To Gray's credit, he has [PDF].

The documents include a consolidated invoice issued by WCS Construction, the Smith Co. subsidiary, plus invoices from four subcontractors. The combined invoice was sent on Oct. 30; the first of the subinvoices was sent on July 30, the last on Oct. 28.

What do the documents mean? LL knows little of the contracting realm, so how about a little crowdsourcing? Have a look at the PDF above or image links after the jump, and let LL know if you see any matters that deserve further scrutiny.

The first, and more serious, story was penned by Jeffrey Anderson in this morning's Washington Times. It detailed various small jobs done on Gray's home by William C. Smith & Co., the politically powerful local development company. The second, a Washington Post story by Tim Craig, involved his use of council stationery to ask Comcast for a $20,000 donation to the local delegation to the Democratic State Committee. Gray addressed the controversies in an afternoon appearance on NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk With Bruce DePuyt.

Regarding the DNC allegations, Gray made the case that the fundraising effort was focused on voting-rights awareness, and thus kosher. Given that the check benefited local Democrats attending a political convention, it's awfully questionable distinction to make. But he gets points for this realization: "'If I had to do it over again, I certainly wouldn't have used the stationery."

As for the work on his Hillcrest home, Gray insisted "there was no impropriety that was involved."

Gray went on describe his relationship with Chris Smith, the president and CEO of WCS&Co., which, he says, stretches back some 15 years to his time as executive director of Covenant House, when Smith;s company built youth housing and other projects. "There's a longstanding relationship here," Gray said. "Chris Smith is a guy of impeccable integrity. I like to phrase it that he's the best blend of economic development and social justice that hes ever seen."

The renovation project, he says, came about this way: "When I wanted to do a renovation on my house, I turned to him, and he said that he though that his company could help me."

Gray repeated that he paid in full for the work that was done, that no favors were extended. He went out to emphasize that this was intended to be no small job, that WCS&Co. helped identify an architect that he paid for. The small jobs mentioned in the Times story---painting a room, changing a door, washing a driveway---were incidental. "Had this larger project not been on the table, they never would have done the work," Gray insisted.

Then there's the issue of the payment. The WaTimes story implied that Gray only paid for the work done once the paper started asking questions. Gray says he got an invoice on Oct. 30, and paid it within two weeks, adding that he was not aware of reportorial inquiries until Monday, after the bill was paid. "My payment was not in response to anticipation of a story from the Washington Times."

DePuyt asked a smart followup about whether he had put any money down, as home-improvement contractors often require. "That may well have been the case if we had started the renovation," Gray said, adding, "There was no project that had been authorized to go forward. We were in the architectural development stage at that point."

Then there's the permit issue; the Times story found no evidence that nay permits had been issued. Said Gray, "There were no permits that were required. I cannot imagine that a permit would have been required for this work."

For more explanations on the renovation issue, do see Jonathan O'Connell's reporting today for Washington Business Journal. A William C. Smith & Co. exec explained to him that a company subsidiary called WCS Construction LLC did the work, describing it as "a Ward 8 business....they hire local contractors and that's really important in this city."

The exec, Carol Chatham, responded to the idea that her company did the work hoping to receive contracts thusly:

"The council does not award development projects. That comes through the mayor's office of economic development," she said. Given the lousy mayor-council relations, she said, "if we were trying to curry favor with the mayor we certainly wouldn't be doing favors for the chairman of the council."

She's got a point there.

In all, not a bad first-day reaction from Gray---defensive at times, sure, and his accusations of political motivations were unnecessarily ugly, but he exhibited some awareness that there are legitimate questions that need to be answered. Whether this turns into a two-day story or something more depends on some questions yet to be answered: Has this WCS Construction done other similar home improvement work---for politicians or anyone else? Will the firm continue handling Gray's home renovation project? Was the work priced appropriately? Will Gray release the invoices for public examination?

With regard to the fundraising questions, DePuyt asked Gray if he'd be willing to have lawyer Bob Bennett, currently examining other D.C. Council ethics issues, examine the matter. Said the chairman, "I'd be happy for him to take a look at it."

Then DePuyt asked the money question: He asked Gray if he thought that the appearance of the stories represents a "brushback pitch" from the Fenty camp. Said Gray: "Absolutely. I think it's clearly political."

Gray insisted the stories would have no bearing on his decision whether to run against Fenty or not: "You called it a brushback pitch, I used to play baseball...When you get in the batters' box you better be ready for what comes."

The move comes more than a month after his chief of staff, Ted Loza, was collared in a bribery sting where taxi-related interests are alleged to have paid Loza to influence cab legislation. Graham has had the D.C. Taxicab Commission under the purview of his public works and transportation committee since 2007, giving him great control over legislation affecting the taxi business, as well as the power to investigate the industry.

The timing, to say the least is odd. Both Graham and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray came under fire from LL and others for not making this move sooner. And, earlier this month, the pressure had eased on Graham after federal prosecutors decided not to interview a pair of key staffers before a grand jury

"Though I have committed no crime, nor am I reportedly the target of any investigation, I want to ensure that Taxicab Commission oversight continues without any distractions relating to the Ted Loza indictment," Graham wrote in a letter released to the press this afternoon.

Graham spokesperson Brian DeBose says his boss "had been planning on doing this for a week now or more." The issue was, who would take over the responsibilities? Gray, who has defended Graham's right to keep taxis in his portfolio, "wasn't part of the decision to step down. That was totally Jim's decision."

All taxi matters will be handled until further notice by Gray's Committee of the Whole.

...of Lancaster, Pa.

Penn Quarter Living debuts a new column called High Rise Life. The first one is on elevator etiquette. It's not so much a column as bad comment bait of which I am sometimes guilty of. Here's a sampling from PQL's rookie effort on sharing an elevator: "Fob in and offer to push buttons or don’t offer and make sure others belong in the building? Remind neighbors that bicycles and their owners usually ride the freight elevator or zip it? Heel your dog or let him/her sniff around and be friendly? What is good neighborly elevator etiquette?" Fascinating.

Frozen Tropics reports on the breaking news last night concerning the pedestrian hit by a Metrobus in Trinidad. The Post is reporting that the woman has suffered life threatening injuries:

"In Monday's incident, the woman had just gotten off the D-8 Metrobus on Mount Olivet Avenue NE, between Trinidad and Montello avenues. She apparently crossed in front of that bus and then was struck about 6:30 p.m. by another Metrobus traveling in the same direction, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.

Two men who said they witnessed the incident told television stations that the woman was thrown a distance down the street, and appeared to be unconscious after being struck. One of the men said that after the woman was hit, the driver of one of the buses 'got down' and prayed."

The Georgetown Metropolitan answers the question: Just what are Georgetown's boundaries?

Do you want to see pictures of people buying records? Someone posted a bunch of pictures from the DC Record Fair held this past Sunday. We wish we could have been there. Meanwhile....Fair sponsor The Vinyl District is giving away tickets to this week's Gossip show at the 9:30 Club.

The New Teacher On the Block offers their take on the hundreds of teachers laid off last week. In the Rhee vs. Gray fight, the blogger sides with Gray:

"Now, of course, this has resulted in finger-pointing, name calling, and a complete lack of transparency on many people's parts (Standard Operating Procedure for DCPS, really). Rhee blames the City Council for not providing the money required to allow all of these teachers to keep their jobs. City Council member Vincent Gray the DC City Council fired back with a press release accusing Rhee of using the council as a scapegoat in executing her master plan of getting rid of large numbers of DCPS teachers.

In this case, I'm in Gray's corner. The numbers just don't lie. It's just another example of the lack of transparency Rhee feels she is entitled to. When I came here, I thought I liked her: I am among the legions of teachers she's supposedly replacing the entire DC teaching force with and I support a lot of the ideas she proposes. But both her behavior and her attitude are counterproductive and arrogant; since I have been here, she has done nothing but alienate, obfuscate, and out and out lie."

For the second year in a row, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray is hosting a snazzy affair at the Park at 14th to celebrate the Congressional Black Caucus' annual legislative conference. Ultra-slick invites to this evening's event have been handed out to councilmembers for distribution.

Gray spokesperson Doxie McCoy confirms that the arrangements are the same as last year: Park at 14th owner and prolific campaign contributor Marc Barnes is paying all the expenses, with the understanding that he'll make them back in bar receipts.

There is one delicious political twist this time.

Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. has announced that at the event he will "acknowledge and honor...with ceremonial resolutions" both civil-rights legend Dorothy Height and famed poet Maya Angelou.

They, of course, are the same Dorothy Height and Maya Angelou who have been unable to get a meeting with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty regarding their support for Cora Masters Barry's continued tenure at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center.

WaPo's D.C. Wire posted that the D.C. Council has passed a new ethics code via emergency legislation. Tim Craig writes:

The proposal, for example, states that council members need to uphold "unusually high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality" and that the "avoidance of misconduct and conflicts of interest on the part of council members is indispensable." Some of those standards were already scattered through out city code, but Gray concluded the ethical policies dealing with the council were confusing and too dispersed.

In the Post account, Councilmember Marion Barry praises the ethics code as a big step forward and cites Chairman Gray for his "progressive thinking."

So the code must be full of loopholes?

What I don't get is why this had to be passed via emergency legislation. Barry's problems date to the beginning of the summer,  Bennett's subpoenas are only now starting to fly. Why not let the investigation run its course and then pass a comprehensive ethics code with real penalties?

As it stands now, the council passed an ethics code without any teeth. There are zero penalities for I don't know....hiring your girlfriend or funneling money to nonprofits controlled by your cronies.

This code and the passing of this code feels like grandstanding.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

He also discussed Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's performance. Or not really:

Thanks to our friends at WRC-TV for the video.

Follow along at @mikedebonis.

According to three sources familiar with the closed-door meeting to discuss the ramifications of Marion Barry's July 4 arrest, the councilmember apologized to his colleagues. He even made sure to apologize to Councilmember Jim Graham, who was late to the meeting.

One councilmember says that Barry confessed his love for the District and said that he was sorry that he hurt the council. "It really, really seemed heartfelt," the councilmember says. "His colleagues were pretty damn pissed off at him."

"He apologized to all the members," says another source. The source added that Barry almost cried during his mea culpa.

But Barry was clear about who he would not apologize to: the public.

At least one source did not walk away satisfied with the simple "I'm sorry." "What concerns me the most is the misuse of public funds," they told City Desk. "That's a crime. He got involved romantically and then hired them. It raises some very serious allegations... I hope that Marion appreciates that it's in his interest to [cooperate with the independent investigation]."

*Additional reporting by Mike DeBonis. Photo by Darrow Montgomery.

The fishy fire truck testimony delivered last Thursday by Peaceoholics co-founder Ronald Moten before the D.C. Council was plenty dramatic, but the drama apparently did not end with the pound of the gavel.

Since then, a classic council-executive scuffle has broken out over broadcasts of the proceeding on city cable, with allegations flying that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty himself has become personally involved.

Because Thursday's proceeding was considered a "public deposition" rather than a council hearing (it was supposed to be behind closed doors until Moten demanded otherwise), the councilmembers heading up the fire truck investigation---Mary Cheh and Phil Mendelson---determined that its contents should not be disseminated. That's in keeping with the usual council practice on depositions, which are kept under wraps, so other witnesses won't change their testimony to make their stories consistent (Never mind that LL and other reporters already did plenty of disseminating.)

On Thursday, Cheh tells LL, the order went out to the Office of Cable Television, and its director, Eric Richardson, not to air the Moten footage. In spite of this, the deposition was aired at 7 p.m. that night, leading Cheh to send her chief of staff, David Zvenyach, and D.C. Council general counsel Brian Flowers down to OCT headquarters to retrieve the tape.

They got a tape, Cheh says---but apparently, it wasn't the only tape. At 7 p.m. Friday, the deposition was aired again.

"Apparently it was a ruse," Cheh says of the tape handover.

Meanwhile, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray had called Richardson to further impress on him that the council did not want the proceeding aired.

Here's what Cheh says took place, according to various conversations with OCT last week: "We were told that the mayor had called and said that the tape should be shown at 7 p.m. this evening....We learned by a circuitous route...that Mr. Richardson was told that he was to air it and that not only that, if he gets any inquiries from the council, or the chairman, that he's supposed to direct them to the attorney general's office."

Why Fenty would insist on the broadcast of a proceeding implicating two top deputies and a controversial friend in a questionable giveaway of city property is completely beyond LL and other observers. But, in any case, the move has rekindled the council-mayor wars, and has raised real questions about how the separation of powers extends to the District's cable TV system. The system is run by OCT, a executive branch agency, but longstanding practice holds that Channel 16 belongs to the mayor and that Channel 13 belongs to the council.

The mayoral power move "bespeaks a view of the executive that he controls what of our hearings and our meetings goes up," Cheh says. "He's making a claim here that I think is beyond executive authority."

Today, Gray informed his colleagues that he'll be moving emergency legislation tomorrow that would ensure that Channel 13 "shall be under the exclusive control of the Council."

From a memo issued by Gray: "The failure to follow the direction of the Council in whether to broadcast or rebroadcast a deposition in an investigation constitutes a serious imposition on the authority to control Channel 13 and on the oversight and investigation function of the Council and would, therefore, be a serious intrusion on separation of powers. Executive branch control of the Council’s cable channel programming in this and other instances threatens the independence and autonomy of the Council to deliver it’s message to the public without the filter of the Executive branch."

LL is waiting for calls back from Fenty's office, Richardson, Gray, and Attorney General Peter Nickles. More to come.

UPDATE, 2:30 P.M.: Richardson called back, directing inquiries to Nickles.

UPDATE, 2:50 P.M.: Gray, in an interview, confirms he called Richardson on Thursday night, and that Richardson had indicated that he had been "directed to play" the tape. But Gray says that by conversation's end, he "thought we had an agreement" to keep the proceeding off air. He hasn't had any communications with Richardson or anyone else from the executive since.

Says Gray of the mayoral interference into Channel 13 affairs: "I've never seen anything like this before....It really is controlling information in a very unhealthy way."

UPDATE, 3:30 P.M.: BTW, watch it while you can [WMV video].

UPDATE, 8:10 P.M.: Nickles speaks! "I don't know on what basis after a public session, you can direct someone to keep it off the air," he says. "It is so absurd."

Nickles says he's not aware of Fenty directly ordering Richardson to play the recording.

As for the larger separation-of-powers issues: "It's an executive agency; it's staffed by members of the executive branch."

The council action gave Nickles, not exactly Mr. Transparency, a chance to lecture councilmembers on the subject: "Here's all this talk of transparency, and here, out of the blue, comes this legislation...to give the council the right to effectively seal its proceedings form the public," he says. "I don't understand why you would even suggest that."

As for the legislation Gray plans to introduce, Nickles says, that might raise an issue with contracts the District has signed with its cable providers. Any council action would be prohibited from affecting the terms of those agreements.

"I think this is sort of the problem with this fire truck---that they're looking for this needle in a haystack, and they're not really being consistent or abiding by the law," Nickles says. "This is the latest unusual move."

Nickles, of course, in his own investigation, did not prove himself the most apt haystack-comber---he missed two big needles, named Sinclair Skinner and David Jannarone.

Rhode Island-based GTECH, which ditched longtime partner Leonard Manning in May, has found a bevy of local partners with appeal across the local political spectrum. Long story short, their team has been meticulously constructed to ensure broad support on the D.C. Council, which derailed the last contract award.

From the Fenty axis, you have Darryl Wiggins. A local businessman, he's been a longtime political ally of Fenty's dating back to the his first council campaign. He also was a key member of Hizzoner's transition operation in 2006. He owns Document Managers, a business that's done a lot of business with District government and has experience in managing large tech enterprises, which is what running the lottery involves. (For further Fenty ties, his political guru, Tom Lindenfeld, has been hired by GTECH as a consultant.)

From the Gray axis, you have Lorraine Green. She's the VP in charge of human resources for Amtrak and is a former deputy director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Her close relationship with Gray goes back at least to their shared service under Mayor Sharon Pratt--she as head of personnel, he as head of human services. She's also a former executive director of the D.C. Lottery and Charitable Games Control Board. Good experience there!

Right in the middle is attorney Rod Woodson, a partner at Holland & Knight. One of the best-known lobbyists in local government, Woodson's expert at maintaining relations across political lines---in no small part by spreading campaign donations far and wide. Woodson has deep connections in the legal, real estate, and health care communities.

That leaves big fish Intralot and Scientific Games.

Scientific Games seems not to have submitted a bid, a source says, abandoning Maryland businessman Charles Hopkins; Intralot, which won the initial bid before it was controversially not approved by the D.C. Council, is said to have submitted a bid, but without its controversial local partners, Warren and Alaka Williams.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer declined to confirm any of this, citing confidentiality laws. Spokesperson David Umansky says that "the expectation is that the recommendation will go the Mayor in the fall."

UPDATE, 3:45 P.M.: Wiggins says he was approached by GTECH about a month ago to pursue a partnership. He says he sees an affinity between his current business and the lottery business: "What we do is management of digital technology in the field. I manage digital technology in the field...It can be a lottery ticket or it can be a deposition."

Wiggins explains that if his bid is successful, his employees will be responsible for maintaining the lottery equipment.

LL asked Wiggins if his mayoral connections played into his participation: "I don't think it plays at all, to be frank with you. We have a great mayor....He doesn't believe in political patronage. All of the time I've worked for the mayor, I've never contacted him about any procurement I've been involved in. I don't expect him to be my business development manager."

UPDATE, 6/29, 12:25 P.M.: Mea culpa: Scientific Games has indeed submitted a bid, their lead local partner, Charles Hopkins, reports.

Hopkins, a Chevy Chase, Md., resident whose business concerns are based in D.C., says he's gathered four other local partners---all D.C. residents---in his group. As for their identities, Hopkins is cagey. All he'll say: "It's a team that covers the lottery/retail side of the equation---which I bring to the table---a leading technologist, and we have people who are deeply involved in the gaming industry as advisers."

UPDATE, 6/29, 3:15 P.M.: LL was able to chat with Green this afternoon, who describes her intentions thusly: "I know what it takes to have an efficiently run lottery, and that's what I'm interested in."

Green declined to address what winning the big might mean for her day job, but she says that she'll "definitely not be involved in a day-to-day full-time capacity."

Green served as executive director of the lottery board from 1989 to 1991, when she started running the city personnel department. This mind you was in the heyday of Pratt's "clean house with a shovel" effort, and few departments required as much cleaning as Gray's human services department. "I spent a lot of time working with him then," she says. "I realized how dedicated and hardworking he is." She went on to co-chair Gray's 2006 campaign for chairman, and in recent years has served on an advisory board to the lottery.

LL was there with camera. Behold!

Adrian Fenty, Mr. Smart Car, opted for something a bit larger than his signature everyday conveyance for parade purposes: a white Hummer. Not a mini-Hummer, either---the big one. Gotta support American automakers these days, right? (What's that? Hummer's been sold to the Chinese? Whatever.)

Before the march, Bill Rice and John Falcicchio engage in high jinks:

No one tosses beads like Hizzoner:

After the parade, Fenty and his 30-some marchers (including sons Matthew and Andrew) gathered for pictures:

Vincent Gray's wheels were even less fuel-efficient. But his giant truck at least carried a couple of dozen staffers supporters:

Gray again handed out custom beads with a "One City" pendant:

Jack Evans and family (that's companion Michelle Seiver) hanging out pre-parade:

Evans had 25-plus in his retinue:

Eleanor Holmes Norton showed off her signature parade pose:

Phil Mendelson showed LL his campaign-ready tough-guy look:

Mendo alone among politicos opted for leis over beads. Gal pal Carol Mitten helped hand 'em out:

Mendo couldn't ask for a better advertisement than this homemade banner, which led his entourage:

And just so you know Mendo means business, his retinue was followed by a black Cadillac driven by his "muscle" (aka staffer Mike Battle):

Mendelson's likely challenger, former DPR chief Clark Ray, was also marching, but near the back, with local Gay Games promoters:

A smattering of "DC NEEDS CLARK RAY" stickers (in Fenty green-and-white) were spotted in the crowd:

David Catania printed up custom marriage equality signs---one of the most popular items along the parade route:

Once again, Catania had a special guest rider: Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, aka the Queen of Green. LL asked Catania if he was king of anything: "The King of Queens, honey!"

Kwame Brown, however, was the king of bling, riding in a Porsche 911 Carrera:

Staffer Enrique Fernandez Roberts captured the hipster demo however, with his Kwamefied scooter:

Kwame brought a bubble machine, but LL did not see it in use:

Fenty wasn't the only politico to somewhat de-green. Tommy Wells traded in the Zipcar Mini Cooper he had last year for a Toyota Tacoma pickup:

For the second year running, couple Michael Ulrich and Paul Cooper, whom Wells joined in marriage, participated:

After missing the Pride parade for the first time in decades last year, Jim Graham was back in the saddle this year:

In one of the more eardrum-unfriendly developments, Graham marchers sported whistles:

Muriel Bowser brought a strong crowd:

Gay rights legend Frank Kameny, among the festival honorees:

D.C. For Marriage:

Gertrude Stein Democratic Club:

D.C. Democratic State Committee:

Ward 7 Democrats (Juan Thompson, right):

Ward 8 Democrats (Phil Pannell and Charles Wilson):

UPDATE, 4:20 P.M.: A couple of addenda:

Doxie McCoy, spokesperson for Gray, writes in to point out that "more than staffers were riding with the Chairman. We had people from GLOV/Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence, DC for Marriage, Metro TeenAIDS, and Gertrude Democratic Stein Club, in addition to reps from DC Vote, Pre-K for All DC, State Board, etc."

And Charles Allen, Wells' top aide, notes, "Just for the record, Tommy had rented a Mini-Cooper again. Zipcar notified him on Friday that they were cancelling his reservation because the car had to be taken into the shop for repairs. The Tacoma was the only open top (-ish) vehicle left in the Zipcar fleet on such short notice."

OK, green cred's intact!

But who will step up?

The big question is: Which local business types will each of the three major global lottery equipment providers tap for a partnership? Tapping locals earns each company points in the procurement process and also helps grease the political skids.

Last month, LL ran down the possibility that Caribbean CAGE, an outfit backed by BET founder Bob Johnson and old D.C. politico Bob Washington, might pursue the potentially lucrative contract with big fish GTECH or Scientific Games.

This week, LL got an unequivocal denial from Todd Washington: "We've taken a look at the opportunity, and we don't think it fits in our sweet spot. We just don't see it being as lucrative an opportunity."

CAGE's main business is in video lottery terminals, slot-machine-like devices; the parameters of the D.C. contract, he explains, don't offer a comparable profit margin. "We don't see how we get the kind of ROI that would interest our principals. We've spent time looking at it and running through the numbers."

But Washington says, "If VLTs come into play, that's a different situation."

So where does that leave Scientific Games and GTECH?

Scientific Games, at this point, is almost certain to partner with Charles Hopkins, a Maryland businessman and former investment banker whose main business to date has been in airport retail. He's likely to have other local partners, but they are thus far unknown.

GTECH, at this point, is a cipher. The Rhode Island-based outfit has dumped longtime partner Leonard Manning, as LL first reported last month. So they're in the hunt for a new dance partner.

LL had heard rumblings about local businessman Pedro Alfonso getting involved; last time appeared as a local partner in a gaming venture it didn't turn out well: He hooked up with Caribbean financier Rob Newell and a shady Las Vegas money man, Shawn Scott, to push a plan to place hundreds of VLTs at a New York Avenue NE slots parlor. That effort ended in disgrace, with the Board of Elections and Ethics handing Alfonso et al. a half-million dollar fine for ballot fraud. In recent weeks, his name has disappeared from chatter. Also said to be in the mix is Lorraine Green, director of the city personnel office during the Sharon Pratt Kelly administration and now VP of human resources for Amtrak. More to the point, she's close friends with D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, who helped derail the original bid. Neither Alfonso or Green returned calls for comment.

Speaking of the original bid, that leaves Intralot, which was initially selected for the contract, along with partner W2Tech. That pick, infamously, was not approved by the D.C. Council, leaving Intralot with a dilemma.

They made noise last year about not participating in a rebid if political concerns caused interference, and proceeded to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to have the initial award enforced. But the prospect of leaving money on the table---and, more to the point, being politically outmaneuvered by blood rival GTECH---might be too much to bear.

But if they stick with W2Tech---headed by Alaka Williams, wife of politically connected businessman Warren C. Williams Jr.---their political problem remains. In an interview last year, Intralot exec Byron Boothe to LL, “You always take home the person you brought to the dance.”

But the facts are these: If Intralot had bid without a partner last year, they still would have beat the GTECH group---the local preference points wouldn't have made a difference.

Sometimes you take someone to the dance, and sometimes you have to leave alone.

Now Gray's crowing, because he says DCPS Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has admitted he has a point in a letter sent to him yesterday.

In the letter, Rhee cites the work of independent researchers in coming up with the projections, but writes, "I understand your hesitance to accept the projected increase in enrollment....Based upon the assumptions we outlined...we believe we have sound evidence and data to suggest that DCPS's enrollment of October 2009 will increase slightly....However, as I shared with you Friday, I cannot guarantee that this will occur."

Gray sees vindication therein: "Basically, what I think it says is [that] I think we'll be proven right on the number," Gray said this morning at the council breakfast meeting. "It says in a lot of words that they don't know where 3,073 people are coming from."

As for a modus vivendi, a compromise has been fashioned: The council will vote today to restore DCPS funding on the October 2008 enrollment figure---meaning DCPS is free to spend about $24 million of the $27 million that council had threatened to place in escrow. The remaining $3 million will be set aside pending an audit of the fall enrollment.

For next year, however, Rhee and Gray have agreed to work together to "develop a uniform method by which enrollment projections will be completed by both DCPS and the charter schools." That would aim to end the inequity in the mechanics of charter funding versus DCPS funding: Charters have to refund money accepted due to overprojections, but DCPS doesn't.