Sinclair Skinner Feels “Vindicated” By Report That Slams Him
Former Mayor Adrian Fenty's biggest believer, Sinclair Skinner, held a news conference at the Wilson Building today to share how happy he was that the council's report into park contracts had "vindicated" him of any wrongdoing.
LL sure doesn't read the council's report that way, especially the part where the report says the investigator, Robert Trout, writes that Skinner and his business partner Omar Karim "essentially thwarted the investigation, and their performance left us with the clear perception that they believed they had something to hide."
Trout also wrote that Skinner's company "submitted a false proposal" to get city contracts, and "its invoices were grossly inflated" and a rip-off for taxpayers.
And Trout recommends that the council refer matters related to Skinner and Karim's business dealings to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which would be able to do a more thorough investigation.
Still, none of that seemed to bother Skinner. He said the report is wrong on a number of things regarding to his business ventures. And if Skinner said "I don't recall" to basically every question Trout asked, well, that's because Skinner wasn't expecting Trout's questions to be so invasive and didn't want to perjure himself.
4:59 pm
I thought the men of Kappa were mostly light skin and attractive? Sinclair Skinner is one ugly man.
5:13 pm
Question? Has he passed the engineering test yet?
5:17 pm
LOL LOL@Grace Jones
6:17 pm
@gracejones,I agree,too!
8:10 pm
@ Grace Jones & Five to Go, I have to second your motion! Also, there should be some kind of law against wearing Kappa insignia to embarrass yourself publicly. If Skinner is not embarrassed the Kappas should be. But, after Fenty, the Kappas should have become accustomed to being publicly embarrassed.
8:38 pm
i am no expert, but i am pretty sure that mr skinner can make himself beautiful for any woman with all the money lining his pockets
9:56 pm
Looks does not matters! As long as he got the dollar bills!
He and his other buddies have the money.....
it is a shame it is the money from us taxpayers!
So when I see him in the clubs treating.....I drink to that because this is the only way I can benefit from the dollars he stole!
Sad but true!
10:04 pm
@All of you sick minded color stricken house negros should be ashamed to even put sh*t like this out in the public. Part of the reason black people are viewed as self hater's today is because people like you perpetuate this light skin dark skin sickness. Wake up people the complexion game should have played out after 400 yrs, don't you think. So called educated grown a** folk.
11:02 pm
DC Politics are a joke. I Can't wait until the current scum are out of office and progressive thinkers are back in office. If the very same CIty Council that awarded the contracts says there was no wrong doing ( which is what the entire Gray Campaign was ran on) then leave it alone. I think this is all an attempt to take the heat of Vince Gray again..Trout is a joke and of course he wants the US Attn on this...so he can cover Grays backdoor again.
11:07 pm
Karma baby Karma
11:26 pm
now grace jones has crossed the line im proud to have dark skin. if u even think u half way look good u should post your picture. thank God the special investigation is over.
11:45 pm
anothernative
here we finally agree.
Anyone can be beautiful, except those who don't think they're beautiful.
11:47 pm
BTW-
Sinclair has the right to feel vindicated. He was just investigated for a whole year, and the best the super-lawyer investigator could do was say "no wrongdoings" and pass the buck.
12:08 am
unfortunately color does matter look at the gentrified neighborhoods only got better when whie came in kappas should be embarrased. take your candy canes and reaze the brother blue phi all the way
1:21 am
@Sinclair Skinner; Grace Jones might be speaking the truth. Skin color has always mattered in America. Years ago at Howard University, they had the paper bag test to get in the AKA's and other black Greek organizations. If you are a native of D.C., you should know about the Procter family. Light skin blacks marrying other light skin blacks that look like Vince Gray. It's an ugly history in the black community, but it's a history that's still practiced today and should be discussed, not sweeped under a rug.
1:31 am
@Sinclair Skinner; Lost Boundaries is a true account of the lives of Scott and Marsha Carter. Having graduated from medical school, Scott Carter, a fair-skinned African American, marries Marsha Mitchell and moves to Georgia. When he arrives at the black clinic in Georgia, he discovers that the job must inconveniently go to a Southerner. Discussions between two nurses at this clinic suggest that Scott's light skin may have some bearing on the decision not to hire him. Defeated but not conquered, Scott returns to Massachusetts to live with his in-laws until he can get employment. He tries unsuccessfully to obtain employment as an African American. Because Marsha is pregnant, Scott decides to take a job at Portsmouth Hospital, but he reluctantly does so as a white man. While there, he manages to save the life of Dr. Bracket, who encourages him to take a position in Keenham, New Hampshire. Scott decides to continue "passing" for white. In the movie, the fair skinned black Doctor race was found out once he tried to join the Navy. The Navy did a back ground check on Scott Carter and found he was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. After discovering this, they knew Scott Carter was a Negro. Others need to watch this informative movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041600/
1:33 am
Trout in no way vindicated Skinner or Jannerone. In fact, he laid out a 280-page-plus report detailing why both of their actions (and Karim's) should be sent to the feds.
Trout also chastised DMPED, DCHE, and others for ridiculously poor (read non-existent) oversight, and outlined how this problem could and should be corrected.
I'd say the council owes Trout and Cacheris a debt of gratitude for their pro bono tour de force.
5:55 am
Sinclair was not "vindicated". He has a good attorney that enabled him to stonewall the city investigation. No surprise there. However, it is going to take more than a good lawyer to outmaneuver a U.S. Attorney investigation. You know, those folks with the power to subpoena pretty much everything, including your DNA. There isn't a U.S. banking institution that is our of their reach. They have a great record of following the money trail. In fact, they could very well already be investigating this sordid affair. They don't tend to confirm or deny investigations.
Sinclair needs to learn to shut the hell up sometimes. His mouth is going to get him into big trouble one of these days. The kind of trouble that has him stripped of his freedom.
I hope Fenty has re-evaluated the company he keeps.
8:34 am
When you get caught with your hand in the till in DC, you have two options. When you don't go to jail, you say you're vindicated. When you do go to jail, you say they got you like Jesus. You then run for office in Ward 8 and win by a landslide.
9:08 am
@dcdem
You are correct that ...it is going to take more than a good lawyer to outmaneuver a U.S. Attorney investigation...
You are also correct that ...They don't tend to confirm or deny investigations.. Except in the most extraordinary cases, of course.
9:10 am
Can someone at CP please check the moderation queue?
Thanks,
9:58 am
You've been released, drez.
10:12 am
Er, DRez, the article's title says that Skinner "feels" vindicated. Not that he "was."
Unless Alan is being loose with the truth, the report seems to suggest that 1) the thwarted the investigations 2)the falsified documents 3)rip off the taxpayers.
But you feel as if he's been vindicated?
I wonder why
10:15 am
Read the report and co-sign DCDEM & Anonymous Too. The report smelled to high heaven. People stop being dumb
down by headlines. There were soooo many questionable actions.
We have the Housing Authority stating that they believed/or were told that the contract didn't need to go to DC Council.
An RFQ issued which means that price wasn't a consideration.
on...and on...and...on. Now Fenty "technically" didn't do something illegal, but there are enough questions about the process, those involved in the process and the business picked to handle recreation contracts that leads anyone with common sense to concluded that shit stinks.
Looks like another Fenty administration lackey will be investigated by the Feds. "
10:28 am
@seis4me
My comment also says "feels vindicated", not "was vindicated".
I've honestly never met nor corresponded with Skinner, but thanks for caring enough to imply otherwise!
11:16 am
“…Fenty passed the contract through the housing authority to avoid the city's slow-moving bureaucracy.”
Note well that part of the “slow-moving bureaucracy” includes the established internal controls intended to properly examine procurements. Issues such as vendor selection, legitimacy of the need driving the purchase, and the capacity of the selected vendor (contract awardee) to actually perform the services/goods detailed in the contract are addressed during this process. This article appears to suggest the report looks askance to the Mayor’s efforts to subvert the normal procurement procedures! Please note that the Mayor is the city’s chief executive sworn, at least in part, to uphold the laws of the District of Columbia!
11:22 am
Drez- only an absolute fucking moron would "feel vindicated" with a report like this. 286 pages essentially damning the man for his practices and he has the nerve to hold a press conference to express relief. What the fuck man. The report indicates the exact opposite of what Skinner is claiming. No one the idiot couldn't pass the engineering exam- he can't read.
11:23 am
*correction-I meant, no wonder the idiot couldn't pass...
11:34 am
ABM
I agree Skinner and Karim and Jannarone likely have, how shall I say it? "Unresolved issues".
Feeling vindicated in round 1 isn't feeling vindicated at the end of the bout.
His PR conference was just that, a PR conference.
Keep in mind that none of these people are currently running anything in DC and, with the exception of jannarone, none of them were ever actually DC employees.
In the end, this whole "scandal" is pretty far removed from anything like what you and other (former) Gray supporters painted it as. Even the routing the contracts through the Housing Authority was found to be lawful and consistent with prior practice.
Face it: This whole thing was an election year smear, and doesn't hold a candle to the truly epic BS that the main beneficiary of this smear, Vincent Gray, has going on now in his new administration. Once you face that, you can start dealing with the realization that this is DC. There are no perfect candidates. And that you were played for a sucker by the worse of the two.
11:52 am
I am no Skinner fan but make observations of maturity.
12:13 pm
I wonder why the U.S. Attorney's office didn't investigate this case? They seem to be dragging their feet to investigate the Brown allegations against Vince Gray.
12:33 pm
Drez, are you serious? Wait, of course you are.
Everything seems consistent with prior practice? I'm sure it is. So why then do you go on to conclude that there is inconsistency in Gray's happenings when there is no evidence pointing to the contrary.
Nepotism - follows previous practices
Hiring former allies - follows previous practices
Now what Epic transgressions do you put on Gray's plate again?
12:45 pm
seis4me
Silly me. Of course you're right. All "Gray's happenings" have precedent. Even being investigated by the USAO and FBI is also consistent with former practice.
12:57 pm
Smear...please. We can split hairs on this. But any reasonable person can read that the whole thing smelled like shit. Peter knew that the contract should have went to the council; therefore Adrian knew.
"DCHA is an independent agency, and it did not view itself as bound by the D.C. law requiring Council approval of certain contracts. The circumstances surrounding those procurements were outside the scope of this investigation. We conclude, though, that DCHA was wrong in its judgment that the contracts were not subject to Council review. DCHA did not receive a formal opinion from the Attorney General until October 23, 2009, after the Council expressed dismay that it had been bypassed in this instance. But DCHA’s general counsel, Hans Froelicher, was aware as early as 2007 that the Attorney General’s Office was of the view that DCHA was subject
to the requirement, particularly when District funds were involved."
1:15 pm
Do not count Fenty out. The report also states that Fenty refused to be deposed.Then his god daddy Nickles said he would answer a few controlled questions. Once the U.S. Attorney gets involved Fenty could still come up dirty. I do not believe that Skinner & Karim who never had any city contracts and no substantial money. All of a sudden when Fenty becomes Mayor money starts to rain down for them. If you believe that Fenty did not have anything to do with it, I have a bridge to sell you. Lieing to Trout is very different from lieing to the U.S. Attorney or in front of a Grand Jury. Plus there is still an investigation regaring the money that Ron Moten got with no justification.
1:29 pm
@Dres: Routing public funds through Housing Authority to be bid out in contracts isn't illegal. However, failing to acquire Council approval BEFORE awarding those contracts in excess of 1 million dollars WAS illegal.
Fenty's Attorney General/General Counsel/God-Daddy/Enforcer Peter Nickles said, at the time, that the city's housing authority failed to get the D.C. Council's approval before awarding $82 million in contracts for parks and recreation projects.
Specifically stating that the agency violated the law that requires the council's OK for contracts above $1 million. he acknowledged that Mayor Fenty and his aides bypassed that process by using the housing authority as a development mechanism for the projects.
That said, Nickles then informed the Council that they must retroactively approve those contracts. How convenient.
The contracting and procurement mechanisms put in place to protect tax dollars from waste, fraud and abuse were essentially ignored.
1:36 pm
When was the last time you did not describe someone who has irritated you with the phrase "that black so and so" therefore the operative word of black is supposedly to make it more heinous. Only those who are of the traditional black greek sororities and fraternities genre will understand the myths about skin color.
When one says the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice, we all laugh. I do hope that those who wear the greek paraphelnalia doing happy times are dues paying active members.
Well, Mayor VG has greek affiliations too. Which speaks volumes as to be the first black to pledge such a fraternity gives credence to the fact that skin-color was an issue back then and is an issue now.
Again, our the POTUS is biracial but in every incident he is described as the first black president....so is the description accurate or an attack.
1:48 pm
@David...BINGO!
Excerpts from the report on those who had relationships with Fenty made it rain on those Hos.
"Even before the Banneker-Regan team was formally selected as program manager for the DPR capital projects, there appears to have been an assumption within DMPED, at least on the part of David Jannarone, that Banneker would be involved in the program management for the projects. Jannarone was the DMPED official with primary
responsibility for overseeing the projects, and he was a close friend of Sinclair Skinner’s. Initially DMPED considered adding the DPR capital projects to the Walker Jones contract through the execution of a change order. Even after that concept was abandoned, Jannarone acted as if it was a foregone conclusion that Banneker would be awarded the contract. After DCHE issued the RFQ, but before the proposals were due, Jannarone directed Karim to prepare cash flow projections for DPR capital projects."
"Another question that arose was why, if the selection panel chose “Banneker-Regan” as the project manager, was the contract executed with Banneker alone? That circumstance arose out of the terms of the mentoring relationship Regan established with Banneker,
over which city officials exerted no control. Pursuant to agreements between the two private parties, Regan was the signatory on the project management contract on Walker
Jones, and it executed a subcontract bringing Banneker on as a consultant for 33% of its fee. The roles were reversed on Deanwood and the DPR projects, and Banneker’s share was increased, as Regan was committed to Banneker’s advancement to the leadership position."
2:21 pm
That bama is a poor representation of the me of KAPsi... and so whas Fenty.
2:22 pm
that should reand poor representation of the Men of KAPsi...
2:22 pm
read... what in the world. Anyhoo, this is one big mess and it doesn't look as if it's going to get any better in DC anytime soon.
2:24 pm
What does sinclaire's skin color or looks has to do with any of this mess? People need to live in a grown up world. I guarentee the attitude comes from the displaced anger that grew over the summer with the campaign(which became a hate campaign). I'm sure these folks are vince gray supporters. This displays the very character I encountered over the summer with his campaign.
2:29 pm
THE PIC OPPORTUNITY AND PRESS CONFERENCE ALONE SHOWS THE LEVEL OF STUPIDITY THAT THIS BUSTA HAVE.
HOW CAN YOU BE VINDICATED WEARING A BRIGHT CHERRY RED WIND BREAKER UPPIN YOUR FRAT? THE CLOWN COSTUME IS AN INDICATION THAT HE PERCEIVED THE WHOLE SCENARIO TO BE A CIRCUS. WEAK ASS MOFO. STAND ON YOUR OWN TWO FEET. STOP WANTING TO BE AND TRYING TO BE CONNECTED BECAUSE YOU GOT YOUR ASS SLAPPED BY A PADDLE.
BY ADORNING HIS THROWBACK HE IS SAYING FUCK YOU TO SOMEONE. IT WAS THE FRAT CONNECTION THAT STARTED EVERYONE WONDERING.
4:02 pm
open forums and comment sections are a great virtual relality show. however until one actually gets involved in the "day in and day out" of politics, business ownership and activism u dont realize that it takes more than clever comments or sarcastic wit to change the world. there has to be a more productive way to channel the great amount of energy that folks spend on these comment sections. but i must admit some of the stuff is funny even when it directed towards me or my main fenty. sinclairskinner.com
5:07 pm
@Drez, if complaints by Brown is your best example of Gray's "epic" trangressions, then uhm. ok.
@SSkinner, Er, uhm, Hopefully you really didn't decide to post a comment online. But if you did and are reading, you look like a damn dumb red FEWL calling a presser wearing your Frat's paraphernalia(sp) to do so. Was the press conference given to talk about Kappa's?
How about holding a presser w/that engineering certification in hand.
5:14 pm
Really Sinclair?
1) The comment sections in the various D.C. newspapers are an avenue that allows people to express their view point’s without receiving backlash. If you are the real Sinclair then you and I know especially in the last administration that criticism wasn’t tolerated well.
2) You don't know who people are that leave comments or what they contribute or even how close they may be to politics or how involved they are in business or activism. And if you did then you wouldn't have made that comment. Everything is par for the course. Now I don’t agree with everyone, but it’s great to see that people are at least paying attention and engaged enough to dialogue about the happenings of the city.
3) Lastly, I see that you are self promoting not only with the website, but your now on twitter. So don't shit where you are trying to eat.
6:48 pm
@Really; I agree with you. We live in such a political correct environment. If you offer an opinion on an issue, you are called a racist, xenophobe, homophobe, sexist, etc. Some prefer to see to censorship on the City Paper and other blogs.
I brought up the issue of color because Grace Jones made a comment about black fraternities and sororities based on skin color. I am a very dark skin black man like Skinner. I do know, if you are fair skin like Gray and Fenty, you are treated better by whites in America. I've had to deal with colorism all my life.
7:36 pm
What's new here?? The DC government has always been as crooked and corrupt as Chicago politics. That's why DC and the entire country is in such bad shape thanks to the Demogogues and their campaign to destroy the USA.
8:00 pm
@ Ken and Tony. I agree with you on the color issue and I ignored the comments because as Tony stated this isn't the thread to dicuss such a topic. It's sad that the "brown paper test" still lives. It's also sad because in my family the hues run the gambit.
Now back to fighting positions Ken...LOL!
8:09 pm
I agree Really. LOL
10:40 pm
Is it just me or does Scott look like an Angry bird?
12:37 am
LOL@Really; I think he's a Kappa too.
9:12 am
Drez- what part of that "smear campaign" wasn't accurate? Even if Fenty has been cleared of any "illegal" acts, the perception of what he did or at least should have been accountable for, is actually a lot worse than the perception of what Gray has done recently or should be accountable for. The hypocrisy is limited to your camp, who will never ever even concede that these shady fucks did anything remotely shady. And I know that you're not a fucking idiot, but if you want to continue acting like one, fine by me. Fenty's friends, Skinner, Jannarone, Karim, Lomax, and Moten made a fortune during his tenure. If you know any of these idiots, you would know that without Fenty being mayor, not a single one of them would have been able to get any government contract or be in any position of power. The only smart thing that they've ever done in their lives was to be friends with Fenty.
11:36 pm
D.C LOVE MR. SINCLAIR HES A GOOD MAN AND WE TIRED OF THE LIES YALL TELING ABOUT HIM OK I WISH HE WAS THE MAYOR
9:47 pm
Mr. Skinner:
You are so arrogant that you now can be classified as dumb. There is a fine line between arrogance and dumness. Fenty is exactly the same thing as you, Arrogannce bordering on dumbness. Why the hell in the world are you out there advertising yourself when even you know that you are not qualified to undertake a contract worth Millions of dollars. All you were was a front for Fenty. Without Fenty allowing you to feed at the trough, you ain't nobody bro. The fate of a real businessman does not depend on one man. Clowining around with Kappa windbreakers don't do. Your true DNA is out now. You aint no businessman. You are just a con man.