Right now, Abdulaziz Kamus has a lot on his mind. First, there's the fact that he's a central figure in the Ted Loza bribery case (Kamus allegedly joined the Fed probe, wired up, and paid Jim Graham's Right Hand Man $1500 in bribes). Today, we learned that key players in the bribery scandal discussed killing Kamus after the Loza story broke. Several community leaders say that Kamus has not appeared in public since his law enforcement activities became public.

Now comes the claim that Kamus wasn't such a great community organizer. We had previously heralded the man as the major player within the Ethiopian community. Yesterday, I was cautioned that this just wasn't the case at all.

Daniel Belayneh, the executive director of the Ethiopia Community Services and Development Council, laughed when I mentioned Kamus as a leader.

"Mostly he was working with the Latino community," Belayneh said. "He's more with Latinos."

Read More "Claim: Kamus Is No Community Organizer" »

The back-and-forth continues over the Pershing Park mess in U.S. District Court. Today, AG Peter Nickles filed his response to former Councilmember Kathy Patterson's letter to Judge Emmet Sullivan on Aug. 20.

In his barely three-page response, Nickles provides a nearly substance-free denial of Patterson's claims that his sworn statement had contained inaccuracies. Last week, Nickles had expressed his displeasure to the court that Patterson had jumped into the fray and that her letter had been made public. Again, it all centers around the discovery problems.

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Nickles Responds To Patterson’s Charges" »

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" »

Today, plaintiffs attorneys in one of the Pershing Park cases filed their response to AG Peter Nickles' sworn statement submitted to the court on August 12. The plaintiffs' response is a 26-page takedown of the OAG's and the D.C. Police Department's conduct in the case as well as a refutation of Nickles' own sworn declaration [PDF}.

At issue: the missing evidence, doctored or missing radio dispatches, and a discovery process that has lasted for years without an end in sight. Nickles' statement apparently has done little to assure plaintiffs that they will be getting a full accounting of what happened during the mass arrests at Pershing Park---and what happened to all that missing evidence.

The attorneys state that they were so disappointed with Nickles and Co.'s representations to the court, they can only form one conclusion: the need for an independent investigation, and "severe sanctions."

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Plaintiffs Call For ‘Independent Inquiry’" »

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" »

Late last week, I got an anonymous letter gently complaining about our coverage of the Pershing Park mess. A few times a week, we've posted critical pieces concerning the sloppy work of the OAG or pointed to discrepancies among D.C. Police personnel over how basic documents could either disappear (the running resume) or be tampered with (the radio dispatches containing gaps). The writer wanted to know why the plaintiffs in the case didn't just settle.

The facts are really not in dispute--the mass arrests were bad, violated due process, etc. Other Pershing Park plaintiffs have settled.

I can't begin to guess why the plaintiffs in this case have not settled. But one thing that appears driving the plaintiffs is the simple quest of getting to the truth of what happened on September 27, 2002.

Why is this important? Because immediately following those bad arrests, D.C. Police officials lied and manipulated information about that day.

Read More "Why Does The Pershing Park Case Matter?" »

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, former Ward 3 Councilmember Kathy Patterson submitted a letter [PDF] to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan regarding the troubled Pershing Park Case.

Patterson, who headed up the council judiciary committee at the time of the mass arrests and spearheaded an exhaustive investigation into the incident, may be the best authority on the subject (not including plaintiffs' attorneys).  It appears she wrote the letter to refute several assertions made by Attorney General Peter Nickles in his sworn statement turned into Sullivan on August 12.

Read More "Kathy Patterson Fact-Checks Peter Nickles on Pershing Park" »

Along with AG Peter Nickles' statement and Designated Fall Guy Tom Koger's statement regarding evidence issues in a Pershing Park case, top D.C. Police Department lawyers also submitted statements to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan (pictured).

In his declaration, Ronald B. Harris, a D.C. Police Department lawyer, makes it clear that he had prepared early on for litigation stemming from the mass arrests which took place on September 27, 2002. In October of that year, he stated that he contacted then-Captain James Crane, who headed up the police's communications unit, and requested the radio communications related to Pershing Park. He states:

"I realized the radio communications would be important to restain after hearing witnesses testify at a District of Columbia Council Judiciary Committee hearing about police misconduct. The communication tapes would be needed for a possible department investigation called for by the committee chairperson and the committee's own investigation that the committee chairperson stated would be conducted into the department's handling of mass demonstrations."

The upshot: Harris knew very early on that those arrests were controversial and evidence needed to be collected preserved.

Read More "Pershing Park Case: D.C. Police Lawyer Submits His Own Statement To Court" »

AG Peter Nickles has submitted his sworn statement to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan addressing the evidentiary problems in a Pershing Park case. Along with his statement, are the statements of other District lawyers involved in the case which we will get to in a subsequent blog post.

In his statement, Nickles lays out a series of steps he has taken to fix the missing evidence problems. One of his first points he makes is that he has  appointed Ellen Efros to "assume the position of lead counsel in this matter." The only problem: Efros has long been the supervising attorney in this case.

Nickles goes on to state that he has ordered a series of investigations and reviews of evidence in the Pershing Park case. The upshot: All of them appear to be in-house reviews either within OAG or the D.C. Police Department and the Mayor's Office except for the appointment of retired U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin, who would only be advising Nickles about how to handle discovery issues in future class-action cases.

Nickles does state this: "The discovery lapses at issues (sic) here are inexcusable and should not have occurred. Even my preliminary investigation discloses that OAG personnel responsible for discovery made serious errors in managing and producing documents in these cases."

Nickles lays the bulk of the blame on the attorney assigned to the case---Thomas Koger:

"As such, the responsibility for the errors here falls on him. He, and those he supervised, misplaced documents and, because they were not indexed upon receipt, lost track of them. Ths, the documents were not timely produced....I state unequivocally that significant, remedial actions will be taken to address these issues and to prevent their reoccurrence, including proper disciplinary action. I also can state that promptly upon discovery and review of the belated discovered documents, they have been and will continue to be produced to plaintiffs."

Read More "Breaking: AG Nickles Submits Statement In Pershing Park Case" »

AG Peter Nickles has been ordered by a U.S. District Court judge to submit a sworn statement on Wednesday explaining all the problems in a Pershing Park case. Last week, we reported on two documents he may want to explain: the false affidavit submitted to the court by his office, and the deposition of a police official detailing all the running resumes that suddenly disappeared.

This is not the first time a District official has had to submit a sworn statement explaining why evidence in this case went missing. Nickles may want to consider revisiting and explaining the affidavit submitted to the court by the D.C. Police Department's deputy general counsel Ronald B. Harris.

Harris submitted his statement after the court ordered the District to either produce evidence in the case or explain why they could not. Harris had to explain why the running resume had disappeared. He made his statement on November 16, 2007.

Read More "The Pershing Park Case: D.C. Police Department Lawyer Contradicts Officer’s Deposition" »

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---"Jack Evans Says He Still Supports Peter Nickles," "Councilmember Alexander Raises Concerns Over AG Nickles."

Morning all. Last night may have been National Night Out but for Mayor Fenty, it's Greek Week. WaPo breaks the stunning news that the District government actually paid the $37,000 tab for his Kappa Alpha Psi's welcoming party. The bash was held on Monday night and featured an open bar, crab cakes, red velvet cupcakes, and jazz bands tooting on two floors. The Post makes no mention of beer bongs and togas. The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development had put out the dough via a grant. AG Peter Nickles apparently has forced Fenty and Co. to reimburse the city for the shindig. But Nickles swears Fenty knew nothing about the city's involvement. Key graphs:

"Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said he looked into the matter Tuesday morning at the request of the mayor. 'I concluded immediately that this was not proper,' said Nickles, who said the society reimbursed the money that morning.

Although the mayor attended the affair and was on stage as fraternity members thanked him for paying for the event, 'he didn't put two and two together that this was money that had come from the city,' Nickles said."

SEX ED NEWS: The District plans to expand its STD testing program into all public high schools. WaPo has the full story on this progressive move. There are plenty of reasons to do this. Key graphs: "The program conducted last year at eight high schools found that 13 percent of about 3,000 students tested positive for an STD, mostly gonorrhea or chlamydia, according to the D.C. Department of Health. The expansion places D.C. public schools in the vanguard of a growing number of urban school districts that test adolescents for STDs. About 12,000 students attend public high schools in the District." The news came within hours of DC Appleseed releasing its report card on how the District is dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis (for public education, the District received a C+). WaPo covers the DC Appleseed's findings noting the overall positive scores: "But the report took Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to task for failing to give the disease more visibility. 'While Mayor Fenty and his administration deserve recognition for the continued support of . . . numerous HAA initiatives, his public appearances and statements about the epidemic have fallen short of his enthusiasm for action inside the government,' it said."

THE NEW YORK TIMES IS ON OUR SIDE: The paper's editorial board comes down hard against Congress and its attempts to meddle in our needle exchange program. The editorial dubbed the meddling an "outrage."

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT: As we mentioned above, National Night Out happened. This meant another All-Hands-On-Deck effort from the D.C. Police Department. Police visibility was high! But News Channel 8 reports that the District still endured at least one violent incident. Three people were injured during a shooting in Southeast shortly after 10 p.m. News Channel 8 reports: "Fire officials say two 38-year-old women and a 17-year-old boy have each been shot in the leg."

AFTER THE JUMP: A power outage, more Metro news, Harry Jaffe pens a quick profile of the judge in the Pershing Park case, and much, much more.

Read More "Paying For Fenty’s Frat Party: 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" »

Last week, news broke out of U.S. District Court regarding the troubling Office of the Attorney General's handling of a Pershing Park civil suit. The judge in that case called on the D.C. Council to open an investigation into alleged OAG wrongdoing and ordered AG Peter Nickles to submit a sworn statement explaining why potential evidence had disappeared, and why more critical evidence was still being uncovered and turned over after discovery began five years ago.

One of the most troubling pieces of evidence that Nickles needs to explain is the faulty police department radio recordings. And why his office submitted a blatantly false affidavit concerning those recordings? And after the affidavit was proven to be false, why city lawyers did not withdraw the affidavit or correct it?

Read More "The Pershing Park Case: Did A District Official Commit Perjury?" »