In this week's column, LL spun a scenario whereby the D.C. Council might approve a same-sex-marriage referendum. That best-case hypothetical situation for gay-marriage opponents, LL wrote, would be if "Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., on the hot seat with an election a year off, convinces Chairman Vincent C. Gray and at-largers Michael Brown and Kwame Brown to join him, Yvette Alexander, and Marion Barry."

Not so fast! Gloria Murry Ford, a staffer for Michael Brown, called LL yesterday to protest mightily that her boss would never ever consider compromising on such a key civil-rights issue. Not even in some harebrained hypothetical scenario! Never!

Duly noted. And, it should be said that Kwame Brown is signed on as a co-sponsor of the marriage bill, and Gray is not only a co-sponsor, but offered strongly pro-marriage-equality comments in a Washington Times interview earlier this week.

So that leaves Alexander, Barry, and Thomas.

Read More "Michael Brown Stands for Gay Marriage; Yvette Alexander Does Not" »

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

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

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

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

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

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

D.C. Wire's Marion Barry coverage leads the Post's site this a.m., wherein Councilmember David Catania "steps to the plate" (Barry loves that phrase) on the issue of granting and then yanking public contracts from his former ladyfriend. "These are public funds," he says. "There needs to be an accounting." Barry's spokesperson promises the good councilmember will actually answer some questions on that front today. Other Council react: Chairman Vincent Gray avoided the matter, issuing some boilerplate about how he's worked to increase the Council's ethics. Barry's across-the-river compadre's remarks were reserved for the kicker. Yvette Alexander: "The nine lives of Marion Barry, except I think he has maybe 11 lives." And, thanks, WaPo for giving City Paper credit on the voicemail tapes! The TV did the same last night, although funnily News Channel 8 cut off the last part of our cover image.

Speaking of: Get yours today! As the Sexist points out, they won't last long. Even Gawker thinks this week's cover is a thing of beauty, and they almost never say anything nice.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: “These Are Public Funds” Edition" »

The mayor and at least a half-dozen councilmembers in in Las Vegas today for the International Council of Shopping Centers' annual retail real estate convention. So where the party at?

In the Wynn Las Vegas' Alsace Room:

Law firm Arent Fox (new employer of Tony Williams, as it happens) is hosting the signature event for local politicos at this year's Vegas confab.

Question is, how many "other District of Columbia officials" will show at an event headlined by Adrian Fenty? With council resentment inflamed by tickets, travel, and what have you---and the chance for a repeat of last year's Vegas conflict, when Fenty's people scheduled meetings separate from councilmembers---things could get, um, interesting. LL had heard late last week that Yvette Alexander had been the only councilmember to RSVP. For LL's sake, he hopes everyone shows up: Nothing like clashing personalities, booze, and a small room far away from home to create LL-caliber drama.

He'll be taking party reports.

As noted earlier this afternoon by Nikita Stewart at D.C. Wire, the D.C. Council's economic development committee spent their afternoon carving up a pool of money known as the Neighborhood Investment Fund into little pieces to disburse to various favored groups.

To be fair, councilmember did not start the trend. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's budget proposal, LL was first to report, divvied up the NIF money into places seemingly not in keeping with the fund's original purpose of stimulating development in 12 target areas. Rather, Fenty wanted to money to go for capital improvements at a pair of Ward 2 nonprofits and a passel of arts grants---not to mention a hefty subsidy for the DCUSA parking garage.

Brown proposed dropping most of those directives and putting $10 million of the fund toward competitively bid grants in keeping with the NIF's original intent. But his colleagues had other ideas: Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans started by proposing to restore much of the mayor's proposed earmarks (most of which benefited Ward 2, unsurprisingly). So did Ward 4's Muriel Bowser. Then Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry got in on the action. And Ward 7's Yvette Alexander. Brown was the lone vote against each addition.

Barry tells LL: "I believe in earmarks...as long as there's accountability and transparency."

LL has gotten his hands on the list. He's still plowing his way through the earmarks contained in Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham's committee budget report. Will update with that soon. But this should be enough to get you started.

Read More "D.C. Council Porkfest 2010" »

Yvette Alexander is the Ward 7 councilmember.

Favorite Restaurant: "I have to say, the best place in Ward 7 is MoRuss Seafood on Minnesota Avenue." MoRuss, owned by a pair of former chefs from Ruth's Chris Steak House, is in the Twining neighborhood. Her go-to dish? "Blackened salmon. They know when the Ward 7 councilmember comes in, they get the blackened salmon going." Get the cabbage and mashed sweet potatoes on the side, she says. (2902 Minnesota Ave. SE, 202-583-2722)

Power Lunch Location: "Denny's (at East Capitol Street and Benning Road)! I get the waffle slam. And they have turkey sausage."

Trusted Political Caterer: Fat Face BBQ, on East Capitol Street

Quick Wilson Building Nosh: "I like either Corner Bakery or Au Bon Pain." At the latter, she says, she goes for the Southwestern Corn Chowder.

Beverage of Choice: Alexander's a Starbucks girl. She picks up a "grande extra-hot 200-degree skim caramel macchiato" at the 8th and Pennsylvania SE location on her way in to work. Why so picky about temperature? "When you make the mixed drinks, it gets cool."

Council Breakfast Story: Before monthly legislative meetings, councilmembers take turns catering a buffet-style breakfast for their colleagues. Usually it's a pretty standard affair, with eggs, potatoes, bacon, coffee. Not so for the first breakfast Alexander hosted: "We had linen tablecloths, fresh-cut flowers, jazz music, waffles to order, omelets to order," she says. That spread, courtesy of event planner George Worrell was to celebrate a double event: Alexander's first council breakfast and her birthday.

From Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander's Web site:

D.C. Councilmembers Harry Thomas Jr. and Yvette Alexander are elected officials. People must have seen something in them that they liked. Maybe in Thomas' case, it was his famous name. Maybe in Alexander's case, it was her sunny personality. But since joining the council, both have gained reputations as lightweights.

Last Wednesday, on February 18, Thomas and Alexander earned their reps.

Read More "Councilmembers Thomas And Alexander Make Fools Of Themselves" »

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander has been waiting in the wings, a back-bencher, for nearly two years. While colleagues presided over important council committees, Alexander held no such portfolio.

But today that all changed. Alexander is chairing her first hearing as the new chair of the Committee on Aging and Community Affairs. On the docket is an examination of mayoral nominees to the Commission on Human Rights. "I feel pumped!" she exclaims.

When asked to explain her take on her job in vetting the mayor's people, Alexander states, "I understand the mayor's vision, but I want to understand the individual nominee's vision."

And what about chairmanly conduct? Does the new committee chief take cues from colleagues with respect to running a hearing? Any role models? "I'm a very compassionate person. I don't use my chairmanship as an interrogation," she responds.

So you're not going to be David Catania? "I didn't say that."

By Mike DeBonis

If you pick one federal building in which to have you inaugural fete, make it the brand-new U.S. Department of Transportation. The D.C. Democratic State Committee's bash, the D.C. Presidential Inaugural Gala, is drawing a lot of gravitas from its surroundings alone. Trouble is, there's not a whole hell of a lot to keep the illusion alive. The Democratic State Committee is a chaotic and cash-poor organization with a different set of accounting problems each reporting period. So even though it's throwing a bash in these swank confines, the fare can be categorized charitably as "light refreshments"---i.e., cheese cubes and fruit. And the only notables on this evening have been Tommy Wells, Yvette Alexander, and Vincent Orange. No titles necessary with those names. Plus, the downside of running a shindig in a federal building is that you can't get rid of the security folks. They're like Bill Rice--everywhere you look, there they are!

Reporting by Mike DeBonis, writing by Erik Wemple

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia commons

TheWashCycle, which is really just the greatest thing, put questions to Council candidates about bike policy. Here are the people who responded (links when I could find them):

• Jack Evans
• Cary Silverman
• Muriel Bowser
• Baruti Jahi

And here are the lame-o's who didn't:

• Patrick Mara
• Carol Schwartz
• Yvette Alexander
• Marion Barry
• Charles Wilson

And here is the candidate whose e-mail box was too full to receive the questionnaire:

• Villareal Johnson

Silverman, who says cycling is his primary MOT, said he's in favor of striping bike lanes, adding bike boxes, increasing the number of racks, among other things. Evans likes bike lanes and thinks cycling should be taught in public schools. Bowser blew a bunch of hot air about encouraging cycling blah blah blah. Jahi said he used to be an avid cyclist but doesn't have much time for it these days.

Fair warning: The word Klingle is used frequently in this post.

You can read Loose Lips' primary endorsements here.