Why are gas prices so high at the infamous Watergate Exxon? The District’s gas king, Joe Mamo, turned out for a D.C. Council hearing Friday toting a slide show aimed at answering that question—or at least deflecting allegations that his company, Capitol Petroleum Group, is to blame.

On June 12, when the Watergate station was peddling its black gold for a pricey $5.09 and $5.29 a gallon, the franchisee who rents the locale from Mamo was pocketing “pure profit” of $1.18 to $1.25 a gallon, compared to a national average of just 16 cents a gallon, according to Mamo’s lawyer, Al Afano.

“Here’s your answer. Take a look at what they’re making,” said Alfano, who also offered CPG’s estimates of the profits being made by five other Northwest gas station operators he characterized as part of “the leadership group” pushing for legislation that, if passed, could force Mamo to sell some of his 45 D.C. stations, which make up nearly half of the city’s total.

There was plenty more, er, fuel poured on the rhetorical bonfire at Friday’s D.C. Council hearing on the legislation. But after six hours of testimony, the only thing that was clear is that gas prices have been rising faster in the Districts than they have both regionally and nationally.

John B. Townsend II of AAA Mid-Atlantic testified that in 2007, when the council repealed the measure it’s now thinking of reinstating, D.C. gas prices were only about 5 cents higher per gallon than the national average. For several months that year, the price split between the District and the greater Washington metropolitan area was as little as 2 cents. Today, however, the average gallon of gas sold in D.C. costs 41 cents more than Virginia’s statewide average, and it’s 27 cents and 28 cents, respectively, more expensive than the Maryland and U.S. national averages, according to AAA’s price tracking data.

What has also changed in that time frame is Mamo’s business. Through a series of acquisitions, he purchased more than 200 ExxonMobils and Shells in Greater Washington and New York City, ending up with a quarter of all stations in the D.C. region and about 42 percent of the District’s gas stations.

For Team Mamo, the June 17 hearing must have had elements of déjà vu-meets-Twilight Zone. Ward 3 councilmember Mary Cheh, who led the charge to repeal the 2004 law four years ago after a lobbying campaign by Mamo, is the author of the new measure Mamo desperately opposes.

Perhaps the single most persuasive piece of evidence presented in 2007, a letter issued by the Federal Trade Commission, came under heavy attack from AAA and antitrust experts last week. The letter had provided independent backing to Mamo’s argument that the so-called “divorcement law” would lead to higher gas prices.

“It’s great to predict, but they were simply wrong,” David Balto, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former F.T.C. anti-trust lawyer, said of the position laid out by the commission four years ago.

Balto testified that the city’s gas industry is not “competitively healthy” today because repealing the earlier law had allowed jobbers to acquire the oil companies’ “market power,” a legal term referring to the extent to which a single firm or a few firms can influence the price of a product.

During a particularly vigorous faceoff with At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange, Townsend declared that not only had the FTC gotten it wrong, but so had The Washington Post in a May 27 editorial Orange quoted repeatedly throughout the hearing, which defended Mamo as a victim of “blatant example of political scapegoating and opportunism.”

Only three councilmembers showed up for the hearing: Cheh, Phil Mendelson (who wrote an earlier version of the legislation) and Orange. Cheh and Mendelson seemed to side with the operators. But Orange, who has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and other support from the Mamo and his companies, said he hadn’t heard anything to convince him that the District needs a new divorcement law or that Mamo’s company has anything to do with surging gas prices in the District.

Orange and Cheh did clash, though, over race, prompted by letter the Rev. Jesse Jackson sent to D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, other black councilmembers, and Mayor Vince Gray.

In the letter, Jackson praised Mamo as a role model for minority entrepreneurs and accused the council’s white members of seeking “to put in place onerous and inequitable business restrictions.”

When Orange echoed Jackson’s view, Cheh turned toward Orange, raised a finger and said the racism allegation was “deeply offensive, and I reject it.”

Orange, his voice rising, tried to continue, but Cheh cut in: “It is also perfectly clear that my legislation has nothing to do with race.”

Later, when Mamo and his entourage testified, Cheh demanded to know who had “ginned up” Jackson’s letter, in a heated exchange with Mamo’s longtime lobbyist, former councilmember and mayoral candidate John Ray.

“No one,” Ray said, “no one puts words in Mr. Jackson’s month.” Cheh responded: “You, Mr. Ray, or you, Mr. Mamo, ginned up this letter, and I want to know who it was.”

“You are using words you shouldn’t be using. No one ginned up this letter,” retorted Ray, accusing Cheh of disrespecting him.

That got Cheh to back down, saying, “Perhaps ginned up was not the right phraseology.”

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Orange You Glad You Voted For Orange: The election many of you didn't realize was happening is now over, and Vincent Orange is—once again—a member of the D.C. Council. Sure, voter turnout was under 10 percent, and sure, 71 percent of ballots were cast for someone besides Orange. That doesn't matter! What matters is the next round of elections will be upon us in only about 51 weeks. Which means we get to start the whole thing all over again, like, yesterday. +1

No Motorcade For You: The next time Charlie Sheen and/or the New York Rangers find themselves in town, they'll have to wait at red lights like the rest of us. Metropolitan Police Department officials have issued new regulations making clear what should have been obvious from the outset: There's no reason for celebrities to zip around town just because they're on TV. There does still seem to be some confusion over whether Chief Cathy Lanier knew the department was providing escorts for celebrities in the first place at all, which means Sheen is probably still winning. +2

Jobs For All: According to economists, the recession ended a long time ago. Your experience may be different, of course—but a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has signs of hope, even so. Unemployment in the D.C. metro region dipped to 5.8 percent in March, down from 6.6 percent the year before. Some sectors did better than others; there were 800 fewer financial services jobs, while there were 10,100 more government jobs. Cue Tea Party whining! +2

Pretty Fucked: There's something inherently unsatisfying about getting system status updates directly from Metro—for one, there are so many of them, usually bad, but for another, the official versions don't give proper voice to the existential doom riding the subway can generate in these days of deferred maintenance and strapped budgets. Fortunately, a new website—whose name, How Fucked is Metro, gets right to the point—is there. Clicking for an update shows, helpfully, that the Green line to Greenbelt "isn't fucked." Designer Joey Brunelle says he also built a polite version for people whose offices would look askance at the original, but how much fucking fun is that? +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 61 Today's score: +7 Today's Needle rating: 68

Pandas Stay Put: People think of the District as a transient place, but the dirty little secret of most people who move here for work is that once they arrive, they find they kind of like it. And they stick around (just ask former Sen. Byron Dorgan, who recently signed up with a D.C. law firm instead of moving back to North Dakota). That rule goes for pandas, too. Chinese officials, in town for President Hu Jintao's state visit, announced that the pair of pandas at the National Zoo will extend their stint in D.C. for another five years, in exchange for $2.5 million. Remember, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian—you're required to get a D.C. driver's license once you've been here 30 days or more. +4

WTOP Gets Owned: In the famed "glass-enclosed nerve center" from which all-news radio WTOP monitors the region, there's only one big story today–the station's been sold. Deseret Management, a for-profit arm of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, sold 'TOP and other Bonneville International stations in Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati to Hubbard Broadcasting Inc., which operates out of Minnesota, for $505 million. No word yet on rumors that weather and traffic will now move from the eights to the sixes. +1

Park Underneath, Please: The days of vast, and often empty, parking lots standing between the sidewalk and D.C. retail could be coming to an end. New rules proposed by the Office of Planning and Zoning would require stores to put parking lots under or behind their main building, instead of in front. Prediction: If that makes it into law, AAA will declare this yet another piece of D.C.'s war on cars. Oh, and also, streetscapes around town will look a lot better. +2

D.C. Council Bonanza: Say one thing for whichever D.C. voters actually bother to turn out for the April 26 special election for an at-large D.C. Council seat—they won't lack for choices. Two candidates officially declared their interest in the race today, Republican Patrick Mara and Ward 1 activist Bryan Weaver, and Vincent Orange (who is rapidly becoming the Harold Stassen of District politics) tells the Post he'll probably run, too. By the time Election Day arrives, is there anyone who's registered to vote in D.C. who won't be on the ballot? +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 52 Today's score: +9 Today's Needle rating: 61

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• ¿Dónde está Fenty?
  
• NIMBY grill
• Don't cover this!

Good morning sweet readers! The power is back. All hail the demon lords of electricity, who giveth light, the Internet, and a fridge that keeps food. The price for these riches? A constant and never-ending stream of news:

Waive This!: Fox 5's Paul Wagner wins the morning with this investigative piece about the city's apparently new practice of waiving police security fees for certain events, like the National Marathon. "In the last two years, more than $600,000 has gone uncollected, money that should have been paid to the city for security at special events." The marathon, Wagner notes, attracts enough runners to generate at least $700,000 entry fees, yet the city waived about $200,000 in police costs last year. Another piece of the story: A homeland security fund absorbs the costs for other events, like the Georgia Avenue Caribbean carnival. LL can't help but observe, as Wagner did, that Fenty has run in the marathon, and that the carnival is quite popular in Ward 1 and Ward 4, both of which could be political battlegrounds this year. (Also, LL liked the way Fenty tried to brush off Wagner's questions outside a Ward 1 ground-breaking ceremony last week by saying he needed the facts, even as Wagner brandished the relevant documents.) Besides the obvious budget-related questions here—like, how can the District afford to be eating these costs when the budget is as tight as it is?—LL wonders how Vincent Gray will handle this story: The marathon angle seems to be another example of Fenty pals benefiting from decisions made with no input from the D.C. Council. At-large Councilmember Phil Mendelson tells Fox he's got plenty of projects he'd like to spend money on, but the Fenty administration insists the money isn't there. Finally, it's not at all clear how the waivers get doled out—the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, for instance, had to pay its security costs. Watch the video.

AFTER THE JUMP: Post profiles; DYRS shenanigans; DCPS lawsuit...

Kwame & Vincent, Bestest Friends: The oft-ignored council chairman's race gets some Monday/Tuesday love from the Post's Ann Marimow with profiles of At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown and former Ward 5 Councilmember Vincent Orange.  For the interest of space, LL will skip the nice parts of both profiles and get to the dirt. The knock on Brown: "Even as they have endorsed him, some council members point to what they call Brown's propensity to change positions with the political winds. When it appeared this spring that the District's best hope of winning a voting seat in Congress would mean agreeing to a measure to weaken the city's gun laws, Brown initially issued a statement saying, 'Now is the time for voting rights' and calling for 'sacrifice.' Three days later, after Gray and others publicly opposed the measure's impact on firearm rules, Brown appeared to change course, saying in a statement, 'Now is the time for voting rights, but if it means we have to erode our local governing authority, we must wait for a better opportunity to strike.' Brown said he never wavered in his support of gun control. The first message was a mistake, he said, sent out prematurely by an aide before Brown had thoroughly vetted it." That strikes LL as a kind of "dog ate my homework excuse." There wasn't much dirt on Orange, save for this: "But his preference for fiscal conservatism seems to have its limits: Orange favors lavish parties (including birthday bashes at Love nightclub), and as he was leaving office in 2006 he unsuccessfully proposed increasing council members' pay to $140,000—a 51 percent hike." LL used to favor lavish parties, including birthday bashes at Chuck-E-Cheese. But those days are gone.

Repeat Offender: The Post's Colbert I. King, who has been a strong critic of the city's juvenile justice system, praises Fenty for "finally" trying to fix DYRS, by firing chief Marc Schindler and replacing him with Attorney General's Peter Nickles' pick, Robert Hildum. King has the results of Nickles' report of the embattled agency, including that DYRS "measures recidivism too narrowly... has a weak policy on abscondence and oversight... has a flawed method of deciding youth placement... has lax rules on community placements." "Since their commitment just over two years ago, 71 percent had new convictions, and 42 percent of those convictions were for offenses such as robbery, weapons assault and drugs. Moreover, 23 percent of those with new convictions were convicted in the adult system. Those numbers don't even include DYRS youth in the D.C. jail awaiting trial on adult charges... The investigation found several instances where youths disappeared for several days without DYRS requesting the required custody order (or arrest warrant) from the court. In one case, a youth was gone for several weeks before an order was sought. In another case, DYRS gave a third-party monitor 'a number of' days to locate a missing youth, and no one sought a custody order." Liz Ryan, president of the Campaign for Youth Justice, fires back at the Post for the heat she's taken. "The fact that I and others asked for an investigation of Mr. Nickles’s involvement in Mr. Schindler’s replacement and other decisions on juvenile justice demonstrates our commitment to reducing youth recidivism—the opposite of what The Post accuses us of. Despite the fact that Mr. Nickles was warned by Judge Herbert Dixon about a potential conflict of interest for his role in the Jerry M. case regarding the District’s juvenile justice system, it appears that Mr. Nickles repeatedly gave counsel to the mayor that a reasonable observer could view as a conflict with his previous position as lead plaintiff’s counsel."

It's Suing Time: The Washington Teachers Union is going to file suit against DCPS over the fired 241 teachers, reports Leah Fabel of the Examiner. Union President George Parker said, "'The story is not the firings so much as the document upon which the firings are based,' Parker said. 'It is a flawed document.' He derided the 'euphoric' reaction of observers and news reports nationwide, saying he's 'never seen a superintendent receive less scrutiny than Chancellor [Michelle] Rhee. 'There's this sense that since [other superintendents] haven't been able to do something like this, she must be right,' he said. 'They assume that if she's firing people, they must be poor teachers.'" LL agrees with Parker that it has been a little strange watching the glee these firings have evoked nationally.  Here's just two example: The National Review wants Rhee to lead the war effort. And the New Republic also loves Rhee, and demands answers from Gray. Personally, LL would be more euphoric if the city fired all the "ineffective" workers at the DMV.

Nice Lemonade, Jo-Ann: Correction of the Week award goes to the Post editorial board, for this gem. After incorrectly stating in a previous editorial that Gray convened a hearing over the dismissal of a popular biology teacher, the Posties cop to their error. But then they spend the rest of a new editorial bashing Gray anyway for listening to the teacher's students and telling them that their teacher sounds like a great guy who shouldn't have been fired. "Mr. Gray followed up with a meeting with Ms. Rhee, and a spokeswoman for his campaign stressed that he deferred to the chancellor. But as council chairman, he didn't have much choice; as mayor, he would have the power to interfere. His statements in this case might lead voters to ask whether Mr. Gray will back his frontline educators, even when they don't do the popular thing." In other words, we do not regret the error.  

You're Hired: Togo West, the former Army secretary and veterans affairs secretary, breezed through a confirmation hearing yesterday to serve as a member of the city's elections board. [Post]

Check out the photo in this story [Examiner]

Medical Marijuana now legal in the District [Post]

No smoking area expands [WBJ]

Fenty frustrated with Pepco [WTOP]

Metro crash findings released today [NEWS 8]

Summer jobs program cut [NEWS 8]

Fenty schedule:

Groundbreaking for senior center, 10:45 a.m. 1330 Missouri Ave, NW. Ribbon-cutting for George Avenue CVS, 3:30 p.m. George and New Hampshire NW.

Political schedule:

Ward 6 mayoral forum, Eastern Market, 7 p.m.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Jim and Adrian on Park Road
• Hizzoner doesn't own an iPod, or so he says
• Mid-blink poster

Good morning sweet readers! OMG, it happened again: LL gave birth to a second column, taking a crack at what Kwame Brown's ginormous debt means for the council chairman race. New tidbits: Besides the boats and the cars, Kwame also bought (and sold) a Harley and has some D.C. parking ticket issues. Perhaps less surprising: Marion Barry also has his own credit card problems. Here's some more news for ya:

Does the Madness Ever Stop?: The timing of Errol Arthur's resignation from the city's Board of Elections and Ethics couldn't have been much worse (except maybe Sept. 13). The Post's Timkita Crawart (get it?) report on a burgeoning brouhaha over who will take Arthur's place. "With Mayor Adrian M. Fenty facing council Chairman Vincent C. Gray in this year's Democratic mayoral primary, the selection of board members is quickly becoming entangled in election year politics. Administration officials said the mayor may have to make emergency interim appointments to the board if he and the council, which is on summer recess, are unable to agree on nominees. If that occurs, Fenty will have unilaterally seated a majority of the board charged with overseeing an election in which he is a candidate. 'I don't think that is correct,' Gray said. 'To not have the legislative body involved in something of this enormity is highly questionable.' Fearful that having a powerless board could make it difficult, if not impossible, to certify a winner or oversee a recount, council members are vowing to return from recess to deal with the vacancies. In recent days, council members Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) and David A. Catania (I-At Large) have reached out to the administration to head off a showdown." The Post's editorial board asks all parties involved to play nice: "It was irresponsible of the council to recess for the summer without taking action on this matter. But we would urge Mr. Fenty, given his self-interest in the coming election, not to use his authority to make an emergency appointment."

AFTER THE JUMP: Lotto contracts; blowback for Orange; Ward 4 skirmish...

You Say Sinclair Skinner, I Say Lottery Contract: The Times' Jeffery Anderson has more on the fracas over the awarding of the city's lottery contract, which led Attorney General Peter Nickles to ask the city's inspector general to investigate, essentially, Vincent Gray's role.  "Mr. Nickles said the council chairman allowed, among other things, a substantial portion of the contract to be handed to a 'complete unknown.' He said he has no explanation of why an international gambling company that delivers state-of-the-art systems to lottery organizations worldwide felt compelled to team with an inexperienced firm that had questionable credentials." Gray said Nickles is motivated by "petty political retaliation."

Irony, Thy Name is the Council Chairman Race: It seems Kwame Brown's debts are causing headaches for his opponent, Vincent Orange. First, news breaks from WBJ's Michael Neibauer that two business groups who have endorsed Brown rebuffed the Orange campaign's overtures to rescind their endorsements after Brown's personal debt problems came to light. Now comes word from the Post's Ann Marimow that Orange campaign "finance chairman George Lowe, who cited the 'negative tenor of this campaign,' has become the second person from the campaign to jump ship. Linda Mercado Greene, who was Orange's spokeswoman, resigned from the campaign last month because of her personal history with Orange's chief Democratic rival, council member Kwame Brown. In an e-mail to Orange and other top advisers last week, Lowe wrote that he has 'given this a significant amount of thought... and continue to arrive at the same conclusion and that is that I no longer feel comfortable with the negative tenor of this campaign and will not be a part of such.'" The one glimmer of what LL supposes is good news for Orange: The Board of Trade left open the door to dropping its endorsement of Brown if more bad news comes out. (Uh, that's bad news for Brown, as opposed to still more bad news for Orange.)

War on the Homefront: The Georgetown Dish's Molly Redden has a wrap up of last night's mayoral forum in Ward 4, Fenty's home turf.  "It may be a bad sign for Fenty, then, that mayoral hopeful Sulaimon Brown's enthusiastic recommendation that Fenty 'and his cronies' serve jail time for alleged corruption garnered boisterous applause—more than Fenty's own closing statement did."

Summer Jobs Program Problems Now Less Bad: The Post's Stephanie Lee reports that there are fewer payday "glitches" with the 18,000 youths on the city's payroll for the summer. "In contrast with previous years, the majority of the more than 18,000 youths working in businesses, nonprofit organizations and city agencies across the District were paid in full and on time, said John A. Stokes, a spokesman for the Department of Parks and Recreation. Yet some employees were not paid correctly, city officials said. According to City Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large), more than 120 employees of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's Conservation Corps, a program dedicated to cleaning up trash and graffiti in the city, were not paid on time. Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for Fenty (D), said that 24 Conservation Corps supervisors claimed on Wednesday that they had pay issues. Stokes said city officials are investigating the complaints of 74 employees, of more than 18,400 total participants, who said they were not paid correctly." Umm, a few weeks ago the city was saying the program totaled 22,000 participants.  Did 4,000 kids quit? LL will look into it and report. (Or better yet, Stokes, if you're reading this, what's the deal?)

What!? Bogus Police Stats: LL missed this yesterday from WTOP's Mark Seagraves. "The union representing the District's 3,600 police officers is calling for an investigation into how the police department reports crime statistics after comments made by Chief Cathy Lanier on WTOP." The Examiner's Freeman Klopott has more: Sexual assaults across the District spiked nearly 50 percent in the first five months of 2010 over the same period last year, according to internal police documents obtained by The Washington Examiner. From Jan. 1 to June 8 there were 82 sexual assaults in the city, up from 56 during the same period in 2009, the documents show. But Chief Cathy Lanier told The Examiner that the document is a 'preliminary report to be used in conjunction with and read within the context of all the reports and totality of the data available to us.' The statistics, she said, are subject to change 'for a variety of reasons, including late reporting, reclassification of some offenses, and discovery that some offenses are unfounded.' Lanier said when all classifications of sexual assaults are accounted for, including misdemeanors, there has been more than a 3 percent decrease when compared with last year. She did not elaborate when pressed to provide specific data showing the decline in sexual assaults."

$1 million for landscaping a library!? [WBJ]

Fenty Schedule: 3:30 Justice Park Affordable Housing Announcement, 1421 Euclid Street NW

On that note, the WBJ's indefatigable Michael Neibauer has the news that Brown's opponent, former Ward 5 Councilmember Vincent Orange, has sent letters, through his campaign chairman Kevin Chavous, to two business trade groups, the D.C. Chamber  and the Board of Trade, asking them to reconsider their previous endorsements of Brown. Neibauer says:

The debt is not explicitly mentioned in the letters, but clearly, that's what Chavous is talking about when he writes of "recent revelations and disclosures ... regarding Councilmember Kwame R. Brown."

Both groups have declined Orange's request, Neibauer reports, though the BOT left the door open to change their mind if there's more bad news.

Jim Dinegar, CEO of the Board of Trade, told Neibauer he's "not happy" with Brown's debt problems, which include being sued for more than $50,000 in credit card debts.

Dinegar and Jim Dyke, Board of Trade chairman, spoke with Brown prior to the arrival of the Chavous letter to discuss his personal debt, and Dinegar at least felt the councilman's "candor and honesty was refreshing," that he has appropriately taken full responsibility and "he's working through it."

With the assurance that no other shoe will drop, Dinegar said, the leaders of the Board of Trade recommended "that the endorsement stay as is at this point."

"But if something else comes up before the election, we may take other steps," Dinegar said.

Brown had locked up support from the business community a while back. For Orange, who seems to have played what could be his best card here, the response must be disappointing.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Tent city achievement
• Mr. Gray, tear down that fence
• Weaver's funky ad

Good morning sweet readers! Did anyone here what Prince had to say recently about our online age? "The Internet's completely over... All these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you." LL thinks the purple one has a point, but that won't stop him from filling your head with numbers, or in this case, words. Here goes:

Kwame Brown Loves Cars, Boats, Not Paying Credit Cards on Time: The Post's Mike DeBonis wins the weekend with this piece about Council Chairman candidate Kwame Brown's debt problems. DeBonis mines Kwameworld and comes up with these nuggets: 1) Brown estimates that his personal debt exceeds $700,000, much of it outside his mortgage. 2) If the Canyonero were real, Brown would likely own one. "As Brown's debt grew, he continued to project an image of affluence. Until earlier this year, Brown drove a 2000 Mercedes-Benz E350 for which he paid $19,000—one of three cars in the household. 'I like cars. There's no question that Kwame likes cars,' he said, reciting a list of used Mercedes-Benzes he has driven in years past. 'I try to get the best value I can for the dollar I spend on my car.' But Brown said he is cutting back. He sold the Benz earlier this year, he said, leaving him with a 2003 Lincoln Navigator SUV and a 1999 Ford F-250 pickup with custom wheels—both vehicles owned free and clear. But he regularly drives a 2008 Escalade ESV leased for $1,380 a month—including insurance for any driver—by his campaign, which raised more than $200,000 in its first two months, according to a June campaign finance report." (Two of LL's editors spotted the campaign Escalade parked outside City Paper's offices a couple weeks ago in what didn't look like a spot that matched the conventional understanding of legal parking. Also, note to Kwame: All three of your vehicles get horrendous gas mileage. Might wanna think about a nice Tercel.) 3) It's a bear market for 38-foot boats named Bullet Proof. "Brown said he regrets his nautical foray. He would like to list the boat for sale at $50,000, but he has had trouble finding a broker open to that price. Anything less, he said, will exacerbate his financial troubles. 'I can't afford to lose $30,000 on a purchase,' he said." 4) Vincent Orange, Brown's challenger, is happy. "Brown's opponent in the Democratic primary, former Ward 5 council member Vincent B. Orange Sr., has started to make Brown's credit-card debt a campaign issue by directly linking it to the city's fiscal health—the District is perilously close to a 12 percent debt ceiling that Brown voted to adhere to."

AFTER THE JUMP; Soft Landing; Whosit?; Fenty and Jetset...

We're Coming In For A Soft Landing!: The Post editorial board weighs in on Attorney General Peter Nickles' decision to settle with Banneker Ventures for $550,000, saying "he makes a plausible argument that it was in the city's interests to settle to avoid the risk of much greater liability as well as the possibility of ongoing construction projects getting stalled in the legal dispute." The editorial sounds off on the D.C. Council, saying it's "hard to imagine a worse way to elicit information than that employed by D.C. Council members, whose principal interest seems to be embarrassing the administration." What? The Council wants to embarass Fenty over questionable contracts going to his friends? Get out of town, WaPo, with your crazy conspiracy theories!

What's His Name Again?: Mayoral dark horse candidate Leo Alexander complains in D.C. Watch that the Post is ignoring him in their mayoral coverage.  The slight is by "design," Alexander says, to preserve the status quo. "In this town, if the Post doesn’t cover you then the voters don’t know you exist—so it’s difficult to raise money. This way nothing ever changes, except the names of the safe establishment candidates." Now the Washington Times, that's a different story. Deborah Simmons chats with Alexander about the need to fix families and stem illegal immigration.

Fenty Scores with Official Washington: Mayor Adrian Fenty is having a fundraiser held in his honor by the politically connected set on July 25, reports Politico's Patrick Gavin.  The co-hosts are: "Media Matters' David Brock, Hunter Biden (son of Joe), Nathan Daschle (son of Tom), consultants Shari Yost Gold and Jason Gold, lawyer Mary Streett, Elmendorf Strategies Shanti Stanton, Fortune Brands' Matt Stanton and consultant Kimball Stroud. The event costs $250 per family. There are also contribution levels at $500, $1,000 and $2,000."

Nickles to The Rescue: The Examiner's Freeman Klopott has the story of how the AG forced fixed to a Southeast apartment building described as a "deathtrap." "Last week, Nickles stepped into the fray and forced the tenants and management to the bargaining table. They reached an agreement in which Nickles will assume control of the $450,000 in the escrow account. He will release the cash only when the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs clears the building of hundreds of citations. 'If they screw around on this, they can expect trouble from me,' Nickles told The Washington Examiner, referring to the landlord. 'I'm not a bashful guy, and I will come down hard.'"

I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me: From News 8: "Police say they operate a network of closed-circuit television cameras throughout the city to deter crime. Officials say businesses owners can register their surveillance cameras or video systems with police to help expand that network."

Realty Star: Here's a clip from the upcoming Marion Barry reality show, in which Barry visits a social services center in the Southeast. It appears from the video that Barry is not a home subscriber to the Washington Post.

Chat Time: WUSA 9 has a sit down with D.C. Council Chairman and mayoral candidate Vincent Gray, who says his administration would be more "mature" than Fenty's.

Crappy "friends" stick couple with huge electric bill [Post]

Dinner with Cathy Lainer [Post]

Jonetta Thinks the Council's Anti-Vote Buying Act is Self-Serving [Examiner]

Living Wage Rules Update [Neibauer]

Water Trees [WTOP]

Mayor's schedule: 10:45 a.m. Groundbreaking at Washington Highland Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Dan Snyder bragged his wealth came from diabetes and cancer victims?
• Feeding the homeless has never been so sexy
• Best Bond movie

Good morning D.C.! How about "The Bachelorette" last night? Crazy, right? Well, don’t spoil it for LL—who was stuck at a mayoral forum in Ward 6, hosted by the Public Interest Civic Association Forum. If LL had to guess who would have been sent home without a rose based on their performance at the forum, he'd pick Mayor Adrian Fenty. Why? Because Hizzoner didn’t show up. Or maybe he was there, maybe he’s everywhere, in our hearts, like somebody else we all know...

So is Vince Gray Buddha? Fenty pal, giver of firetrucks and quote machine Ron Moten compared Fenty to Jesus Saturday at a “Go-Go 4 Fenty” event held at in a parking lot at RFK stadium, reports Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post. Said Moten: "If you understand what they did to Jesus, on Monday, everybody was praising him. Wednesday, he went to court, and all the people who he helped, nobody came to court for him... On Friday, they crucified him... The reason why we're here today is to get the facts out to you so history don't repeat itself again." Just a tad over the top? LL can only imagine what history might look like if Peter Nickles had been Jesus’ attorney. DeBonis also explained why Anwan "Big G" Glover, of "The Wire" and Backyard fame, is such a strong Fenty supporter. “Glover explained that his ties to Fenty were bound after Fenty, as a councilmember, wrote a letter to a Superior Court judge ruling on a 2004 gun charge. If Glover, then nearing the height of his 'Wire' fame, had been jailed, it would have been a serious blow to his career. He ended up getting probation.” The whole post is a must-read, but one other tidbit LL found worth sharing is was Moten’s channeling of his inner Karl Rove when talking about Fenty challenger Vincent Gray: "He's a flip-flopper, y'all. He's gonna tell everybody what they need to hear."

Taxes Schmaxes: At-Large Councilmember Michael Brown owes owed Uncle Sam more than $50,000 in back taxes, according to Jim McElhatton of the Washington Times. “A copy of the lien filed against Mr. Brown at the D.C. Office of the Recorder of Deeds shows tax debts of $7,128.22 for 2004, $28,625.11 for 2005, $5,176.17 for 2007 and $11,951.18 for 2008. Mr. Brown said he is close to paying off the tax debts. He said he has been on a scheduled installment plan with the IRS for about two years and that he's never missed a payment. He said his last payment is scheduled for August. 'Nothing has been done wrong, zero,' he said, adding that his situation is no different from those of millions of Americans working to pay off taxes through installment plans with the IRS.” First Marion Barry, then Kwame Brown, and now Michael Brown. Memo to all councilmembers with money problems: there’s blood in the water, and the sharks are circling. It might be better to come clean now rather than let an enterprising reporter uncover your misdeeds. (Though LL's editors wouldn't mind if an enterprising City Paper reporter did the uncovering!) (NOTE: This item had the tense wrong originally; Brown has paid off much of the debt already.)

When at First You Don't Succeed: Remember last week when the Examiner's Billy Myers reported that Abdullahi Barrow, a key figured into the D.C. Council's investigation of how the Fenty administration awarded park contracts, failed the engineering licensing test seven times before a Fenty-approved board game him license anyway? Well, turns out, as Myers reports, the special investigator is now looking into that matter as well. "Veteran lawyer Robert Trout, who is leading the council's investigation, briefed members Monday morning. He told them he wants to know how Abdullahi Barrow obtained his license just months before his company was made a subcontractor in several parks and recreation contracts, multiple sources told The Examiner." What's even more interesting, on the political side of things: "Trout told council members Monday that his investigation is like 'peeling an onion,' and his report won't be finished until late September at the earliest—after this year's Democratic primaries."

AFTER THE JUMP: Metro bus shenanigans; Orange manifesto; H Street cash...

If Pretending to be a Metrobus Driver is Wrong, I Don’t Want to be Right: The Examiner’s Kytja Weir finds Metro is closing doors for would-be poseurs. “Metro says it is working to enhance security at its facilities, just days after a bus was stolen from a garage and reportedly driven on its regular route by a teen in a Metro uniform. The agency already has taken some action, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel, but plans to increase security further this week, including adding security checks of employees entering and exiting each of its bus facilities. In the long term, the agency is considering adding more fencing, lighting and security cameras, plus new technology to verify driver identification and disable buses remotely, he said.” Forget disabling buses remotely; LL dreams of the day when Metro can un-disable them remotely.

Orange You Glad I Have a Plan: WaPo’s Ann Marimow breaks down D.C. Council chairman candidate Vincent Orange’s “manifesto.” "Orange's five-point plan calls for expanding pre-K programs for toddlers and vocational and employment training for young adults, reducing energy costs for residents and enforcing employment measures designed to ensure better wages and more jobs for District residents. But much of the document—replete with attractive photos and pull quotes—is repetitive, listing the elements of a sustainable energy initiative three times; the 13 highlights from his tenure on the council twice; and his compelling personal story several times. Orange draws on a theme from his unsuccessful 2006 mayoral bid, pointing to what he calls the 'connection between education, employment and economic development.'"

Bacon Spreading: WBJ’s Michael Neibauer reports that Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells is looking to spend some of the $25 million the council set aside for H Street in 2007. “Wells is expected to introduced legislation Tuesday that would allocate $5 million for small businesses on H Street NE and another $5 million for Guy Steuart's mixed-use project at Third and H."

Easy Work if You Can Get It: Neibauer also reports on an investigation of the Office of the Chief Technology Officer that finds plenty to be concerned about. "The District's technology office is overly reliant on contractors, too eager to award jobs to under-qualified local businesses and not nearly aggressive enough in its monitoring of their work, setting up a system that is easily defrauded and wastes piles of taxpayer dollars, a new report finds." ... "Of larger concern, perhaps, is the District's certified business enterprise program, which requires the government to direct 'significant amounts of procurement' to D.C. businesses. In the technology field, the report states, CBEs often do little more than find applicants to fill open jobs. The District pays the CBE, and the CBE pays the contractor."

I Got a Bad Feeling About This: Harry Jaffe’s take in the Examiner on the city’s latest purchase: “I was left with a queasy feeling when the hearing ended. The city got rooked—again—this time for more than $80 million. In the unraveling of the United Medical Center hospital deal, there is a loose string. Give it a tug and you can see the half-baked dreams, liberal guilt, bets on the come and the kind of funny money accounting that led the District to the financial control board and near bankruptcy 15 years ago.”

Speaking of hospitals, a potential buyer? [DeBonis]

Police brass and Council at odds over what to do with jailed illegal immigrants. [Examiner]

National Zoo vets headed to the Gulf to help nurse birds back to health. [WAMU]

Cindy Sheehan cleared. [AP]

Reagan statue maybe coming to Reagan Airport. [FOXDC]

Mayor's schedule: Remarks at Microsoft’s 2010 Worldwide Partner Conference, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Room 306, 3:30 p.m.

Council schedule: Legislative meeting, Wilson Building, Room 500, 10 a.m.

In case you missed it, Dan Snyder's getting his wealth from cancer victims and Big Bear Cafe's having their liquor license formally protested.

Metro is upping their security this week, after a teenager dressed as a Metro bus driver drove off in a bus last Friday from a Bladensburg Road garage and picked up some passengers, before crashing into a tree. (That audition for a summer job didn't quite work out.) If you're worried, take the Metro subway, though you may run into a situation like yesterday's smoke-filled Dupont Circle station extravaganza. Over in Georgetown, an 11-year-old boy, visiting from out of town, was fatally struck on Sunday. And on the other side of the river, possible human remains found in Lorton, Va. These roundups of mine strangely always seem to consist of death and murder.

Former Councilmember Vincent Orange, released his "Orange Plan" for leading the D.C. Council yesterday—from his posters to his website, everything is orange with this man. Wonder if he'll dress as an orange one of these days. His five-point plan, reports WaPo, includes:

"...expanding pre-K programs for toddlers and vocational and employment training for young adults, reducing energy costs for residents and enforcing employment measures designed to ensure better wages and more jobs for District residents."

In other news, Northrop Grumman is moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to a 333,000 square-foot building near Falls Church, Va. by next summer. Woohoo! More jobs, more people, more traffic, more misery! Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has reversed the state's bottled water ban and apparently it's your brain, not your tummy telling you to eat that chocolate cake—and all this time, I thought my tummy was controlling everything.

That's all for this morning, folks. Cheer up. It's raining!

Brown is being sued by multiple credit card companies for unpaid debts, late fines and lawyer fees, according to Sherwood.

The documents show Brown owes the American Express company more than $8,000 in late payments and fees. Brown owes Visa more than $25,000 in late payments, penalties and fees for his Signature card. A second visa card has an overdue balance of $22,000.

Brown, who is running against Vincent Orange for D.C. Council chairman, told Sherwood that he takes “full responsibility” for the debts but that it shouldn’t affect his ability to lead the council. He says he and his wife have cut back their spending.

“We’re now living within our means on a very limited budget,” Brown told Sherwood.

Brown, who drives an Cadillac Escalade with his name plastered on it for the campaign, wasn’t shy about throwing money around at the Palisades 4^th of July Parade. Part of his “float” included a semi-like truck seen here.

At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown had a gigantic truck at the July 4 Palisades parade. (Photo by Michael Grass)

After leaving the post-parade festivities at Palisades Park, complete with free hot dogs and moon bounce, City Desk surveyed the remains of the parade along its MacArthur Boulevard route. Parts of it were quite malodorous. (Who wants to have some dinner on Kemble Tavern's patio?) But it wasn't necessarily trashed like last month’s Capital Pride Parade. And no unclaimed free condoms on the sidewalk, either!

All the candy that Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and his supporters showered on parade-goers seemed to be snapped up. The children of Ward 3 certainly love their sugary treats! City Desk wonders if Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, fresh off her legislative victory to mandate healthy school lunches, will soon start a push for a Healthy Parades Act. Will someone not think of the children and their dental health?

Cheh, meanwhile, had her supporters pass out miniature copies of the U.S. Constitution, not particularly exciting as a freebie but quite fitting for a George Washington University professor specializing in constitutional law.

Some savvy politicians targeted parade-goers with implements to beat the heat. The campaign of D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who is challenging Mayor Adrian Fenty in the September Democratic primary, passed out miniature fans. Team Fenty, meanwhile distributed water bottles and green towels, to which DCist’s Martin Austermuhle remarked via Twitter: "Not very soft, like the candidate!" (When City Desk touched a Fenty towel, it was indeed quite abrasive—a mix between sandpaper, chamois and ratty gym towel. Did Hizzoner not test the hand-out on his bald head prior to distribution?)

Fenty and Gray "[b]oth did a good job keeping people cool," said Nate Bennett-Fleming, who is running for D.C. shadow representative and passed out around 1,000 Nate-branded bottles of water.

Campaigning has never been an especially environmentally friendly activity, with all the signs, stickers, Mardi Gras beads, pamphlets and the like that generally have a short life span before being trashed.

One resident of MacArthur Boulevard, hosting a July 4 parade-watching party on her front lawn, told City Desk that she wished Mayor Fenty’s Green Team would’ve been more green with the parade freebies.

"I support him on school reform. But these water bottles—look, they're everywhere!" The woman, who said she would be voting for Fenty, didn’t want to disclose her name. "I know not to criticize the mayor. He rides his bike up here."

The mayor, to his credit, did have his trusty Smart car at the parade, which was dwarfed by the monster truck At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, who is running for D.C. Council chairman, had at the parade. City Desk was concerned that the gigantic vehicle would not be able to navigate some of the tight turns of the parade route, especially at Edmunds Place and Sherier Place where regular traffic jams developed as the parade snaked its way into Palisades Park.

The campaigns of Gray and former Ward 5 Councilmember Vincent Orange, who is running for D.C. Council chairman, did the best job at preemptively claiming all the good sign space along MacArthur Boulevard. (And on the lot in front of Palisades Park that once was home to the Jesse Baltimore House.) Four years ago, Fenty's mayoral campaign had the best ground game. This time, Gray bested the incumbent and had an excellent post-parade sign-collection operation. Two hours after the parade started, you would have had difficulty knowing that Gray was even at the event. (We pity the sign-collecting Gray campaign supporter that City Desk spotted walking all the way to his car parked out in front of the German Chancery on Reservoir Road, but not as much as the overheated Bolivian dancers who were weighed down by pounds of colorful costumes!)

Perhaps City Desk missed him, but we were hoping that Orange would be cruising MacArthur Boulevard on a Segway passing out candy and beads, just like he did during his ill-fated mayoral run four years ago. There were reports, however, that Orange was busy stumping for votes at an ice cream truck. Orange, known for his larger-than-life personality, seemed to be no match for Brown’s behemoth truck, which was a regular topic of conversation at the parade. (Orange, to his credit, had an aggressive signature-gathering operation.)

"This is the Washington, D.C., parade," said Patrick Mara, the school board candidate from Ward 1 who is better known for knocking off longtime At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz during the 2008 Republican primary, therefore depriving Palisades parade-goers of seeing Schwartz in her eye-popping yellow TransAm convertible. Even if Ward 3 voters—who form the core of the Palisades parade turnout—can't vote in your race, "you need to have a good showing here," said Mara, who had 20 supporters working the parade and post-parade party. "It says something about the strength of someone’s candidacy."

In that case, City Desk nominates the "Millwood Mob" for something, but we aren't sure what. Millwood Lane NW, a short street connecting Loughboro and Glenbrook roads, year after year fields a very organized showing at the parade, complete with its own queen. Imagine if the Millwood Mob would form its own political party! Watch out Mary Cheh!

Because of the hot weather, At-Large candidate Clark Ray, who was wearing a white sleeveless shirt, may have been the wisest person at the parade—though this writer’s recently deceased great aunt, a feisty, opinionated longtime Palisades resident, would have likely scoffed at any politician displaying bare shoulders.

But Team Ray was out in full force and was warmly received by the crowd, along with incumbent Phil Mendelson.

The one person who was missing was Don Peebles, the big-time developer and would-be mayoral candidate who kept political watchers on edge for months as he weighed a challenge to Fenty. (Through artfully crafted language, he decided not to run.) City Desk thinks Peebles should have teamed up with Matthew Lesko and his question-mark mobile—a perfect way to continue to toy with the populous!

"A few weeks ago I sent an email informing you of my consultancy with the Orange for Chair campaign. On Friday, June 18th, I sent Candidate Vincent Orange a letter resigning from the campaign. Because I've not made it a public matter, there are a lot of rumors circulating. Thus, I will share with you my reasons for leaving the campaign.

For many years I have served as a political consultant, advisor, fundraiser and strategist to local and national politicians. This is my profession. I received a call from my friend,Vincent Orange, in early May regarding his intent to declare candidacy. Vincent offered me a consultancy in his campaign which I accepted. However, something was holding me back from giving the campaign my all in all. It became crystal clear during a conversation with my former husband, Duke Greene, when he asked me how I could work on a campaign opposing Kwame Brown, especially with Kwame being like a son to us. Duke's words resonated with me and I knew what I had to do at that moment."

It's unclear why Greene joined Orange's campaign in the first place considering her close ties to Brown. Anyway, full e-mail after the jump.

Greene goes on to state:

"We, Washingtonians, are truly fortunate to have two very competent and intelligent candidates running for the office of Chair of the Council of the District of Columbia. I commend both for their continued commitment to serve the people of this great city and to take us to new horizons.

Vincent Orange and I have been friends for many years, and we are still good friends. I departed on great terms with him and I thank him for the many professional accolades and his confidence of my capabilities as a political consultant.

My relationship is very different with Kwame Brown. I've known Kwame since he was a child. Kwame and my son, Brett, have been best friends since childhood. Kwame spent many nights and weekends at our home. He is part of my family. I'm proud of him, his many accomplishments, and his service to this city. There are blood family members and there are extended family members. I treasure both and hold them dear to my heart. As of now, I am not working on anyone's campaign.

Thank you always for your support of all my endeavors. Please remember to vote on September 14th! There will be no further comments regarding this issue."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Defendants Won't Testify In Wone Case," "Metro's Worst Year Ever," "World Cup Roundup," "Defense Seeks Maureen Bunyan Mimic In Wone Case," "Dancing? On U Street?"

Good Morning. Maybe it's the heat, but things are starting to get nasty between Mayor Adrian Fenty and Mayoral hopeful Vincent Gray. WaPo's Bill Turque reports that Fenty went nutso after spotting a Gray-For-Mayor campaign table at his kids' elementary school–BTW, we never ever got a straight answer from the mayor on how his kids got in there. Turque writes: "Schools are a core issue in the mayoral campaign, but DCPS officials are trying to keep them from becoming venues for primary season politics. On three separate occasions this spring, principals were cautioned about keeping school grounds free of campaign activity. 'The prohibition covers every kind of partisan political activity — meetings, distribution of campaign literature, posting of campaign signs, campaign presentations by candidates, partisan candidate forums, etc.,' school operations director Evan Smith said in a May 18 e-mail, conveying a reminder from general counsel James Sandman. The memo came three days after an incident at Lafayette Elementary, where Mayor Adrian Fenty's twins just completed fourth grade. According to two sources, who requested anonymity to avoid getting crosswise with Hizzoner, Fenty was 'beside himself' when he saw a Vincent Gray campaign table set up on school grounds during spring fair at the Chevy Chase neighborhood school. The Gray people ended up moving to the sidewalk, said the sources."

AFTER THE JUMP—LL isn't done with his nasty theme, calls Nickles a Troll, and chronicles the latest zaniness between Seegars vs. Moten, plus Orange has a new name for Kwame Brown, and tragedy strikes at an area pool.

Meanwhile, the F.B.I. may or may not be investigating a straw poll and the Ward 8 Dems—led by Sandra "SS" Seegars—are calling on the feds to oversee the mayoral election—and pay particular attention to Peaceoholics Co-Founder and Fenty Friend Ron Moten. WaPo's Tim Craig reports: "Last week, according to Seegars, she got a call from an FBI agent who questioned her for 45 minutes about the upcoming election and the vote-buying allegations. 'He was asking me why would anybody pay a person to vote in a straw poll,' Seegars said. Seegars identified the agent as Eric Hathaway. Reached by telephone today, Hathaway referred the call to the FBI's public affairs office. Lindsay Godwin, an FBI public affairs specialist, said she could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation. But Godwin noted the agency routinely follows up on complaints from the public.... Seegars said she knows of three witnesses who overheard the new registrants boasting they were paid up to $100 each to vote for Fenty. Moten counters that Seegars is engaged in 'old school politics.' 'Nobody paid nobody to vote in no straw poll,' Moten said."

And finally, we get just regular old nasty from the Mayor's Troll, AG Peter Nickles. With Nickles, cold-blooded meanness is may just be part of his DNA—and only awakened when he assumed public office. The Examiner's Alan Suderman reports that the AG has come out against Councilmember Mary Cheh's open-government initiative. The initiative's aim is to make the government more transparent and hold agencies accountable if they fail to live up to FOIA requests, etc. Suderman writes:

"D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles is fighting back against an open-government initiative, saying the measure is misguided and unnecessary given the high level of transparency Mayor Adrian Fenty has brought to city government.

But supporters of the initiative said Nickles is living a fantasy and the Fenty administration goes out of its way to block the public's access to city information. 'It struck me as a bit absurd,' said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh of Nickles' testimony against her initiative. 'The facts are to the contrary, and pretty much everybody knows this.'

Good-government advocates, lawyers and union officials lined up earlier this month to sing the praises of Cheh's proposed legislation, which would create an Open Government Office that would advise agencies on public records laws and have the power to sue an agency that failed to comply with the law. Many of the same speakers also took strong aim at the Fenty administration, and Nickles in particular, saying the attorney general has blocked several requests for no legitimate reason. 'No matter which agency one seeks information from, no matter how simple and straightforward the request, whenever a representative from the Attorney General's Office is involved, the responses are typically overdue, incomplete and unnecessarily obstructionist,' said attorney Roy Morris."

BUZZ KILL: WaPo's Mike DeBonis reports that Republicans are attempting to block D.C.'s new medical marijuana law. Guess which Republican is front and center on this? LL will give you a hint: He's from Utah. DeBonis writes: "Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced Wednesday afternoon that they've introduced a resolution to disapprove the city law legalizing medical marijuana. That is, of course, their right as members of Congress: City laws must undergo 30 legislative days of Hill review before becoming law. But Chaffetz (pictured) and Jordan sure took their sweet time filing their resolution. The marijuana bill, according to D.C. Council records, was sent to Congress on June 4, and the 30-day period is expected to end in late July." DeBonis thinks the congressman have no chance in blocking the medical marijuana legislation: "Most observers of Congress expect a serious challenge to any District law to come not through a joint resolution — which has to be passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president — but rather through the appropriations process, where spending riders are regularly attached to budget legislation. Such a rider was what kept medical marijuana under wraps for 12 years after District voters approved it by referendum in 1998."

TRAGEDY AT NE POOL: A girl drowned yesterday at the pool at the Turkey Thicket Rec Center. NC8 reports: "A child was pronounced dead after apparently drowning Wednesday at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center in Northeast Washington. Witnesses say the girl jumped from the diving board into the deep end of the pool. They also say the pool was very crowded at the time. The next person to use the diving board alerted the lifeguard that the girl was still at the bottom of the pool, which is about 12 feet deep, witnesses said. According to D.C. Fire and EMS officials, lifeguards performed CPR on a 6-to-7-year-old girl, but could not save her life. First responders rushed the girl to Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. insists that a thorough investigation has been launched to determine if proper procedures were followed." More coverage via AP, NBC4, FOX-5, WUSA9, WaPo.

METRO: The Metro board is set to vote on fare increases today, reports WaPo's Ann Scott Tyson: "Metro's board of directors is expected to vote Thursday to approve a historic fare increase for rail and bus service and fill a $189 million budget shortfall in the agency's $1.4 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The board is also expected to approve a $700 million capital improvement program for the next fiscal year that includes money to buy new vehicles and upgrade tracks and other vital infrastructure, according to Metro documents....The fare increase expected to be finalized Thursday includes nearly $109 million worth of rail, bus and paratransit increases, which will be implemented in three stages: Sunday, Aug. 1 and in the fall. One of the most complex components is a new 20 cent 'peak-of-the-peak' rail surcharge during the system's busiest times."

FENTY FINALLY APPOINTS HIS RUNNING MAN: WBJ's Michael Neibauer reports Fenty finally found a way to give a running buddy a seat on a commission: "Mayor Adrian Fenty's appointee to the National Capital Planning Commission, George Tyrone Simpson, might be a familiar name to those wonkish followers of the D.C. government: His nomination to the University of the District of Columbia board of trustees was rejected two years ago, without a vote, by the D.C. Council. So were his nominations to the Public Employee Relations Board and the Housing Finance Agency board of directors. He was disqualified, council members say, by his lack of qualifications. This time around, Simpson is free from council oversight. The NCPC appointment is just that, an appointment by executive order, and will not be up for a vote. But what qualifies him to serve on a panel charged with reviewing and approving most federal, and some local, development plans in the National Capital Region? Federal law requires NCPC appointees have 'experience in city or regional planning.' Simpson is (or was) president of D.C.-based Spectrum Management LLC, a property management firm, according to the resume attached to his 2008 UDC nomination. He also listed himself as president of Roswell, Ga.-based Alor Food Distributors. Before 2000, he directed youth and the summer food services programs for the City of Atlanta. His experience as 'Fenty running buddy' was not listed."

ORANGE VS. BROWN: Vincent Orange goes after Kwame Brown for his "present" vote on whether or not to confirm AG Nickles. Orange calls Brown: "Mr. Mistake."

MEDIA DISCOVER IT'S HOT OUTSIDE: WaPo gives the record-breaking heatwave the A1 treatment. WaPo's Kevin Sieff leads with this: "First we were buried under Snowmageddon. Then we sweated through the hottest spring in Washington history. But that might have been only a warmup." If there were links, that would be some great SEO. The news-y nugget: "D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said two extra ambulances were put to use Wednesday after a barrage of heat-related emergency calls. 'Some people say it's getting hot earlier than usual,' Piringer said. 'This feels pretty normal to us.'" The real shocking news from this piece: WaPo had seven additional reporters on this piece of  fluff. More coverage via NBC4, The Examiner.

MCCARTNEY: WaPo columnist is tired of Metro being subjected to politics.

MARC: Maryland's Gov. plans to ride the MARC presumably to entertain commuters who have survived those horrible recent train rides.

MANHOLE: A fireball erupted out of a downtown D.C. manhole.

FLORIDA AVENUE MARKET: A robbery in the NE market turns fatal.

HOTEL RATES: D.C.-area hotel rates are falling. Rooms are cheaper than they were in 2008! The average hotel room now costs $144 per night.

GOAAAAAAAL! WUSA9 captures the triumphant U.S. victory in the World Cup yesterday via reporting trip area bars.

CURFEW: FOX-5 wonders: Is the city's curfew effective?

MANUTE BOL: A funeral will be held for the basketball giant in D.C. on Tuesday.

GRAY-FENTY HOME BURGLARIES: DCist has the best comments on this subject.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE: No public events scheduled.

D.C. COUNCIL'S SCHEDULE:

9 a.m.
Committee on Finance and Revenue (Hearing)
Bill 18-198;Bill 18-487; Bill 18-505; Bill 18-628; Bill 18-649; Bill 18-696; Bill 18-762; Bill 18-776; Bill 18-827; Bill 18-828; Bill 18-847; Bill 18-848; Bill18-844
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 412

1:15 p.m.
Committee on Economic Development (Meeting)
B 18-0806 the “Center Leg Freeway (Interstate 395) PILOT and Air Rights Disposition Act of 2010”
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 120

2 p.m.
Committee on Aging and Community Affairs (Meeting)
The Committee on Aging and Community Affairs Committee meetings will be held at 2:00PM on Fourth Thursday of each month.
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 123

Also at 2 p.m.
Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary (Meeting)
Additional Meeting
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 120

3:30 p.m.
Committee on Public Works and Transportation (Meeting)
PR 18-0901; PR 18-0903; B18-0718
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 123

Also at 3:30 p.m.
Committee of the Whole (Hearing)
PR 18-874, "Zoning Commission for the District of Columbia Greg Selfridge Confirmation Resolution of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

Given the crowd, it was hardly surprising that Council Chair Vincent Gray dominated Fenty in the straw poll, beating him by an impressively lopsided 703 to 190.

The mayoral forum itself was a rather chaotic affair, and with just 30 seconds each to respond to questions, much of the nine candidates' statements consisted of sound bite generalities.

Opening with "How many people remember the early 90s?" Fenty kept to his go-to debate strategy of contrasting his administration with that of Sharon Pratt Kelly, under which Gray served as director of Health and Human Services. Gray, meanwhile, trumpeted his "one city" mantra and promised to end cronyism and "restore fiscal responsibility."

With the front runners sticking to their scripts, most of the interesting oratory came from the second-tier candidates. Ernest Johnson promised he would accomplish "something kind of close to" what Alvin Greene did in the South Carolina Democratic primary. Sobin, who lives in Foggy Bottom, advocated using private police forces like George Washington University's throughout the city to reduce crime.  Carlos Allen proposed that kids should start school at two instead of five, arguing "instead of 'goo goo gah gah's it should be ABCs."

The minor candidates weren't able to wrest many votes away from Gray, though. Only Leo Alexander, who received 75 votes, Fenty, and Gray made it to double digits in the straw poll.

With the notable exception of the mayor's race, though, the convention's straw poll was kind to incumbents.

In the Wards 1, 5 and 6 straw polls the current councilmembers all came out on top of their competition. Current At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown also beat out former Ward 5 Councilmember Vincent Orange in the Chair's race.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton handily defeated challenger Douglass Sloan 732 to 171. Sloan spent much of their debate criticizing Norton's focus on voting rights rather than full, immediate statehood. Norton called his statehood bona fides into question, though, saying she had never seen her opponent at a rally or protest. "I don't talk a game, I do statehood," Norton added.

The debate between incumbent at-large Councilmember Phil Mendelson and former parks and recreation director Clark Ray was one of the most heated of the day, with Ray hounding Mendo on just about every topic the moderator put forward. On the issue of accountability, for example, Ray accused Mendelson of not once attending oversight hearings for the Parks and Recreation Department while he was director.

Ray was particularly hard on Mendelson in regards to public safety issues, quoting an email the councilmember had sent to a listserv saying that he did not believe crime was "a legislative issue" and accusing him of not understanding the severity of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services's problems.

"It's very easy to criticize an incumbent, but I'm proud of my record," Mendelson said in his closing statement.

"Some incumbents are easier to criticize than others," Ray shot back.

The voters in the straw poll didn't find as much to criticize Mendelson on as Ray did, however, giving him 512 votes to Ray's 243.

Photo by Juliana Brint

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: "Travis Childers For D.C. Council? Stick To Mississippi, Activists Say," "D.C.'s Guardian Angels Are Broke," "Jaffe Tried To Kill Police Complaints Office With Errors," "Defense: Here's How You Scale An 'Impossible' Fence," "With NCPC Ruling, Gray Takes Aim At Fenty's Jock Base," "Roberto Donna Pleads Guilty To Felony Embezzlement"

Howdy. WaPo flooded the zone yesterday with thinky takeaways from Wednesday's mayoral forum in which Mayor Adrian Fenty tapped away at his BlackBerry, answered his critics who say he doesn't do enough on affordable housing, and vigorously fought Vincent Gray over the proposed elected AG position. Tim Craig, reporting in D.C. Wire, noted that Fenty came out against the D.C. Council-endorsed elected AG position: "Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said Wednesday night that he has concerns about creating an elected attorney general position because, he said, it would force the city to hire two sets of attorneys – one for the mayor and the government and another for the public– at a significant cost to taxpayers. On Wednesday, the D.C. Council authorized a referendum for the November ballot asking voters if they want the attorney general to be elected. Some council members are pushing for the change because they fear appointed attorney generals in general – and Attorney General Peter Nickles specifically – have been too cozy with the mayors that appoint them. Key Quote: "You are essentially creating two different sets of attorney generals," Fenty said. "Ones that are elected and then we will have to have a whole separate budget for ones that are appointed." LL thought the attorney general represented the city's interests—not the mayor's interests. Hmmm.

Gray then cornered Fenty after the debate. Craig has the awesome details:

"Gray noted that the office of the Chief Financial Officer stated an elected attorney general would not result in more costs for taxpayers. In Virginia, for example, the attorney general's office represents the governor during lawsuits.

After Fenty gave his statement on the issue, the mayoral candidates forum ended. Gray immediately walked up to Fenty and appeared whisper off-mic, 'It's not true.' Fenty responded with a grin, 'Alright, have a good a night.' In an interview later, Gray said he didn't tell Fenty that he wasn't truthful. 'My statement to him was why don't you go research that Mr. Mayor and check the fiscal impact statement,' Gray said."

Check the fiscal impact statement. Is this the campaign zinger we'll remember?

AFTER THE JUMP: A review of last night's mayoral debate, Metro checks its vital signs, a tragedy in Northeast, the Potomac River is a draw for immigrant communities, Barry stars in another controversy, and much, much more!

THURSDAY'S MAYORAL DEBATE: WaPo's Tim Craig dissects last night's debate. Fenty outlined what will surely be his talking points throughout the campaign. The mayor attacked Gray on two fronts: 1) He emphasized Gray's connection to the Sharon Pratt administration, and 2) suggested that a vote for Gray is a vote for Michelle Rhee's resignation. Craig reports: "In a side of the mayor that few have seen before in public, Fenty warned Gray cannot be trusted to oversee schools, crime or the budget because the council chairman was part of former mayor Sharon Pratt's administration in the early 1990s. 'I don't know what city you are looking at, but to me, this is a city where management is getting things done,' Fenty said at a candidates forum in Northwest. 'It certainly is not the city of the early 1990s when the homicide rate was at 500 people or the schools were plummeting down, and we were the worst in everything and no one in the executive branch or the legislative branch did anything about it...This is a city that is getting things done and I think its time we continue it for another four years.'.... Gray, who was hampered by a moderator who kept to a strict two-minute time limit for candidate responses to questions, appeared unprepared for Fenty's attack on his record as the director of human services during the Pratt administration. Gray instead spoke extensively about his record as council chairman while warning that overspending by the Fenty administration risks the city's financial future. Gray also accused Fenty of engaging in "one of the worst examples of cronyism" when he awarded city contracts to several of his fraternity brothers. 'The first thing I would do (as mayor) is bring fiscal discipline back to the District of Columbia,' said Gray, noting the mayor has relied heavily on the city's reserve funds to balance recent budgets. 'Unless we restore fiscal order back to the District of Columbia, we are not going to be able to do anything.'" More coverage via DCist.

LANIER ON IMMIGRATION: On WTOP's Ask the Chief program, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says she supported the Secure Communities program: "The new immigration law in Arizona is having a ripple effect across the country, and the debate over how authorities report the immigration status of suspects has now come to the D.C. area. Police departments across the country are joining a program called 'Secure Communities,' where the fingerprints of everyone arrested are shared with immigration officials. Speaking on WTOP's Ask the Chief program on Thursday, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says Secure Communities is a good program. 'Secure Communities is so very different than what happened in Arizona,' Lanier says. 'This is not civil immigration enforcement.' Under the program, when a suspect is arrested – whether they are convicted or not – police will take their fingerprints and put them into the FBI database. Secure Communities allows Immigration and Custom Enforcement's database to link with the FBI database in order to identify level one criminals – those involved in homicides, sexual assaults and more serious felony offenses." More coverage via AP.

METRO'S VITAL SIGNS: The Examiner's Kytja Weir reviews the first report or "vital signs" issued by interim General Manager Richard Sarles: "The 23-page report outlines key areas such as on-time performance, customer and employee injury rates, elevator system reliability and the system's crime rate. The agency has tracked such data in the past but it has been buried in sporadic reports to board of directors' committees instead of as a single monthly report. The report shows that on-time performance for Metrobus hit 73.8 percent in April, meaning one of four buses showed up "late:" More than two minutes earlier than scheduled or seven minutes later. Metrorail was on time 90.3 percent of the time, below the 95 percent target. The Blue Line had the worst record with 88.9 percent on-time service."

STREETCARS: So what are the political consequences of Gray's apparent flip-flop on streetcars? WaPo's Mike DeBonis reports out the timeline of events—from Gray cutting funding at 2 a.m. to restoring funding for the project some 12 hours later—and gets react from the Council Chairman and streetcar activists. The surprise: Gray comes out of this looking not-so-terrible: "The good news: Gray actually came out of this pretty well. Leaders on both sides of the issue say the mayoral wannabe managed not to completely squander their goodwill. Meg Maguire, a leader on streetcar issues for the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, which has opposed overhead wires in certain historic areas, says she's pleased that Gray's compromise included a requirement for more comprehensive planning. 'It seems to be moving in a direction that is going to end up with a reasonable set of policies," she said.'" This substitute LL thinks that he was way too harsh on Gray over this issue.

But WBJ Michael Neibauer points out in his own streetcar piece: "The last-minute restoration of $47 million in streetcar funding that D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray had slashed from next year’s budget will end up depleting by one-third the debt service capacity available for other, yet-to-be-financed projects in the city. The District is limited by a statutory 12 percent debt cap, meaning its annual debt service payments must not exceed 12 percent of its general fund expenses. Having borrowed billions of dollars for all manner of projects, the government is right up against the cap today and will come even closer in each of the next five years. Before it adopted the budget, the city was expected to be about $14.5 million under the debt cap in 2014 — the last year of the five-year budget plan. Then came the May 26 legislative session, during which the council agreed to borrow $47 million for streetcars to replace the money Gray had removed hours earlier. That decision depleted the available below-cap money by $4 million a year, leaving virtually no wiggle room for other projects going forward."

BARRY NONSENSE: Marion Barry + accusation of political favors= LL's bread and butter. D.C. Wire reports on the latest Barry-related controversy this time coming from the Council Chairman race: Former council member Vincent Orange this week accused his rival, council member Kwame Brown (D-At Large), of trading a prominent committee chairmanship for an endorsement. Orange said late Thursday that he'd heard rumors for weeks that Brown had promised Barry the Economic Development Committee post in exchange for his endorsement, an assertion Brown called 'absolutely ludicrous.' Orange approached Barry Tuesday night at an event in Ward 5, and the two have different accounts of what happened next. Orange said he 'put it to him point blank,' asking Barry about the committee chairman's spot and expressing disappointment that Barry was supporting Brown. In response, he says Barry told him, 'it's about self-preservation.' A Barry confidant told the Wire that the former mayor had personally shared word of the alleged deal and that it was common knowledge around the Wilson building. But Barry had a different account of his encounter with Orange. He said the topic never came up. 'I'm pissed at Vincent Orange for mischaracterizing the conversation,' Barry said."

DVORAK POETRY CORNER: WaPo columnist Petula Dvorak wades into the apparent mother-daughter drowning in the Potomac during Memorial Day weekend to wax poetic about the summer: "When it gets hot and dog's-breath humid, we are drawn to the water's edge. For some, that means the cold, chlorine water and soundtrack of screams, splashes and the lifeguard's frantic whistle at the pool. Or it's the salty air of the ocean beach, gulls caw-cawing, the skin on your back and shoulders tight from the sunburn after a day of building sand castles and chasing crabs. But when you're broke and you've worked all week and you get just one day to cool off, summer usually means the muddy, grassy riverside. Swimming holes. Foam coolers. Bug repellent." Key graph: "And for about 15 years, the National Park Service and Maryland rescuers saw a trend that sent them plunging into the lethal waters again and again on rescue missions. It was consistently a recent immigrant, usually Latino or Vietnamese. In 2005, the National Park Service put up signs in Vietnamese and Spanish all over the Potomac Gorge area, on the Maryland and Virginia sides of the river. They warned of the current, the undertow, the rocky bottom. And for five years, the deaths stopped. Until last year, when six people drowned." WaPo reports that two as-yet identified bodies have been pulled from the Potomac.

TRAGEDY IN NORTHEAST: WUSA9 reports: "A four-year-old boy chased his basketball onto the the 1600 block of Montello Avenue,NE Thursday evening, was struck by a car, and killed. Police have not publicly identified the child. Neighbors say the incident happened at about seven o'clock near the intersection of Raum Street. 'We do have the driver at this time and indications do not reveal any foul play, or any charges against the driver,' said Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes of the Metropolitan Police Department. 'I saw that car cruising up the street but he want going fast,' said neighbor Joe Robinson. 'He was nice, he was a nice little, boy you know. Whatever his mother tell him to do he would do...He always was happy when i saw him. He would run up to me and hug me, you know, and say "Hi" all the time,' said neighbor Arnetta Moses."

SPELLING BEE CONTROVERSY: Wow, even the Spelling Bee draws a protest (NC8)

NEW YORK AVENUE: The water main break has been repaired.

MOCO SCHOOLS: Students get to learn about substantial layoffs.

ROBERT WONE: A review of Day 12 at the conspiracy trial.

WEEKEND MUST-READ: Vanity Fair's profile of Sally Quinn.

KOJO: His guests: Metro board chairman Peter Benjamin and Congressman Gerry Connolly.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE: Fenty has no public events today.

D.C. COUNCIL'S SCHEDULE:

10:30 a.m.
Committee on Finance and Revenue (Hearing)
B18-749, the "King Towers Residential Housing Real Property Tax Exemption Act of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

11:30 a.m.
Committee on Finance and Revenue and Economic Development (Hearing)
B 18-806, the "Center Leg Freeway (Interstate 395) PILOT and Air Rights Disposition Act of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

Noon:
Committee on Economic Development (Hearing)
B 18-0800; PR 18-0888; PR 18-0889
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500