According to District lawyer Jimmy A. Bell, one-time political insider and mayoral frat bro Sinclair Skinner has been defamed. As a result, he's filing a defamation suit against Anthony Currie, owner of Currie & Associates LLC of Hyattsville, Md.

"In October 2010," the suit explains,"Defendants through Anthony Currie did knowingly, and with malice, publis[h] a false and defamatory statement about Plaintiff to the media in October 2010 and to third persons that Plaintiff was a 'crook'. Defendants statements were reckless untrue and per se defamatory under Maryland law."

Bell says the suit, which asks for 3 million dollars in damages and has been filed in the Prince George's County, Maryland, stems from a Hill Rag article written by Hunter L. Gorinson. The story, which was actually published in April, quotes Currie talking about being hired as a subcontractor by Liberty Engineering & Design (LED), Skinner's Martin Luther King Ave.-based engineering firm.

The arrangement turned out to be controversial: Currie said he did the work for below market rates. But, according to a D.C. Council investigation released in March, LED charged the District a marked-up price for the work Currie provided, as part of a city parks and recreation contract provided to Banneker Ventures.

In the article, Currie told the Hill Rag that he was confused by LED's actions. "I had no clue," he told the publication. "But after awhile I started realizing these guys were crooks." The assertion forms the crux of Skinner's lawsuit. (Full disclosure: I wrote several articles for Hill Rag in 2008 and 2009.)

"We cant wait until this case gets to a jury, let the chips fall where they may," says Bell. Bell also suggests there are more suits coming: "Everyone who has wronged Mr. Skinner is going to have to be made accountable by a jury of their peers." Reached by phone, Skinner confirmed that he was suing, but declined further comment.

Currie says he's stunned by the suit. "Well, I don't know what he would be suing me for. I worked with them as a consultant and they literally robbed me." Currie also says he was "the only honest, professional person involved in what they were doing."

The D.C. Council probe into the parks and recreation spending exonerated former Mayor Adrian Fenty, but still found problems with the way the city was billed. Lawyer Robert Trout, who conducted the investigation called the markups the city paid "grossly excessive." His report said that Skinner charged the city  $500,000 in markups.

Bell argues that despite the Trout report, Skinner still shouldn't have been called a crook. "That is not a crime," he says. "My client has no criminal record. In fact, my client did not have a contract with the D.C. government. My client's business was a subcontractor to another business that had a contract with the DC government. My client submitted its bill to the other entity and D.C. government paid the bill to the other entity."

Now all Bell has to do is sell a judge and jury on that. Lawyer Scott Rome, a civil trial attorney who's had cases that have included defamation claims, says Skinner will have to prove that he suffered damages and "they'll have to show that that interview was the reason."Crook, what does that mean? It's vague," says Rome.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Councilmembers To Nickles: WTF,"Poll Shows Fenty Beating Gray In Ward One," "Thieves Loot Argonaut," "Runaway Horse Dashed Through Cap Hill"

Good morning. D.C. Council Chairman and Mayoral candidate Vincent Gray didn't let the Monday break go to waste. He held a Q & A with prominent local bloggers at Ben's Chili Bowl (points off for cliche setting). Gray took questions from DCist, Borderstan, We Love DC, Greater Greater Washington, and The District Curmudgeon; the bloggers covered everything from the streetcar flip-flop and education reform to small business regulations and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier. The bloggers walked away impressed by Gray's—what else?—penchant for detail and his ability to admit when he screwed up (streetcar flip-flop). But let's just get to the news that warms this substitute LL's heart: IF ELECTED, GRAY HAS PROMISED TO BRING BACK THE WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE.

DCist's Martin Austermuhle reports: "On education, Gray spoke proudly of his ambitious plan to create a comprehensive birth-through-24 system. He pledged to be more transparent and hold weekly press conferences — something Fenty has been strongly criticized for. He agreed that the District's Summer Youth Employment Program — which 'has been about a numbers game' — needed reform, as did the District's Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services. He promised that economic development would be one of the things he tackled in his first year, using regulatory reform to improve the "Byzantine system" currently faced by the District's small businesses. And yes, Gray emphasized that he was in favor of streetcars, though he did worry that not enough planning had been done before tracks were laid down on H Street NE. When asked about the budget kerfuffle which saw funding for streetcars stripped from the city's budget and then restored, Gray admitted that 'it was a misunderstanding.' 'I'm really sorry that it happened,' he added."

More coverage via Borderstan. Greater Greater Washington's Dave Stroup summed up his impression of Gray: "Any skilled candidate will provide thoughtful and compelling answers at a session such as this. The real questions are always in the nitty-gritty. There's no doubt that Vincent Gray loves the District and wants to see things change for the better. This campaign will be won or lost on Gray's ability to convince District voters that he can make these things happen. The wisest thing Gray said on Monday was that this campaign will not come down to who has the most money. Fenty has a large war chest, and a record of results. He also has vulnerabilities. This will be an extremely close race, and it will be interesting to see whether the idealistic campaign plan of Vincent Gray can weather the long, hot DC summer."

AFTER THE JUMP—Fenty friend fails and yet still succeeds, D.C. Council pissed at Peter Nickles (again), Mary J. Blige may be enrolling at Howard University, and much, much more!

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED: The Examiner's Bill Myers breaks some news on the Parks-and-Rec-Fenty-Frat-Bro narrative with today's must read: "A D.C. board issued an engineering license to a co-founder of a company with ties to Mayor Adrian Fenty even though the man has never passed the professional exam, The Washington Examiner has learned. Abdullahi Barrow has emerged as a key figure in the ongoing investigation into millions of dollars' worth of parks contracts awarded to companies owned by the mayor's friends and fraternity brothers. One of them, Sinclair Skinner, has said publicly that he relied on Barrow's expertise to win public parks contracts for Liberty Engineering and Design, a company founded by Skinner and Barrow. But Barrow failed his engineer's exam seven times since 2002, sources said and documents obtained by [The Examiner] show. In 2008, the Fenty-appointed Board of Professional Engineers unanimously granted Barrow the professional license because of his 'eminence' in the field, board spokesman Clive Cooks said. There are three ways to obtain a professional engineer's license in the District: passing the exam, having already obtained a license in another state, or for eminence. The board rarely issues eminence licenses, Cooks said. Since 2005, only four have been given out — including Barrow's, Cooks said. Barrow's lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, said any suggestion that Barrow wasn't qualified as an engineer was 'nonsense.'"

Of course, Fenty may also have his own fence problem. Myers goes on to report: "Barrow was deposed last month. Sources familiar with his testimony said that Barrow, like Skinner, had trouble recalling basic details about his company, including its first client and the last name of a third man, 'Chris,' who initially started the business with Skinner and Barrow. Barrow said, however, that yet another company co-founded by him and his wife was paid by Liberty Engineering, the sources said. The company, Providence Construction, has also been given a contract to build a fence for the city's real estate agency, sources said."

MORE PARKS AND WRECK: WaPo's Mike DeBonis reports that several D.C. Councilmembers are ticked off at Attorney General Peter Nickles, for paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars to one Rec Center developer/Fenty pal: "D.C. Council members aren't taking well the news that the city reached a $550,000 settlement last week with Banneker Ventures, the company overseeing Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's controversial parks construction. Democrats Mary Cheh (Ward 3), Phil Mendelson (At Large) and Harry Thomas Jr. (Ward 5) have jointly taken exception to the settlement — in particular, the decision by Attorney General Peter Nickles to sign an agreement while the council's investigation of the parks contracts is ongoing. 'Your decision to settle at this particular time appears to be poor judgment and motivated by something other than the best interests of the District of Columbia,' the members wrote in a letter to Nickles delivered today. It goes on to suggest that the agreement was signed 'for no other reason than to bring this matter rapidly to a close.' Cheh was still more explicit about said motivations in an interview this afternoon: 'To make something that's problematic for the mayor go away.' She said the move was of a 'similar nature' to when the Housing Authority cut a check for $2.5 million to Banneker on Christmas Eve — when no one on the D.C. Council, which was already investigating the matter, could have stopped it." Nickles tells DeBonis that everything was above board. Of the councilmembers' complaint: "They really don't know what they're talking about." More coverage via Washington City Paper's new Loose Lips columnist Alan Suderman, and WBJ.

JONETTA ROSE BARRAS: The Examiner columnist thinks Gray's education plan reads too much like Fenty's education plan (which she likes). Still, she argues that the plan "lacks freshness and innovation." Barras concludes: "Undoubtedly, Gray and his campaign have deliberately exploited the reality that most voters aren't intimate with the details of education reform. But those who have closely followed such events won't find any substantial difference between Gray and Fenty's plan — except the council chairman offered his with a warm smile and the promise of tons of town hall meetings. There's one more thing: Fenty has been implementing his plan for the past three years."

POLLING: D.C. Wire's Tim Craig digs into the numbers behind the Graham campaign poll showing Fenty with a slight edge over Gray among Ward One voters: "According to the poll, the incumbent mayor leads Gray in Ward 1 by a margin of 43 percent to 37 percent. Despite that narrow lead, many observers believe Fenty needs a much greater margin in Ward 1 on Election Day to overcome Gray's expected advantage in communities in Northeast and Southeast Washington. Ward 1, the city's most diverse, is home to many of the new District residents that the Fenty campaign has been heavily courting. On July 4, a few hours before the fireworks, Fenty was spotted campaigning door-to-door in Mount Pleasant. In his successful 2006 campaign, Fenty won 61 percent of the vote in Ward 1, his best showing outside of his home base of Ward 4. Still, Graham's poll demonstrates that Gray still faces a challenge in becoming better known. Only three out of four Ward 1 residents recognize Gray's name, compared with the nearly 100 percent who knew Fenty's. And with 18 percent of Ward 1 residents undecided, there is still a path for Fenty to match his 2006 numbers in Ward 1."

HIV-AIDS: Amanda Hess writing over at WCP's The Sexist tries to figure out what Vincent Gray means when he says he won't "over promise" on this issue: "Is Gray suggesting that the District couldn’t deliver on its promises to its last HIV/AIDS director? A recent op-ed in the Washington Blade posits that Hader received 'little support' from the District, and that her 'hands were tied' by a 'local government that lacked the funds and the vision to realize the full potential of a more integrated, multi-agency approach needed to address this public health emergency.' It’s certainly going to be difficult to sugarcoat D.C.’s HIV/AIDS crisis for potential candidates. Without promises of additional resources, will the District be able to snag a director that’s nearly as effective as Hader?"

METRO MESS: The Examiner's Kytja Weir reports that the cheaper SmarTrip Cards will be ready in late August: "The agency is planning to drop the price of the cards from $5 to $2.50 to encourage riders to use the reusable plastic cards. But the change isn't slated to occur until Aug. 29, according to a Metro report. Consider this the latest confusing fare change at Metro. The transit agency boosted fares on June 27 but plans to increase other aspects of fares — including charging 25 cents extra per rail trip for users of paper fare cards — starting Aug. 1. But it won't reduce the cost of the SmarTrip cards until just before Labor Day. Other SmarTrip card changes are expected this fall. So riders may want to do some calculations as to what makes the most sense: buy the plastic fare cards before Aug. 1 if planning to take more than 10 rail trips before the end of the month? Or wait until the price drops? Bus riders already pay a 20-cent differential when they pay cash instead of using a SmarTrip card — and they lose out on the transfer discount when switching from bus to bus or train to bus if they pay cash. So buying a SmarTrip card now makes sense for frequent riders."

CITY POOLS: The District is extending pool and library hours, reports NC8: "District officials say they want to ensure residents have a place to get out of the heat. One of the places they recommend are public libraries. a location on m street was open until 9 Tuesday night and people stayed inside until the doors closed trying to cool off."

MARY J. BLIGE: NC8 reports that the singer may be enrolling at Howard University: A well-known singer could be packing more into her busy schedule to get a college degree from a well-known D.C. university. Mary J. Blige may have eight multi platinum records, nine Grammys and several number one hits. Now she's after her college diploma. 'I got accepted into Howard University for the class of 2014!! Cheers...' said Blige. That candid comment caught on stage for Good Morning America Friday is causing a big buzz on Howard University's campus in Northwest D.C." University officials refused to comment on whether Blige has enrolled. Doesn't this sound like a reality-show premise?

WE HAVE A DEAL: On the convention center hotel.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE: No public events.

D.C. COUNCIL'S SCHEDULE: Confirmations of funeral boardmembers and public service commission, rent-control roundtable discussion at 11 a.m., hearing on Community Service Block Grants at 2 p.m.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Bryan Weaver Snags Latino Caucus Endorsement," "Adrian Fenty Is Bustin' Loose"

Good Morning. LL has tons of mayoral campaign items. But first, WaPo's editorial board drops a masterful editorial on Vincent Gray's tenure as DHS Director under then-Mayor Sharon Pratt. It's a must read for anyone who a) Didn't live in the District in the bad old early '90s; and b) feels like they need a straight-forward, clear-eyed assessment of what Gray accomplished or didn't accomplish when he ran a big city agency. WaPo writes:

"Mr. Gray's campaign provided us with an eight-page document detailing his accomplishments at the department. He expanded early childhood programs, developing a plan to immunize children and reduce infant deaths. Outreach and education efforts initiated by Mr. Gray helped to lower infant mortality from a rate of 20 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 16.1 in 1995. (The rate was 13.1 in 2007, the most recent year with confirmed data.) He helped engineer a partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a new approach to helping the homeless. He was unafraid of advocating for needed but controversial programs to combat AIDS such as condom distribution in schools and clean needle exchanges. Likewise, he refused to let racial politics derail the appointment of able Health Commissioner Mohammad N. Akhter, opposed by some because he wasn't black or from the District.

Nonetheless, the campaign document provides an incomplete, if not distorted, picture. It boasts about his closing the Cedar Knoll youth facility without mentioning that Congress forced the shutdown. It claims credit for a decision to place nurses in D.C. public schools, which came only after the city was held in contempt for failing to do so. Mr. Gray closed the city's notorious Forest Haven mental asylum, but that accomplishment would be tarnished by subsequent abuses that occurred in the community settings that replaced it. Overall, the early '90s proved to be a period in which the city was either unable or unwilling to administer its own social programs. From juvenile justice to foster care to treatment of the mentally ill, the city was in a free fall that the Dixon (and, after her marriage, Kelly) administration proved inept at stopping or even slowing."

There's so much more. Just click on the link. LL will just quote WaPo's final line: "It's hard to take issue with an assessment of his record as one of heartfelt labor, minimal progress and major setbacks."

OK. Now that the history lesson is over with, can we get on to the real issues? What would a Gray administration set as priorities for the next four years? What would another Fenty term look like? Would Peter Nickles still be playing Fenty's Dick Cheney? WaPo's Tim Craig reports that both candidates seem content on rehashing and litigating the past; neither candidate has so far been willing to offer detailed proposals on how they intend to deal with the bloated budget, the tax burden on the middle class, or the still-not-so-great school system. In other words, where are those four-color pamphlets with the bullet-point plans to make our streets safer and our kids book smart? Craig reports: "Officials with both campaigns said they are refining their messages to offer more specifics in coming weeks. But political strategists said Fenty and Gray face different obstacles as they seek to develop a message and persona that would offer more insight about how they would govern to an already agitated electorate. Gray, who remains relatively unknown to the broader electorate, needs to distinguish himself from Fenty on the issues while crafting a narrative that threads a thicket of competing interests to avoid divisions between voters in different parts of the city, some say. Fenty, who has been fighting perceptions that he is distant and arrogant, might have to acknowledge concerns about his personality, perhaps even make a public mea culpa, and then do a better job of explaining his governing style, observers said. And because many think Fenty benefited from policies and projects that originated with former mayor Anthony A. Williams, some observers said he needs to convince voters that he has a plan for leading a city expected to face tough spending choices."

AFTER THE JUMP—Barry's old drug connection donates thousands to Fenty campaign, Fenty vs. Gray: the Battle of the Go-Go Bands, Metro screws up fare hike, new AIDS cases decline, and much, much more!

NEW D.C. AIDS CASES IN DECLINE: WUSA9 via the AP reports the encouraging news: "HIV testing is up and new AIDS cases are down in Washington D.C. That's according to a new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The HIV/AIDS rate in the nation's capital is nearly 10 times the national rate. But the report shows that the number of newly diagnosed AIDS cases decreased from 164 cases per 100,000 people in 2004 to 107 in 2008."

THE '80S ARE ALSO BACK: Both major mayoral candidates are finding themselves battling over which go-go bands and musicians will support them. WaPo's Nikita Stewart has a breakdown—with the edge maybe going to Gray since Chuck Brown attended a fundraiser for the challenger. Anyway, Fenty held a go-go show this weekend. Stewart reports: "The price of admission is a voter registration form. No one under 18 is allowed without a parent. And a team of security clad in black is checking bags. After registering, guests get a green fentyreelect.com wristband. Fenty friends Sinclair Skinner, Keith Lomax and Ron Moten, all involved in controversies over the past year, are in attendance. And the basketball court is filling up with people ready to hear Subtle Thoughts, Junkyard Band and EU featuring Sugar Bear."

HISPANIC STUDENTS BEAT PEERS IN TESTING: The Examiner's Leah Fabel reports: "Among eighth-graders, Hispanic students' math scores jumped by 15 points between 2007 and 2009 on the math portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Black students saw gains of about 4 percentage points, and other racial groups were too small to be recorded accurately. Among fourth-graders, Hispanic students saw seven-point math gains since 2007, and 21 points since 2003. Their black peers saw gains of about 3 points since 2007, and 10 points since 2003. DCPS was among the only districts in the nation to see statistically significant gains among both racial groups. The NAEP, also called the Nation's Report Card, is given every two years and is the only identical measure used in districts throughout the United States. In districts like DCPS, the test is used as a measure of how well reform-minded superintendents like Michelle Rhee are succeeding. Reading scores among all racial groups saw little change between 2007 and 2009, but substantial progress since 2003, according to NAEP data. Again, Hispanic students sped ahead of their peers, gaining 19 points since 2003 while black students gained about 11 points."

METER RELIEF: You won't have to keep feeding the meter after dark on some District streets, WaPo's Nikita Stewart reports: "Just in time for the summer campaign season, the District has lifted new parking meter rules that required motorists to feed meters while trying to enjoying a night on the town. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who proposed requiring the fees to generate revenue, has heard complaints on the campaign trail. He said in an earlier interview that he would revisit the issue. On Friday, the D.C. Department of Transportation announced that many commercial areas would no longer require feeding the meters from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m."

JONETTA ROSE BARRAS: Spotlights the Ward 6 Council race between incumbent Tommy Wells and challenger Kelvin Robinson: "Residents I spoke with had mixed reactions to both candidates. One person had never heard of either — although Wells has been in office for three years. Ronald Drake, citing his encounter with the incumbent over an issue involving representation of special education students, called Wells a 'wimp and a wannabe' and accused Wells of seeing himself as 'part of the establishment and the bureaucracy,' not as a representative of the people and their needs. Adam Clampitt, who knows both candidates, disagreed. He said Wells has been 'great on the issues' and 'very responsive to citizens.' Truth be told, none of this may matter. Residents and media have focused mostly on the mayoral race — although there also are competitive and interesting contests in Wards 1, 5 and, yes, 6. 'This is a really hard environment for anyone running down ticket,' Wells said. That makes it tough for Wells but even tougher for Robinson, who, like other challengers in the council races, is unlikely likely to receive much attention."

COLBY KING: Writes about Nardyne Jefferies, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in the March 30 drive-by, as she launches a quest for answers re: DYRS.

JAY MATHEWS: Thinks more kids should enroll in summer school: "Summer learning loss has been shown to be a likely cause of low achievement in cities such as Washington. Karl L. Alexander of Johns Hopkins University found that by ninth grade, accumulated learning loss for low-income children accounted for two-thirds of the achievement gap between them and higher-income children who had summer learning opportunities, such as trips to the library and museums."

METRO MESS: A software problem caused a delay in the new fare hikes for some. WaPo's Lisa Rein reports: "A software glitch on the first day of Metro's higher fares allowed riders using paper fare cards at 34 stations to enter for the old fare Sunday. Metro technicians discovered the problem early in the morning, said Reggie Woodruff, a Metro spokesman. The last fare gate was fixed by 2 p.m., when all stations were charging the higher fare. SmarTrip cards were charged the correct fare throughout the day. Woodruff said it was unclear why the software, recently added to fare gates in the 34 stations to upgrade the transit agency's fare collection system, failed to charge the higher amount. 'We anticipated that there might be glitches,' he said. 'With all the programming we did for so many stations, it was bound to happen.'" More fare hike coverage via WTOP, DCist.

MERCHANT OUTREACH: NC8 reports that Fenty and D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier hit NE with a little outreach: "DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and Police Chief Cathy Lanier say it's time for the violence to stop. They visited a store on 5th St., NE, Friday, where a father and son were killed by thieves Wednesday afternoon. Customers came from all around today expressing sadness and outrage over the murders of Ming-Kun Chih, 59, and his son, Li-Jen Chih, 32....Mayor Fenty and Chief Lanier went door to door among merchants trying to assure them that police will do more. And they.both emphasized the importance of surveillance cameras inside businesses. In a similar shooting of a father and son in another Northeast store last week, police arrested two men, one Wednesday and the other Thursday. In that crime, the son, Prabjhot Singh, was killed. Police have announced that the team that investigated that shooting will now be assigned to investigate the double murder of the Chihs."

FENTY BOOED: Again.

WEEKEND CRIME: Three people are killed this weekend in the District, reports NBC4.

PROF. MARTIN GINSBURG: Supreme Court Justice's husband passes away, reports NC8. More coverage via WaPo.

PEDESTRIAN STRUCK BY CAB ON MALL: The injuries are serious, reports NC8. More coverage via DCist.

OUTSIDE: It's still hot. More coverage via WTOP.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE: No public events today.

D.C. COUNCIL'S SCHEDULE:

1 p.m. Committee on Housing and Workforce Development (Hearing)
B18-0734 the "Subsidized Nonprofit Rental Unit Tax Exemption Amendment Act of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 412

2 p.m. Public Works and Transportation (Round Table)
PR18-999, the "Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Capital Funding Agreement Emergency Approval Resolution of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Joyner Family Wants Answers On Park Police Shooting," "FOIA Denials Under Fenty: The Charticle," "Is Someone Poisoning Dogs In Stanton Park?"

Good morning. Last night was an important one for local political junkies—it was the filing deadline for campaign finance reports! WBJ's Michael Neibauer noted that both main mayoral candidates raised some serious dough: "The two main players in the race for D.C. mayor waited until just before the midnight Thursday deadline to file their campaign finance reports, perhaps because they had so much money to count." Fenty Cash: "Mayor Adrian Fenty is sitting on a $3.2 million war chest going into the critical summer months, having raised $475,486 since March 11. He also spent $336,436 during the period, on ads buys, printing, and a bevy of consultants. Overall, Fenty has collected $4.38 million since launching his reelection bid last summer." Gray Cash: "Council Chairman Vincent Gray, despite his relatively recent entrance into the race, generated $561,342 and spent $190,134 during the fund raising period, leaving him with $371,208 cash on hand (though he loaned himself $25,000). It's well short of the mayor's bounty, but still a respectable rake given he only joined the race March 30. Gray also appears to have a much larger number of smaller donations than Fenty, in the $50, $100 and $200 range. But if Gray makes headway, the big money donors are certain to come around. They did four years ago when Fenty's grass roots mayoral bid went from underdog to front runner." As WaPo's Tim Craig notes: Gray raised more cash than the mayor in the last three months.

WaPo's Mike DeBonis offers a breakdown of some of the council races with At-Large Councilmember David Catania the big winner with "$204,796 raised this period; $36,501 spent; $302,204 cash on hand." There were also respectable showings from Councilmembers Jim Graham and Mary Cheh.

You can check out the full list at the Office of Campaign Finance [it gave this LL an error when he tried to get past the first page].

FENTY-GRAY FORUM RUMBLE: WaPo's Tim Craig and Ann Marimow report from the third mayoral forum sponsored by the Ward 3 Dems and moderated by beloved former Councilmember Kathy Patterson: "Despite a chorus of boos from the audience, Fenty repeatedly attacked Gray for his service during the Pratt administration, accusing him of being part of a government that nearly bankrupted the city. 'I know Gray supporters don't want to hear the truth,' said Fenty, responding to the boos. 'The Department of Human Services was spending money hand over fist during your leadership.' When Gray got a chance to respond, he leapt to his feet and walked to within a few feet of Fenty. Cheered on by supporters as he shook his finger at the mayor, Gray stated: 'I will put my record up against your record any day. . . . You want to talk about my record, let's get it on.'" Extra Points to Gray for invoking his campaign's theme song.

But wait there's more: "At nearly every chance, Fenty sought to shift the focus back to the Pratt administration. Fenty noted that the Department of Human Services was under 16 court orders under Gray's leadership. He also accused Gray of failing to adequately address juvenile-justice issues in the early 1990s. 'The truth hurts,' Fenty said.
Gray responded: 'How can you be so misinformed?'"

AFTER THE JUMP—Fenty botches interview, what's next for the HIV/AIDS Administration, former supporter becomes headache for mayor, Metro surcharges, and much, much more!

FENTY FUMBLE? Mayor Fenty struggled to answer basic questions during an interview yesterday on FOX5. D.C. Wire's Tim Craig reports: "The Gray campaign is buzzing today about Fenty's appearance this morning on the Fox 5 morning show. It looks like, the Gray campaign says, Fenty's weekly appearance on the show might not be the sort of face time candidates strive to obtain. Appearing on set with the morning anchors, Fenty appeared ill-prepared to answer questions about the triple shooting last night near Howard University, the Washington Post story this morning about questionable DUI arrests in the city, or his views on the Office of Campaign Investigation into whether D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee improperly solicited private money to fund the teachers' contract. When asked for an update on the shooting last night near Eighth and V streets NW, Fenty said he hadn't 'gotten a full briefing.'... The hosts then asked Fenty about D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles's contention that 400 people were recently convicted of driving while intoxicated based on faulty breath tests. Specifically, the anchors wanted to know whether the city was considering restitution for those who were wrongly convicted. 'I actually haven't been briefed on this for several months,' Fenty said." More coverage via The Examiner.

METRO MESS: WTOP reported that Metro workers believe more training would have prevented that 10-car screwup on the Green Line. Unsuck DC Metro has a great YouTube retort. Meanwhile the Examiner's Kytja Weir reports on the staggered fare increases set to begin at the end of this month: "Metro riders saw their fares rise by 10 cents this spring. Now they will see them rise again June 27, then likely change again on Aug. 1....Confused as to how much the commute will cost? Just wait. The confusion will be compounded by complicated fare increases. Metro plans to raise all fares to cover $108 million of an $189 gap in the budget that begins July 1. But the transit agency won't be able to program all the machines and farecards to accept the changes at one time, so it plans at least two phases. Metro board members said Thursday they worry riders may not know what to expect, especially as some of the changes will occur when locals are on vacation just before the July Fourth holiday and during August when Congress has its recess. The agency had pushed the board to make fare decisions early as it said it needed extra time to avoid confusion, noted board member Christopher Zimmerman. But now, he said, 'It seems that nonetheless we are going to have maximum confusion.'" More coverage via WTOP.

But wait there's more...WaPo's Ann Scott Tyson reports surcharges may be hitting riders at six subway stops: "The finance committee of Metro's board of directors approved the option Thursday of imposing yet another five-cent surcharge on entry and exit at two rail stations each in Virginia, Maryland and the District to fund capital improvements to the Metro system at those stations. The full board has yet to agree on the concept or to decide where and when to implement the surcharge. But the catalyst for the idea was a $36 million plan to ease commuter congestion at Union Station, one of Metro's busiest hubs, according to Metro and District officials. No other stations have been proposed for the surcharge, said Catherine M. Hudgins, who represents Virginia and is chairwoman of the finance committee." More coverage via NBC4.

D.C. AIDS PROGRAM: WaPo's Darryl Fears investigates how the city's HIV/AIDS Administration will cope post-Shannon Hader: "The HIV/AIDS Administration is one of the most important agencies in the Department of Health, with an $88 million budget, consisting mostly of federal dollars. The administration is responsible for distributing federal money to D.C. area governments such as Prince George's, Fairfax and Montgomery counties. It is tasked with gathering data and provides federal grants to community organizations for prevention efforts, such as condom distribution, tests for infection and distribution of drugs that lower the level of the virus in those infected....Catania said Hader's departure leaves the city's efforts to fight AIDS in limbo. No one is likely to take the job before the mayoral contest between Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent Gray is decided in September. And it is unlikely that a permanent replacement will be appointed by a mayor before January, Catania said. 'Her loss in catastrophic,' Catania said. But [DOH Director Pierre] Vigilance barely acknowledged Hader while praising Elias at her introduction Tuesday. On Wednesday, activists circulated a blog item on a Web site maintained by Vigilance, under the Watchstone Health Consulting Group, in which he appeared to criticize the city's singular focus on HIV/AIDS. 'There are those who will try to get you to focus on one specific issue because it is politically appropriate to do so,' he wrote. 'It is a failing of public health agencies to allow this to be the case, especially in jurisdictions where multiple health issues challenge the current status and future of some communities.' Dena Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said Vigilance told her that that comment was referring to H1N1 and not HIV/AIDS."

PARKS AND WRECK: WaPo's Mike DeBonis identifies an individual–a former Fenty supporter–that will surely be a huge headache for the mayor:

"Bill Slover is a successful businessman, a family man and active in his community. And he's a major problem for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) in his fight for reelection. That's because Slover is at the center of questions about Fenty's parks contracting — the $100 million in proposed city spending that's fueled accusations of malfeasance that Fenty's foes are flinging freely on the campaign trail. 'What happened with these contracts is one of the worst examples of cronyism I have ever seen in the District of Columbia,' council chairman and Fenty's chief rival, Vincent C. Gray (D), said, latching onto the fact that the mayor's fraternity brothers, Omar Karim and Sinclair Skinner, profited from the parks work. Gray made that claim last week at a mayoral debate, hosted by several Ward 3 community groups, where Fenty was sharply questioned by moderator Davis Kennedy, publisher of the Current community newspapers.

The mayor answered in the same way that he has since the story broke: by seizing on the fact that the contracts were awarded by a subsidiary of the D.C. Housing Authority, which Fenty does not directly control....But what happened to Slover stands in opposition to that claim.

By the time Slover arrived, the parks contracting process was already connected to the mayor. Of the five panel members who selected Karim's Banneker Ventures, three worked for Fenty — one, Jacquelyn Glover, was a project manager working for the deputy mayor for economic development; two others were Parks and Recreation Department employees.

So when the deal came to his attention — a contract solicited through a process that didn't involve bids, included an unusually high fee arrangement for Banneker and kept most control in the mayor's office — Slover grew uncomfortable. He abstained from voting.

In November, after the arrangement was publicized and Slover learned more details about the parks work, he moved to end the authority's involvement in the contract and send it back to the mayor's office.

Some DCHA board members with ties to Fenty, including Deputy Mayor Valerie Santos, objected, and the proposal was tabled. The following week, Slover says, he spoke to City Administrator Neil O. Albert and said he would continue pursuing the resolution. Four hours later, he received a call from Fenty's boards-and-commissions director telling him he'd been removed as chair."

WORLD CUP: NC8 via AP reports that the month-long tournament is expected to become a big cash cow for local bars/restaurants. You should check out our exhaustive guide.

DYRS SUCCESS: Twelve juveniles earned high-school diplomas inside New Beginnings.

HAY-ADAMS: The landmark hotel will be closing for the summer to make way for a multi-million dollar renovation.

MICHELLE OBAMA: Speaks to D.C. grads.

SOMMER MATHIS: The great DCist editor writes her farewell blog post.

KOJO: D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi and Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE: No public events.

D.C. COUNCIL SCHEDULE: No public events.

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

Reporter Hunter L. Gorinson describes a scheme in which Banneker Ventures—owned by another Fenty ally, Omar Karim—awarded surveying subcontracts to Skinner's firm, Liberty Engineering & Design, for unusually high prices. Liberty, "unqualified to perform the surveys directly," in turn engaged a Hyattsville engineer to do the actual work at below-market rates. The difference, it seems, was pure profit.

Why wasn't Liberty qualified to do the work itself? Simply put, Gorinson reports that neither Skinner or his two employees are licensed to perform surveys in the District. So Liberty contracted the work out, to Currie & Associates LLC of Hyattsville, Md. But Currie's name was to appear nowhere on any of the documents it produced.

"The whole idea as far as I understand was for [Liberty] to present themselves as surveyors. I was not supposed to be mentioned anywhere," firm principal Anthony Currie told Hill Rag, adding that this was "definitely not standard practice."

For instance: Liberty employee Abdullahi Barrow sent an e-mail to Currie last June making a request: "Could you resend Rosedale with Liberty Logo[?]...If you dont have the Logo let me know, I will send one."

The prices charges by Liberty for the survey work also raises questions. Hill Rag engaged a third-party surveyor, Jasper Ken West, to look at the work requested for one project, Park View Rec Center. A site survey, West estimated, should cost about $15,000, and a "competitive" bid would be within 20 or 30 percent of that. Liberty Engineering, it turns out, was paid $46,800 for the Park View survey; Currie estimates he made no more than $8,000 for doing the actual work.

For 11 parks projects, Liberty Engineering & Design was paid $358,000. On top of that, Banneker was paid more than $32,000 in consultant markups. All told, Currie told Hill Rag he was paid no more than $70,000 for the work he did.

And then there's the final insult: Liberty stiffed Currie on payment in November, after the parks scheme blew up in the press. Currie then hired a collections service, and was subsequently paid in December—only after the D.C. Housing Authority processed a controversial Christmas Eve payment of $2.5 million. He got only one-third of what he was owed everything he was owed, but had to give up one-third to the collections agency.

Currie told Hill Rag that he "didn't make any money" off of the D.C. parks work. "These guys used me," he said.

He added: "I don't know what else I can do, but I'm ready to testify. These guys need to go down."

Skinner is scheduled to appear before the D.C. Council on April 15.

UPDATE, 4:25 P.M.: Correction—Currie got the money he was owed, but because he had to engage a collections agency, they took a one-third cut after the Christmas Eve payment came through.

File photo by Darrow Montgomery

The article points out how the two entrepreneurs have prospered under the Fenty administration. In general terms, we knew that already. What we didn't know was how. Take, for example, this excerpt from the piece, on how Fenty frat buddy Skinner has been approaching developers about doing biz with the city:

Since his return to Washington, [developer R. Donahue] Peebles said, at least two of Skinner's associates suggested that he hire Skinner, who they said could help him win District projects and gain access to the mayor and his top aides. Peebles said the associates told him that Skinner's fee was $10,000 to $20,000 a month.

Peebles said Karim approached him after an appearance on the Howard campus in 2007 and told him that Fenty was seeking to empower a new group of minority builders, including Karim. As African Americans, Karim and Skinner could benefit from city requirements that developers partner with minority-owned companies.

Karim, Peebles said, told him that "if I wanted to get to do a development deal with the District of Columbia government under Fenty, I'd have to do business with them and their circle, this new inner circle. He gave me this whole spiel about how it was a new day and how the old guys' day was up. Essentially, the message was I was going to need him."

Peebles said he was angered by what he considered a "flagrant pay-to-play overture." He rejected Karim's offer, he said, and refused to hire Skinner.

That's some choice reporting there, though you have to wonder: How reliable is Peebles as a source for a story that bashes Fenty—-a guy whose job Peebles covets. At least he's on the record, which is not the case for every developer who dishes on Skinner and Karim. Even so, a lot of great revelations in the piece.

How did Fenty respond to the allegations? By running away, of course. The Post had to try to ambush the guy after an event. Here ya go: "Fenty declined to talk in detail about his relationships with Skinner and Karim. In a brief interview as he left a news conference last month, he said his administration has awarded contracts properly."

So typical.

Post ombo Andy Alexander had his chance to lower the boom on the internal hullabaloo over Rahm Emanuel. You know, the one in which Dana Milbank and Jason Horowitz did some amazing rehab work for the White House chief of staff, only to sustain a roundhouse blow from Post columnist David Broder for shoddy reporting and failure to break news.

But Alexander came up a bit lame on this one: "I think Broder is partially right."

What it boils down to, wrote Alexander, is an overreliance on anonymous sourcing: "Broder said he was troubled by the number of anonymous sources in Horowitz's story. 'I think it's a general problem at this paper,' he said, adding 'it's a particular problem when it involves a matter of policy or personnel and readers are left in the dark about who's talking.'"

A heretofore mystery man in the fishy fire truck affair has spoken: Vladimir Céspedes, mayor of the Dominican Republic city of Sosúa, told reporters today about the caper that has generated a great deal of political heat in this town.

Turns out it's not just this town. Céspedes, through a translator, tells LL that he has his own political problems: His own city council wants to know what happened to the $11,000 in city money he paid expecting a fire truck and ambulance in return—not a small amount in a city of 50,000 that has a municipal budget totaling $100,000 per month. There was no written contract, he says, just a receipt from the shipper.

"Not only they, but I want the money back," Céspedes says.

That money, he says, was paid in cash to Sinclair Skinner, friend and political associate of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, in the expectation that the funds would finance transport of the rigs to Sosúa. Skinner, Céspedes explained, has presented himself as being very close to Fenty.

Skinner and David Jannarone, the mayoral director of development, Céspedes says, visited him in Sosúa "three or four times." He'd welcome them at city hall, he says.

The trucks made it as far as Miami before political pressure led the Fenty administration to halt the transfer. Céspedes said he felt "very bad" when he heard that the deal blew up. "We need that equipment to save lives in our poor country," he said.

What Céspedes explains jibes with testimony from Ronald Moten of Peaceoholics, the group serving as a middle man between D.C. and Sosúa. Moten testified in June that Skinner had handed him an $11,000 check drawn on Liberty Industries, a concern owned by Skinner, then had turned around and used those funds to pay for the trucks' transport. But it was not clear from Moten's testimony whether the funds were paid by the Dominicans or by the D.C. folks.

His account also aligns with that of William Walker, head of a local nonprofit who has presented himself as the mastermind of the donation. He appeared at the press conference today (on left in photo), saying that he remained hopeful that the transfer could be completed and that cultural exchange between the cities could continue.

Céspedes yesterday evening told his story to D.C. councilmembers investigating the equipment transfer. He is scheduled to speak to an investigator from the Office of the Inspector General this afternoon. Yesterday, Céspedes and Walker visited the city's property yard in Northeast to view the trucks.

The revelations came after a press conference in the lobby of the Westin hotel off Thomas Circle, which had been organized by good-government advocate Dorothy Brizill. Brizill says she arranged the trip for Céspedes and his translator and counsel, Jorge Espaillat, going so far as working with Eleanor Holmes Norton's office to secure visas and soliciting donations for hotel and airfare. Brizill says she paid for their lodging but hopes to be reimbursed from D.C. Council funds meant for witness expenses.

Céspedes wasn't the only player in this saga to be deposed by councilmembers yesterday. Jannarone sat for questioning, as did Walker.

Skinner has yet to be questioned. Council staff are still negotiating with his attorney, A. Scott Bolden, to set a date and terms.