At the end of May, Shadow Senator Paul Strauss suddenly decided to plead guilty to charges stemming from his drunk driving arrest. It was an interesting move considering that he had long fought the charges, even delaying his proceedings in D.C. Superior Court so he could hunt down an expert witness. The incident had proven to be quite an embarrassment for the city official—not just for the drinking-and-driving bust itself but for his conduct with the police (he showed off his senate ID; Third District cops were not impressed).

Strauss has not issued much in the way of a public apology for his conduct. There’s been no teary press conference, no photo up with MADD. Other officials have at least gotten with the program and admitted their mistakes when caught over the legal limit (like this guy and this guy). He refused to return calls for comment at the time of his guilty plea. Nor had he offered much in the way of an explanation immediately following his arrest.

City Desk finally caught up with Strauss this afternoon. Strauss could not have been less interested in talking about his DUI guilty plea. Don’t expect any Public Service Announcements from the Shadow Senator any time soon. This is a guy who wishes he could just blackout the whole incident.

Read More “Paul Strauss Wants To Move Past Drunk Driving Arrest” »

Last Friday, Paul Strauss entered a guilty plea to his DUI charge in D.C. Superior Court. The guilty plea amounts to a swift change in tactics–some might suggest an erratic change—for the shadow senator. Strauss had maintained his innocence ever since his arrest on October 1, 2008. At a previous court hearing, his attorney successfully sought a delay for his trial until June; he had wanted the time to seek out an expert witness for his case. He had also previously rejected a plea offer.

So what’s the upshot of Strauss’ plea? The shadow senator has to now pee in a cup.

Strauss received a 60-day suspended jail sentence, 11 months of supervised probation, a $300 fine, and $100 fine to be paid to the victims of violent crime compensation fund. As part of Strauss’ supervised probation, the shadow senator must “abstain from the use of hallucinatory or other drugs, and submit to drug testing….,” according to court documents.

Read More “Shadow Senator Paul Strauss Pleads Guilty To DUI” »

Buried in budget legislation [PDF, p.121] submitted today to the D.C. Council are a number of changes to the District’s property-tax appeals process.

The Board of Real Property Assessment Appeals (BRPAA—pronounced “BURP-uh”) has had its share of trouble over the years. The board came in for a harsh review last fall from D.C. Auditor Deborah K. Nichols, who wrote that longtime chair Paul Strauss had “provided a dubious level of service to residents and businesses of the District of Columbia.” Earlier this year, the board was again subject to unflattering headlines when one member resigned, publicly citing mismanagement by interim chair Towanda Paul-Bryant. And then, news that tax appeals had cut city revenues by some $100 million led to widespread calls for BRPAA reform.

And reform is what they shall get. Attorney General Peter Nickles says he convened members of BRPAA and the city finance office earlier this month: “I said, you know this agency does not appear to me to be working.”

Read More “Budget Proposal Includes Changes to Property Tax Appeals Board” »

LL was all pumped and ready for the Trial of the Century—that, of course, being the adjudication of Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss‘ October drunk-driving arrest.

The trial was scheduled for Monday morning in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Marisa J. Demeo, but alas, the drama must wait: Strauss’ lawyer filed a motion Monday to postpone the trial. It’s been rescheduled for June 3.

In her motion, attorney Claire Morris Clark argued that the city had been tardy with a discovery request—a review of which would be necessary “in order for Mr. Strauss to evaluate his trial strategy and decide whether to proceed to trial or consider attempting to reach a disposition in the matter.” Once the discovery was provided on March 6, Strauss sought “potential expert witnesses,” but none were available for Monday—thus the continuance request. The government did not oppose.

Clark declines to say what sort of expert witness her client expects to call: “Not going to tell you that just yet,” she says.

Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee, expressed full-throated support this afternoon for the D.C. House Voting Rights Act and said he was gratified that the bill passed cloture earlier today. He was buttonholed by LL as he entered the Senate wing of the Capitol with former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman.

“I think it’s an important civil right for the residents of this city,” said Steele, a native of Ward 4. “Having grown up here I understand how important it is to them.”

And Steele pumped up the GOP’s civil rights history: “We’ve always, as a party, been on the right side of that history so, hopefully, everybody will be there again.”

Read More “Michael Steele: D.C. Vote an “Important Civil Right”” »

The drunk-driving case of Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss moved a bit further along today in D.C. Superior Court.

According to court records, a plea offer was rejected and a non-jury trial was set. The trial is scheduled for March 23, 2009 in courtroom 116.

Cheers.

Personal Plea: To all District residents who ran for office last Tuesday, please take down your campaign signs! Some of you lost big time (Dee Hunter, sorry), some of you inexplicably won (Paul Strauss), and some of you didn’t have to bother with signs at all (Kwame Brown). All of you need to remove your signs from city lamp posts, street corners, traffic islands, major intersections, and random tree boxes!

Intangible Arts has a rundown of some crazy-ass show you missed. Let’s focus on the first band:

“BLUE SAUSAGE INFANT: A deliberately short set this time (the audio file clocked in at exactly 13:13, how spooky). A brief sonic buildup followed by a large, stomping, improvised, freeform freakout of distorted electronics and tremolo-chopped wordless howling vocals. It was a childish tantrum of noise, soaked in psychedelic paranoia. It came back down to earth (more or less) with the pulsing Korg and looping chants. So far, the best description of modern-day BSI is “mean-spirited euphoria”… sounds about right.”

Meanwhile at Black Plastic Bag, Intern Bobby has some great photos of this past weekend’s Dan Deacon show.

The Heights Life is reporting that The Heights restaurant has changed its menu and slashed its prices.

Mount Pleasant still can’t sustain a decent blog! Climbing The Mount hasn’t posted since early August. Will its last post really be about selling your art at Tonic? Thanks to this blog for pointing it out.

Congress Heights On The Rise has a rundown of community events for the week.

Pop Cesspool invents some awesome new sign language.

Prince of Petworth responds to a reader question: Why didn’t you write more about the recent series of shootings? PoP mentions City Paper’s excellent coverage–thanks PoP–and then goes on to state something we’ve long believed. People obsess over crime too much!

Read More “Our Morning Roundup” »

Courtroom 115. Better known as misdemeanor, traffic, and community court. Better known still, according to Judge Michael J. McCarthy, a well-known tough guy, as the busiest courtroom in the country. This morning, from the bench, the judge boasted that his room sees something like 13,000 cases per year. Today, among dozens of cases, was the drunk driving case of Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss.

Strauss sat in the front row with his attorney and listened to McCarthy’s preamble.

“Is Unity Healthcare here yet?” McCarthy called out.

If anyone sitting before him, McCarthy explained, doesn’t have healthcare, they should get with the Unity people when they arrive. “I think you’ll be happy with the results if you take the time,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy then mentioned the city’s detox programs. If you want to get treatment, help is on the way. “We can have a van here within 20 minutes,” McCarthy promised.

McCarthy went on to list job training programs and a mental-health clinic next door.

Strauss just sat in the front row. He did not take advantage of these opportunities. After 4.5 cases were called, Strauss got his opportunity to stand in front of McCarthy.

Strauss promptly pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from his drunk driving arrest on Oct. 1. Strauss had basically refused comment on his case.

What did Strauss plead not guilty to?

Read More “Strauss Pleads Not Guilty!” »

I must have called Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss more than a dozen times on Friday concerning his recent arrest for drunk driving. After LL broke the news, Strauss released a lame statement and generally hid from the press.

I gave him the weekend. He finally picked up his cellphone this morning. He immediately refused to comment on his arrest.

“We’re getting ready for tomorrow,” Strauss said. “I’m not really focusing on anything but that right now.”

He then wanted to know why I was calling and where my reporting would end up. I told him it would end up on City Desk.

I asked if the news of his arrest was some kinda dirty trick. I got this rambling statement:

“Yeah. Look. Not going to comment means not going to comment. I just. You know. So. I don’t mean to be rude. But. There’s. I issued my statement. It’s going to be a historic election. We’re going to work for the democratic ticket. Happy to talk at another time. This is not a good time right now. We won’t be giving any interviews until after the election. We won’t be discussing the other thing until after the court date.”

Strauss then went off the record to stamp out a rumor I had asked him about. I then felt I had to ask the elected official one more question.

Do you have a drinking problem? “Come on, Jason. I’m going to end this conversation now.”

*photo by Darrow Montgomery

Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss was arrested for drunk driving on Oct. 1, according to court records.

The arrest took place on the 2000 block of Calvert Street NW, on or near the Duke Ellington Bridge between Woodley Park and Adams Morgan. Records contain few further details regarding the circumstances of the arrest.

Strauss, an attorney by trade, was charged with driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, and operating while impaired—three offenses with different definitions under District law, yet routinely charged together after drunk-driving arrests. According to the court documents, this is the first time Strauss has been charged with DWI. He is due to be arraigned on Thursday, Nov. 6.

It’s not his first arrest, though. In July 2005, he was detained on a disorderly conduct charge after “confronting officers as they arrested another man,” according to a contemporary account. Regarding that arrest, Strauss told a previous LL, “I was just trying to be helpful,” Strauss says. “I was asking basic questions like ‘Where are you taking him?’”

Strauss, a Democrat, is seeking, and is likely to win, a third six-year term in next Tuesday’s election. LL left a phone message for him last night; Strauss sent a text message in response asking about the nature of the inquiry. LL sent a text message back telling Strauss he was asking about the Oct. 1 arrest. No response came.

Readers may wonder: Why is LL breaking this story a month after the incident in question and days before the election? That’s because LL was informed of the court proceeding by an anonymous tipster on Wednesday. Strauss’ name had been entered into the Superior Court docket system as “STRAVSS,” which would have foiled any earlier attempts at due diligence.