More than two hours into Sinclair Skinner's long-anticipated D.C. Council testimony, the controversial friend of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is shying away from his association with Hizzoner.

Skinner, implicated in a shadowy parks contracting scheme that shifted tens of millions across the District government, was questioned today by lawyer Robert Trout, engaged by the council to complete its probe into the contracts. Early questioning went to Skinner's qualifications, which are sparse—a certified engineer-in-training since 1998, he has twice failed to pass professional engineer licensing exams. He also testified it was normal practice for his firm, Liberty Engineering & Design, to hire subcontractors to complete technical work it was not qualified to perform, such as site surveys.

Questioning turned to why Skinner chose to establish LEAD. He described a boyhood dream to become a professional engineer, and added that Fenty's 2006 mayoral victory inspired him to start his firm. "It made me believe that I could do anything that I put my mind to it," he said.

Trout, picking up on allegations aired in the Washington Post and elsewhere, asked Skinner if he ever indicated to any potential business partners that he had "special clout" with Fenty.

Skinner said he did not recall doing so, but added: "I don't need to tell anyone I know Adrian Fenty....It's been pretty well covered" in the media, he said. At another point in the questioning, Skinner said he talks to Fenty "all the time" but never about his engineering firm.

The proceedings have been peppered by dozens of "I don't recalls" from Skinner and many procedural objections from his attorney, A. Scott Bolden.

Bolden did pull off one coup: He negotiated a rare council lunch break to allow Skinner to 'recharge his batteries.' After the break, questioning is set to turn toward Liberty Engineering and Design's work on the parks contracts.

Photos by Darrow Montgomery

Nope—not referring to conditions of backwoods Montana streams here. LL refers to the investigative findings of attorney Robert P. Trout, whom the D.C. Council has engaged pro bono to investigate the irregular award of $80 million or more in parks projects to firms with ties to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.

Trout was introduced to reporters this afternoon by councilmembers, including Chairman Vincent C. Gray, at-largers Kwame Brown and Michael A. Brown, and Ward 5's Harry Thomas Jr., who has been leading the charge on the parks issue.

Thomas said Trout, name partner in litigation firm Trout & Cacheris, will be charged with examining why millions of dollars were sent from the parks budget to the deputy mayor's budget and then to the D.C. Housing Authority—circumventing council oversight in the process. "Why was this pathway chosen in the first place to get these projects done?" he asked. "And why weren't these contracts sent to the council for review?" Added Gray, "Some of the testimony is stunning, shocking."

It will be Trout's job to pore through that testimony, gathered over the course of a half-dozen marathon hearings, as well as other documents and evidence and arrive at a conclusion as to where there was any malfeasance at play. He will be empowered to issue subpoenas and gather any further evidence necessary to complete his findings. Asked whether further fact-finding will be necessary, Trout said, "Our expectation is that there's been a great deal that's already been done, and we expect to build on that....[but] to the extent that we feel it appropriate to fill some holes, we will do that."

Trout, a former federal prosecutor, noted that he's done some investigative work for local government in the past. "Many years ago," he said, he was retained by the Montgomery County council to probe allegations of corruption in the county liquor control bureau. Trout says he did not have "any existing relationships" with any councilmember before Gray approached him; accompanying him at today's press conference were two other partners at his firm, Gloria B. Solomon and Amy Berman Jackson. (What's in it for Trout & Cacheris? "We made the judgment that it's appropriate to provide these services to the city council on a pro bono basis," he said. "That's the decision of my firm, and we're pleased to do it." Then again, look no further than the pair of cameras and handful of reporters gathered today.)

The first major item on Trout's agenda will be the anticipated March 24 testimony of Sinclair Skinner, the principal owner of Liberty Engineering and Design, and as hot-button a political personage as exists in local circles. After an extended fight to escape a council subpoena, a judge last week ordered Skinner to appear or incur stiff fines. Thomas said the testimony will be taken in open forum, like the rest of the parks testimony, and Trout and colleagues will be allowed to sit on the dais and directly question Skinner.

The backdrop of all this, of course, is a burgeoning election year, and councilmembers no doubt are hoping to inflict some political damage on Fenty's re-election hopes via the parks probe. And by hiring an independent counsel, legislators are hoping the findings won't be so easily dismissed as mere political vendetta. ("The chairman has really undertaken in these special investigations to give the council more credibility in what we do," Thomas said at one point.)

Trout's hiring gets a provisional OK from Attorney General Peter Nickles, who has dismissed certain previous council investigations as political witchhunts—notably the fishy firetruck affair. (Though he says attorney Robert S. Bennett "did a superb job" with his recent report, which of course ended in unprecedented sanctions for Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry.)

"I think these hearings have been politically motivated, but I trust that this individual, Mr. Trout, will be independent," Nickles said this afternoon. "He has a good reputation, and I know the firm and I know his partner. They're good lawyers, and I have nothing but good things to say about them."

But Nickles repeatedly said today that he saw no "smoking gun" thus far revealed in the contracts hearings. (LL's also seen no "smoking gun," but he's seen plenty of evasive answers and forgetfulness.) "My own view is that you don't investigate public officials unless there's some clear evidence of impropriety," he said. "You don't have investigations for the sake of having investigations."

Still: "We'll be fully cooperative with Mr. Trout," Nickles says, adding that he's already given "boxes" of documents to Thomas and other investigators. But "fully cooperative" has its limits. Asked whether he'd let city employees sit for further questioning on the matter, Nickles said, "Depends on how I perceive the investigation is proceeding."

How fast will Trout finish his work? Thomas said it is his "hope and expectation" to have a report released within 45 days but left the window open for a longer probe. He disputed a suggestion that the probe might drag into campaign season, noting Skinner's intransigence. "The timeline we're on is not by my doing," he said.

Gray also addressed that point: "If there's nothing going on here," he said, "I don't understand why there's a witness who's worked extremely hard to evade coming to a deposition."

"Your office will be well-counseled to bring [the contracts] back to us as expeditiously as possible....This is not a water-under-the-dam moment."

—At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania, Oct. 30

The first Fenty administration scandal worthy of the name emerged in October, when the council discovered that some $80 million in parks money had been sent to a subsidiary of the D.C. Housing Authority. In turn, that agency handed a contract to manage nearly a dozen parks projects to Banneker Ventures, a thinly experienced firm run by close Fenty ally Omar Karim. That outfit, in turn, handed construction and engineering contracts to other firms, some with close ties to Hizzoner. All this was done in a way as to evade the council’s legally mandated meddling. The resulting outrage was expected, but even staunch Fenty allies Catania and Jack Evans spoke up decrying the end-around. Fenty learned a lesson: The one power the council has is to follow the money. Mess with it at your own risk.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

More from LL's Quotes of 2009

Interim parks director Ximena Hartsock and her capital projects director had been asked to come to today's hearing on the matter, but they did not show.

That prompted Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., chairing the inquiry, to announce at the hearing that he will be issuing subpoenas for the witnesses and related documents.

Ugh.

And this from Nickles: "I think Mary Cheh is great....Mary Cheh is a great councilmember."