "That may well have been the case if we had started the renovation," Gray said, adding, "There was no project that had been authorized to go forward. We were in the architectural development stage at that point."

Then there's the permit issue; the Times story found no evidence that nay permits had been issued. Said Gray, "There were no permits that were required. I cannot imagine that a permit would have been required for this work."

For more explanations on the renovation issue, do see Jonathan O'Connell's reporting today for Washington Business Journal. A William C. Smith & Co. exec explained to him that a company subsidiary called WCS Construction LLC did the work, describing it as "a Ward 8 business....they hire local contractors and that's really important in this city."

The exec, Carol Chatham, responded to the idea that her company did the work hoping to receive contracts thusly:

"The council does not award development projects. That comes through the mayor's office of economic development," she said. Given the lousy mayor-council relations, she said, "if we were trying to curry favor with the mayor we certainly wouldn't be doing favors for the chairman of the council."

She's got a point there.

In all, not a bad first-day reaction from Gray---defensive at times, sure, and his accusations of political motivations were unnecessarily ugly, but he exhibited some awareness that there are legitimate questions that need to be answered. Whether this turns into a two-day story or something more depends on some questions yet to be answered: Has this WCS Construction done other similar home improvement work---for politicians or anyone else? Will the firm continue handling Gray's home renovation project? Was the work priced appropriately? Will Gray release the invoices for public examination?

With regard to the fundraising questions, DePuyt asked Gray if he'd be willing to have lawyer Bob Bennett, currently examining other D.C. Council ethics issues, examine the matter. Said the chairman, "I'd be happy for him to take a look at it."

Then DePuyt asked the money question: He asked Gray if he thought that the appearance of the stories represents a "brushback pitch" from the Fenty camp. Said Gray: "Absolutely. I think it's clearly political."

Gray insisted the stories would have no bearing on his decision whether to run against Fenty or not: "You called it a brushback pitch, I used to play baseball...When you get in the batters' box you better be ready for what comes."

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.

The show will be scheduled against the Sunday morning network talk shows. "My feeling is that people who are looking for that type of show are surfing the stations, and if they find a local alternative, they might stop for a while," Segraves says.

Among broadcast shows covering local political affairs, Segraves' program joins a select group, including NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk With Bruce DePuyt, WAMU-FM's Kojo Nnamdi Show, and WTOP's Politics Program With Mark Plotkin, not to mention Jonetta Rose Barras' Tuesday show on WPFW-FM.

Says Segraves, "I hope the show will have a bit of an aggressive edge that I bring to reporting, but it won't be limited to just politicians and hard news."

Prepare for the softer side of Segraves, people!

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

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.

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.

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."

DeBose is no stranger to the city hall media; he was a longtime Washington Times reporter. He spent eight years at the paper, including a stint on the editorial board in his last months there. (He's also married to Washington Post police reporter Theola Labbé-DeBose.) He's taking over for David Lipscomb, another former WaTimes reporter who is now returning to that paper.

"This is the first political advocacy job I had, DeBose says. "I like excitement and it is exciting."

And how.

DeBose says his reportorial expertise came in handy last week. "I've learned lessons a long time ago about how to handle these sorts of things. There's only so much you can do in this sort of situation."

Another thing came in handy, too: "My friend sent me her crisis memo. She's the former communication director for William Jefferson," says DeBose, referring to the Louisiana congressman found by federal agents to be stashing $90,000 in his freezer. "That's there where I learned my lessons."

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!

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."

All this despite the fact that 72 percent of the 500 households polled by SurveyUSA felt that crime had improved or at least not worsened.

Margin of error for the automated poll is 4.5 percent.

ORIGINAL POST: Did Gordon Peterson call you last night?

LL received a report this morning that the avuncular WJLA-TV anchor was heard on a robocall sent to D.C. households last night, introducing a poll on local issues.

Among the issues polled: Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's approval; his current support relative to at his inauguration; school reform; and mayor-council relations.

LL is told that the poll results will be released by WJLA-TV at 3 p.m. today and that the results are "interesting."

Updates to come. If you got the call, describe it in the comments.

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!

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.

The editorial doesn't by any means alleviate concerns over special treatment. For instance, the editorial contains no accounting of how many times a twins situation has been addressed through a Rhee-approved transfer.

And then there's the question of why, if West was unsuitable, send them to Lafayette---one of the most sought-after schools in the system?

This afternoon, LL called the 14 places in the D.C. Public Schools where the Fenty twins could attend fourth grade that are closer to their Crestwood home than Lafayette: Bancroft Elementary, Barnard Elementary, Brightwood Education Campus, Cooke Elementary, Eaton Elementary, Hearst Elementary, Oyster-Adams Bilingual School, Murch Elementary, Powell Elementary, Reed Community Learning Center, Truesdell Education Campus, Tubman Elementary, West Elementary (their in-boundary school), and Whittier Education Campus.

Besides West, Hearst is the only other school confirmed to have only one fourth-grade class this year. (Maybe Truesdell, too---the office staff there wouldn't say how many they have.)

Lafayette happens to have higher math and reading scores than all of the schools with multiple fourth-grade classes closer to the Fenty home.

The unsourced Post editorial (writer Jo-Ann Armao would not comment further on the sourcing for her scoop) acknowledges that "Lafayette's stellar reputation was an added lure for the mayor and his wife." It goes to to forgive them for "wanting the best for their children."

Some other parents, who also want the best for their children, might not be so forgiving. Perhaps Lafayette should prepare for an influx of twins in upcoming years?

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!

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.

At big papers, many copy editors are older and wear cardigans and go home to their cats, so they are perfect candidates for buyouts. This has been bad for accuracy. Example: this recent utter fiasco at the New York Times, where the error-prone critic in question used to have a single copy editor assigned to her, an arrangement that was not renewed when the copy editor got promoted.

Or this bit of weirdness in today's Post: The lede of this story describes contestants in a beauty pageant who are waiting to hear who has won. The time is "[l]ate into Monday night, or shall we say in the wee hours of Tuesday morning." At the end of the piece, the author sets another scene. "It's 11:43. We have sat through three hours of smiles and glitter and acts." It is time to find out who won. But 11:43 p.m. on Monday is not the wee hours of Tuesday morning! There's probably a reasonable explanation for this---I'm guessing that the announcement didn't happen in the following 16 minutes. A fresh-eyed person might have asked about this dissonance between the piece's top and bottom.

But the job of being a fresh-eyed person is increasingly not being filled, and those who are left are often overwhelmed.

Yes, money is a factor here, but those of us who are copy editors must own up to some of the responsibility for this situation. I can't tell you how many meaningless arguments I've had over copy changes, minor things that I should have backed off from but couldn't let myself. Example: "the fact that," a phrase I hated more than the tortuous fixes I devised for it. Copy editors can get way too hung up on this sort of thing and alienate the very people who have to figure out how to staff their publications with a lot less money. Suddenly, copy-editing begins to look like a relic, like when businesses hired people to do nothing but type.

That responsibility, of course, eventually became diffused across offices. Likewise, journalists will have to take ownership of their own spelling, grammar, and factual integrity. They'll also have to figure out how to dodge people following up on a press release.

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.

There had been a lot of dithering on the part of the Post's staff on the subject of these salons. Howard Kurtz, the paper's media reporter, suggested the events were like the New Yorker Festival. [Um, no the salons would not have been like the New Yorker Festival]. It is really doubtful that the salons would have been open to the public and given big-time ad treatment within its pages. The salons appeared to be private affairs between Washington elite.

The best takedown/summation of this scandal? You can find it at The Awl. The Shadow Editors---featuring WCP alum Tom Scocca---dissect the scandal and the Weymouth letter. It's actually funny.

I am still confused about the extent of the Post's editors and reporters involvement in setting up the salons.

*photo courtesy Business Week.

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.

Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite says the death toll should not have gone up to nine last night. "I don't know how that number got out there," he says. "I'm very disappointed. We had no idea that there was nine. I called the command post and said, 'Are we at nine?' They said, 'No, we're at six.'... [They said] we have not recovered any more bodies."

Crosswhite is trying figure out who leaked the increased death toll last night. "Maybe you could help me out," he says. "Where should I look? I talked to Metro's PIO and I talked to NTSB, their PIO. I don't know where that number came from. If you find out please let me know so it doesn't happen again."

The Fire Department's own spokesperson, Alan Etter, says he isn't the source for last night's number. "I didn't talk to anyone at all last night," he says. "Nor did I get any new information---they might have talked to someone at the scene."

Dave Statter, the runs the STATter 911 blog and is a reporter with WUSA, says it may have come down to body parts. "My impression is that last night's information which came from sources around 11:20 PM was based on what the camera saw or parts of bodies being seen," Statter says via e-mail. "They had not gotten to those bodies in time for the 8:00AM press conference so the official count was left at 7. After the press conference access was made and five bodies came out bring the official toll to 9."

Councilmember Jim Graham appears to side with Statter for an explanation on the confusing death toll numbers. "I think it has to do with the way the car was crushed," he says. "There was a lot of uncertainty about what was in that crash. That's just pure guess work on my part having been on the scene."

Graham says he plans on asking about the death toll issue at this afternoon's Metro Board hearing on yesterday's crash.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery

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.

"Well, Bill," he started, "they hacked into my records, found out when I registered to vote in the District of Columbia. They printed in two newspapers my home address and the addresses of houses I own in the Maryland region, outside D.C. And there have been e-mails that have gone forth saying they want to destroy my church. Kind of amazing, isn't it?"

"It isn't," O'Reilly replied. "I'm not amazed by it." He then brought up his own recent troubles, where he's come under fire for his years of vitriol toward Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, leading some to suggest culpability in his brutal murder. Hypocrisy, he said: "You don't hear a word about people like you, and they're printing your name in the paper!"

Jackson continued: "You know, Bill, people are looking for privacy, and they say their rights need to be protected. And on the other side, unlike the civil rights movement...[which] operated with a Christian spirit, this minority is going to rise up and impose their will on the majority. And they don't care that I've got young adult daughters and a wife. They don't care what happens to my family. They just want it their way, and they'll intimidate you or me into submission if they can."

"How are you handling all this, as a man of God?" O'Reilly asked. "Are you forgiving them? Are you angry with them?"

Replied Jackson: "Well, I am praying for them and forgiving them. Bill, this is very much a spiritual battle in my view, and I look at Martin Luther King Jr. as the ultimate model in terms of his public resistance to oppression, and I think that this is going to deepen our faith roots if you will. But very sincerely, I cannot answer back, obviously, with the same kind craziness that they're operating with. But I'm glad that you've had me on tonight so that we can expose the fact that folks are saying one thing then doing something totally hypocritical on the other side."

Cue Bill O'Reilly, tough guy: "I know you can't do anything, but I can. And if anybody bothers you or your family, and if you believe that anybody's putting you in danger or doing anything against you church, I want you to call me immediately. And we will deal with those people, because we are going to defend people like you."

Then O'Reilly gave Jackson "the last word": "Thing that I'm so concerned about is that this kind of thing has a chilling effect on people standing up for their rights. Once people see what's happened to me, they say, 'Shoot, I'm not going to get involved. I'm not going to say my piece.'"

"That's why they do it to me! That's why they do it to you!" O'Reilly interjected. "And it's not the American way. It's un-American."

LL will make but one comment. OK, two. (1) You're fitting your wife and young adult daughters in a one-bedroom condo? (2) Obtaining the address and date of registration for a District voter by no means requires any "hacking." Any person is free to visit the offices of the Board of Elections and Ethics (441 4th St. NW, 2nd floor, south wing), walk into the waiting area, log in to a public computer terminal, and look up that information for any voter in town. In fact, call 202-727-2525, ask real nice, and they might even look it up for you. And land records? Those are public, too.

Open government: Very, very American.