Today, the D.C. Council sent a bill legalizing gay marriages in the District to the full council for a Dec. 1 vote. And during committee discussion today, there seemed to be little willingness to compromise on the ancillary issue of the day: whether the bill would cause the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington to withdraw from social service programs.

The archdiocese's issue seems to come down to two issues: adoptions to same-sex couples (which are already legal, as it happens), and mandated employee benefits for same-sex spouses of archdiocese employees.

As WaPo's Tim Craig reports, neither of the bill main sponsors, Phil Mendelson or David Catania, are budging on the issue. Said Mendo: "The way this issue has been approached by the archdiocese in the past week was tantamount to drawing a line in the sand and it may be hard for them to show some flexibility." Catania went on to ask how the archdiocese could give employee benefits to "fornicators and adulterers" but not gay couples.

LL's quick thought: Isn't this yet another argument for abandoning the already problematic employer-based health insurance model? Why should the institutional policies of an employer, subject to religious/moral/political dealings, affect the well-being of employees and their families?

Discuss.

In late July, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan called for an investigation into the discovery abuses in the Pershing Park case. Sullivan suggested that the D.C. Council should get to the bottom of how evidence went missing or got botched.

Councilmember Mary Cheh called for AG Peter Nickles to resign. Councilmember Phil Mendelson, who heads the Judiciary Committee, stated that he "definitely" would be considering an investigation into the matter.

Now, a D.C. Council investigation appears unlikely.

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Council Hearings Unlikely" »

Dee Does the District believes last week's protest will have no effect on Rhee's hold on DCPS:

"The City Council uses only rhetoric to denounce the pairs' actions; remember when Vincent Gray caved and restored the school funding he originally cut? The Washington Teachers Union has been utterly useless in the struggle between 825 and teachers' rights; George Parker continues to cancel meetings and overall, has not been proactive in addressing the layoffs. With the Mayor's reelection looming within a year, there are no candidates that pose a serious threat to him. And while the protests and sit-ins are a start, I seriously doubt Chancellor Rhee or Mayor....o until someone with a better vision and a stronger hand comes along, I think Chancellor Rhee is here to stay, despite what you think of her."

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: What’s On Your Agenda?" »

A bill to permit gay marriages in the District of Columbia will be introduced to the D.C. Council on Tuesday, At-Large Councilmember David Catania announced tonight.

Catania made the announcement in front of more than 200 members of the GLBT community gathered at the True Reformer

"We are going to do it now," he said. Catania will introduce the bill with nine co-sponsors. Also in attendance are Michael Brown, Phil Mendelson, and Tommy Wells.

It wasn't much, really, the first candidates' face-off of the 2010 election cycle. But LL's still excited to have a campaign to cover.

The two declared Democratic at-large D.C. Council candidates, incumbent Phil Mendelson and challenger Clark Ray, took turns answering questions for a little more than an hour last night in the basement of a Southwest apartment building. They did so in front of about a dozen members of the New Capitol Park Towers Tenant Association.

Given the early date and the small crowd, LL hesitates to read too much into this candidate pairing. But there's a few points to be made here:

Read More "First Debate of DCision 2010: Ray v. Mendo in Southwest Showdown!" »

Plaintiffs lawyers in the second Pershing Park case have filed their response to AG Peter Nickles' sworn statement submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan on August 12.

Nickles' statement in which he was ordered to explain numerous discovery problems including a missing police document and faulty radio dispatches has come under heavy fire from Councilmember Mary Cheh, Councilmember Phil Mendelson, and former Councilmember Kathy Patterson. Last week, plaintiffs lawyers in the other Pershing Park case submitted their own critical take on Nickles' testimony. They have called for an independent investigation into the missing evidence.

Now comes the plaintiffs lawyers in the Barham class-action case. They too believe Nickles fell well short of an honest explanation of the case's numerous OAG-related problems. In its 32-page rebuttal, they focus particularly on Nickles' claim that he is only now just learning about the missing and/or tampered police evidence.

In fact, they argue Nickles was quite familiar with the Pershing Park case since Jan. 2007. You can read the entirety of their statement [PDF].

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Nickles Could Have Addressed Missing Evidence Long Ago" »

Last week, former-Councilmember Kathy Patterson submitted a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. The letter called into question several statements made by AG Peter Nickles in his sworn submission to Sullivan regarding the Pershing Park case. Councilmembers Phil Mendelson and Mary Cheh have their own critiques. But it was Patterson who sent her letter to the federal judge. The judge then issued an August 20 order releasing it to the various lawyers in the case---but not to the public.

Soon, the letter made its way to the press. Nickles does not approve of this leak. He may have a point. But it seems a little petty in light of the AG's promises of a full investigation into the case's numerous evidence problems. Also, Patterson corrects several errors that she believes were made in Nickles' sworn statement. Is this really the moment Nickles should go back to playing the bulldog lawyer?

Nickles suggests he wanted time to oppose the public release of Patterson's letter. In a filing yesterday, Nickles raises the issue with Sullivan:

"Since Ms. Patterson is not a party to this case, the purpose of the Court's August, Order was to make Ms.Patterson's correspondence available to all parties and also to inform the parties of the Court's inclination to post the correspondence on the public docket and to provide the parties with an opportunity to respond publicly. The Court's Order, however also provided that any objections to the posting of the Patterson Correspondence on the public docket be filed by no later than August 26 and that the Patterson Correspondence would not be made a matter of public record until the Court so ruled."

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Nickles Plans To Respond To Patterson’s Letter" »

On August 12, AG Peter Nickles submitted his sworn statement to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. By now, the statement has been read by several Pershing Park experts. Their verdict: Nickles' statement needs a re-write! Councilmember Phil Mendelson and Former Councilmember Kathy Patterson caught several possible errors.

Mendelson took issue with Nickles' claims that the D.C. Council had prevented him from instituting reforms at OAG and had cut OAG's budget. Patterson found fault with Nickles' assertion that his attorneys had been blocked from getting materials discovered in the council's Pershing Park investigation. Patterson says the majority of those materials were made available to the public along with her detailed  final report.

Today, City Desk reached Councilmember Mary Cheh. Cheh had helped lead the D.C. Council's investigation into the mass arrests at Pershing Park.

Her take on Nickles' statement: "This is an attempt to exonerate himself from any liability," she says. "From what I can tell, he has misled the court....This is just an erroneous, unreliable self-serving statement on his part."

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Cheh Joins Others In Slamming Nickles’ Statement" »

Today, At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson joined former Councilmember Kathy Patterson in fact-checking AG Peter Nickles' increasingly faulty sworn statement regarding the troubled Pershing Park case.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan had ordered the city's attorney general to submit a sworn statement explaining the evidentiary problems in a Pershing Park case. Nickles and OAG attorney Tom Koger submitted their statements on August 12 [read their statements in full].

This week, Patterson sent a letter to Sullivan outlining the various factual problems she had with Nickles' statement. Now comes Mendelson writing to Nickles. Mendo points out several mistakes in Nickles' statement to Sullivan.

All of the errors are both obvious and unnecessary. The take away:  Does Nickles really care about the Pershing Park case? Should he be the one leading an investigation into the missing and botched police evidence?

Mendelson tells City Desk that he is undecided on whether to open an investigation. But he says there will be oversight hearings on the controversy.

"What troubles me besides the hot water the city is in with Judge Sullivan, what troubles me is we repeatedly have these problems with getting accurate information," Mendelson says, citing the DeOnte Rawlings shooting case and the Fire Truck dustup.

Mendelson says the council will be looking into the missing evidence in the Pershing Park case.
Read More "Pershing Park Case: Mendelson Cites More False Statements From Nickles" »

Today, At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson sent a letter to AG Peter Nickles urging him to reconsider evicting Cora Masters Barry's Recreation Wish List Committee from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center. So far Nickles has taken a hard line on evicting Barry's nonprofit which provides academic and athletic programs for area kids.

Mendelson writes:

"Contrary to your public statements, the District does have a choice. The matter of corporate filings could have been handled with a phone call, and ordinarily that would have been the process. The District is not required to evict the Recreation Wish List Committee. Now that the problem has been rectified, the District should choose to drop the eviction."

Read More "Mendelson To AG Nickles: Don’t Evict Cora Masters Barry" »

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---"Councilmember Barry: What Did Sharon Bowen Actually Do?"

Morning all. First, local legendary singer Eddie Daye passed away late last week. Our own music blog has posted a sweet tribute to the man and his talents. He was 78. Key graph: "While those online and crate-digging fans may cherish copies of his obscure singles (some of which have been reissued on cd), I will just keep my memories of those fun late nights out seeing him sing bluesy soul and my conversations with him about his musical career and his take on 50 plus years of r’n’b history."

SUMMER FINALLY COMES TO D.C.: The heat is upon us; today, temps are expected to climb into the triple digits. WTOP reports that the District is opening up several cooling centers and extending hours at area pools. WJLA and NBC4 also has a story on the heat wave. AP has another story, this one one the opening up of a new aquatic center in Tenleytown.

A MUST READ FROM COLBY KING: On Saturday, Colbert King published an eye-opening column on disorderly conduct arrests by D.C. Police officers. Citing records from the Office of Police Complaints, King produces a few stunning accounts of police abusing "disorderly conduct" charges against District residents. One of the many key graphs: "Residents are arrested in D.C. for disorderly conduct in large numbers: nearly 5,000 in 2007, more than 4,200 in 2008 and 4,469 this year as of Aug. 5. Many are probably arrested for good reasons: noise violations, blocking public spaces, etc. But, as in the Gates arrest, some busts never make it to court."

FENTY'S DRIVING RECORD: WaPo cites several sources critical of Mayor Fenty's insistence on driving himself to various ribbon cuttings, press conferences, etc. Nikita Stewart notes in her lengthy piece that no other big city mayor drives themselves around. Key quote: "I think it's curious that he's driving himself," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. "Why not have the security detail . . . when you have an accident like this past week?" Outside experts from other cities say security should be a top priority, and we're not paying Fenty to drive around, we're paying him to make decisions and think critically about the city's needs---we don't want him spending his time worrying about getting across town.

AFTER THE JUMP: More revelations on the Metro front, Jonetta sticks up for AG Peter Nickles, and much, much more.

Read More "Eddie Daye R.I.P.: Loose Lips Daily" »

In our running poll of the D.C. Council's Judiciary Committee members regarding AG Peter Nickles' conduct, we finally reached Councilmember Yvette Alexander.

Nickles has come under fire recently for his office's conduct in a Pershing Park civil suit. District evidence has either been destroyed or lost and discovery continues to be a problem in that case. The discovery process has dragged on for years. The U.S. District Court judge in the case slammed the OAG, ordered Nickles to submit a sworn statement explaining his office's actions, and called on the D.C. Council to investigate the OAG's handling of the case. The issues before Nickles include one very false affidavit.

So far Councilmember Mary Cheh has called for Nickles to resign. Yesterday, Councilmember Phil Mendelson joined Cheh in pushing for Nickles to rejoin the private sector.  Councilmember Jack Evans still fully supports Nickles.

Alexander says she is reserving judgment on Nickles for the time being. She would like to see the council take up the matter. "I wouldn't have a problem with requesting an investigation," she tells City Desk. "You are innocent until proven guilty. I would want to know what happened with the evidence."

If there was purposeful or criminal mishandling of evidence, Alexander says, then Nickles should be ousted.

Read More "Councilmember Alexander Raises Concerns Over AG Nickles" »

Councilmember Jack Evans is sticking by controversial AG Peter Nickles. Last week, a U.S. District Court judge strongly condemned the OAG's conduct surrounding a Pershing Park civil suit in which discovery has taken at least five years, and crucial evidence has gone missing or been destroyed. Yesterday, we highlighted one particularly egregious screw-up involving a troubling affidavit submitted by city attorneys to the court. His colleagues on the Judiciary Committee---Phil Mendelson and Mary Cheh---have called for Nickles to resign.

Evans also thinks the U.S. District Court judge's strong recommendation that the D.C. Council should investigate the OAG is misplaced. "I would think that the more appropriate agency would be the inspector general," Evans tells City Desk. "Certainly, someone would have to determine if there was wrongdoing. That's not the city council's job that's the inspector general's job."

Evans is sure that Nickles did not commit any of the alleged wrongdoing. For one thing, Nickles was not in office during the bulk of the Pershing Park case's activity. That fishy affidavit? Well, that's come up under his watch.

Read More "Jack Evans Says He Still Supports Peter Nickles" »

On Wednesday, a federal judge weighed in on the Office of the Attorney General's conduct in a Pershing Park civil suit. Plaintiffs attorneys alleged that critical pieces of evidence had been destroyed, doctored and lost as a result of the AG's incompetence or worse.  Judge Emmet G. Sullivan's ruling was clear: he called the evidence problems "abuse" and wondered if residents could even trust the District government.

“It raises serious questions about when, if ever, can anyone trust their government," Sullivan stated.

Sullivan promised that the sanctions he would impose would be painful. He has ordered AG Peter Nickles to submit a sworn statement explaining how the evidence could have gotten lost and turned up severely doctored. The judge also called on the D.C. Council to get involved.

Today, Councilmember Mary Cheh tells City Desk that Nickles should resign.

“I think he should resign," Cheh says. "I don’t think he should have ever been appointed...You start messing with a federal judge in a case where you are hiding evidence or destroying evidence---that’s gone to a new level.”

Read More "Councilmember Cheh Calls For Nickles To Resign" »

As LL first broke yesterday, the D.C. Council is embroiled in a dispute with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty over control of Channel 13---the District's public access channel devoted to airing council proceedings.

The dispute is rooted in last Thursday's 'open deposition' of Peaceoholics co-founder Ronald Moten---an unorthodox proceeding, to be sure. As a deposition, Councilmembers Mary Cheh and Phil Mendelson requested that the television recording not be aired on Channel 13.

Long story short, the proceeding has been aired repeatedly since. That led the D.C. Council today to take up emergency legislation saying that it has exclusive control over the content of Channel 13.

In brief comments prior to the vote, both Cheh and Mendelson said that the executive branch had exerted influence on the Office of Cable Television, and its director, Eric Richardson. Mendelson, in fact, said that Richardson "was specifically directed by the highest member of the executive branch to run this tape and run it again."

Read More "D.C. Council Asserts Control Over Channel 13" »