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Good morning, We're early again today. Not noticing much being posted between 6-7 a.m.
Best, Karyn-Siobhan Robinson a/k/a DC Government Clips
D.C. Government/D.C. Council media clips: Wednesday, November 17, 2010.
Missed yesterday? http://bit.ly/bp92Zv
Twitter: DCGovClips
Sources: Fenty holding up the budget process - Examiner
Fenty cancels Stevens school process - Washington Business Journal
Fenty drops plan to redevelop Stevens Elementary - Washington Post
Financial mismanagers in D.C. -- Part 2 - Examiner
Gray’s quiet transition - Examiner
Norton seeks to keep 'Committee of the Whole' vote - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
Norton asks to keep her committee vote - Examiner
Barry wants to be 'national advocate' for welfare reform - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
D.C. Council Looks At Streetcar Plan – WAMU
Wells says Wal-Mart headed for D.C. - Washington Business Journal
DCPS Chancellor A No Show At Office Hours - WAMU
More info. on identifying D.C.’s wrongful foreclosures – Examiner
D.C. will quiz doctors' HIV/AIDS knowledge to ensure better screening - Washington Post
D.C. Human Rights Office Releases Annual Report - The Front Burner (WAMU)
D.C.’s first electric-car charging station opens Tuesday - Examiner
Illegal Immigrants or "New Americans"? - WRC – NBC4
An Alternative to Backyard Pot? - City Desk (Washington City Paper)
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Sources: Fenty holding up the budget process
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/sources-fenty-holding-up-the-budget-process-108524694.html#ixzz15Wu0f4bn
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/sources-fenty-holding-up-the-budget-process-108524694.html#ixzz15Wu0f4bn
11/16/10 6:25 PM EST
Mayor Adrian Fenty has not yet provided a copy of proposed budget cuts to the D.C. Council, slowing down council Chairman Vince Gray’s schedule for completing the cuts needed to close a $175 million budget gap, sources told The Washington Examiner.
Mayor-elect Gray has said publicly that he hoped to have a copy of Fenty’s proposals in-hand by the first week in November. The council must wait for the mayor to send down a proposed budget to begin the process of deliberating over it. Gray said last week that he was scheduled to meet with Fenty officials to discuss the meeting, but The Examiner has learned the meeting did not take place.
One source said Fenty is expected to send down his proposal by the end of this week.
Throughout his tenure, Fenty was known for sending budget proposals down at the last minute, leaving the council and the Chief Financial Office with little time to analyze the spending. Gray and Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown have said they have been meeting with the CFO to discuss the budget changes they’d like to make once they have the mayor’s budget in-hand.
Gray has said he’ll look to cut spending before examining any tax hikes.
Fenty cancels Stevens school process
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 5:42pm EST - Last Modified: Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 6:39pm EST
The Fenty administration has halted the controversial process to find a developer for the shuttered Stevens Elementary School in the West End.
Outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty made the decision just 10 days after announcing that he was cutting ties with Equity Residential, the firm chosen in 2009 to redevelop the historic site, and reopening the solicitation.
The administration had said a slate of original bidders would have three weeks to submit a best and final offer, but the West End/Foggy Bottom Advisory Neighborhood Commission asked the mayor to reconsider and allow the incoming administration of Mayor-elect Vincent Gray to take over.
"This is a wonderful decision that will permit everyone who has an interest in this school to participate in what we hope will be a more transparent and inclusive process," said Florence Harmon, a member of the West End/Foggy Bottom ANC.
Fenty spokesman Sean Madigan said Gray may offer a "fresh perspective" for a development opportunity that has little consensus in the community.
Chicago-based Equity Residential had proposed redeveloping Stevens into an apartment complex and restaurant. The neighborhood hated the idea, fearful that it would become home to many George Washington University students.
The ANC claims the Fenty administration ignored four charter school bids to re-use the school, launched a "non-transparent process" to solicit private development proposals, and then narrowed nine private bids to three without asking the ANC for its consideration.
Fenty drops plan to redevelop Stevens Elementary
By Jonathan O'Connell
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111607622.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111607622.html
Tuesday, November 16, 2010; 11:36 PM
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced Tuesday that he would abandon plans to develop Stevens Elementary School in the West End after neighborhood residents opposed private development of the building.
Fenty had chosen Equity Residential to build apartments on the property, but the plan gained little traction with residents, prompting the mayor to cancel negotiations with Equity on Oct. 28 and ask six of nine developers that originally made proposals to submit final offers.
But shortly afterward, the neighborhood's Advisory Neighborhood Commission passed a resolution asking the city to halt the process. Fenty spokesman Sean Madigan said that after consulting with the staff of the D.C. Council Chairman and Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D), Fenty decided to "hand this one off to the next administration."
Stevens, at 21st and K streets NW, is one of 11 schools Fenty proposed for redevelopment after 23 schools were closed at the end of the 2007-08 school year.
Gray’s quiet transition
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/grays-quiet-transition-108484729.html#ixzz15WwijkIH
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/grays-quiet-transition-108484729.html#ixzz15WwijkIH
11/16/10 3:20 PM EST
Mayor-elect Vince Gray’s transition has so far been more notable for what hasn’t happened than what has. The current council chairman’s low-profile approach could be a sign of what’s to come in his administration.
Mayor Adrian Fenty’s preparations to lead the city were marked by a series of high-profile hires. He promoted Cathy Lanier to lead the police department, and brought in well-known lawyer Peter Nickles to be his attorney general. Fenty later made more news when he hired Michelle Rhee to lead the school district.
Gray has made very little noise so far. Although he has yet to roll out any official hires, the people he chooses to help him run the city won’t likely draw much attention, said political observer Chuck Thies.
“We’re seeing the beginning of Gray’s low-key approach,” Thies said. “It’s simply not his style to pick a bunch of big personalities to help him govern.”
Financial mismanagers in D.C. -- Part 2
By: JONETTA ROSE BARRAS
Examiner Columnist
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/Financial-mismanagers-in-D_C_----Part-2-1587842-108518419.html#ixzz15Ww6ioi8
Examiner Columnist
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/Financial-mismanagers-in-D_C_----Part-2-1587842-108518419.html#ixzz15Ww6ioi8
November 16, 2010
Time to call in the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Finagling of agency budgets, particularly the DC Public Schools, and the District's financial condition -- claims of a pending $400 million deficit for fiscal 2012, which could mushroom, if new revenue projections expected next month are adjusted downward -- are sufficient reasons to invite a GAO visit.
Some may think me crazy calling for Congress's investigative arm to stick its nose in local affairs. But the GAO may be the only entity capable of offering an honest and thorough examination of the city's finances while evaluating Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi and his team.
"We need fresh eyes to come in and look at these numbers [at DCPS] because, frankly, this doesn't make sense," said at-large D.C. Councilman David Catania, noting there has been overspending at schools for many years. He was one of several current and past government officials who agreed a GAO audit is needed.
"Just because you balanced the books doesn't mean what you did was right," said a finance expert who previously worked for the city finance office. He said the city shouldn't have received a "clean opinion" from auditors who are paid each year to review the District's books, including its systems of fiscal controls.
During the 1990s, when Sharon Pratt (Kelly) was mayor, the city balanced its budget each year. It achieved that by deploying questionable practices and gimmicks -- procedures approved by the D.C. Council -- according to the GAO. Those tactics and a looming deficit of more than $500 million prompted Congress in 1995 to impose a financial control board while creating an independent inspector general and independent chief financial officer.
But while Gandhi is supposed to be that unimpeachable fiscal sheriff, more often than not he has been missing in action. It's hard to understand how finance officials didn't realize until the end of the fiscal year that the DCPS might have an $11.5 million deficit, as I wrote Monday. After all, neither the chancellor nor anyone reporting to her is charged with writing checks. Further, its unconscionable that Gandhi's team would fail to adequately manage federal grant money, resulting in the possible return of millions of dollars.
If this kind of madness is occurring in DCPS, a closely tracked agency, what is happening in other operations that have not received media and political scrutiny?
"There needs to be a deeper dive audit by the GAO," said the former D.C. government finance expert.
It has been more than 10 years since Congress created the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. During that period, there have been few expansive examinations of its operation. The council ordered a review after the revelation of a $50 million theft that occurred over multiple years. In 2009, there was an assessment of whether the city could properly manage federal stimulus money.
Gandhi has one year left on his contract. The GAO evaluation should occur while he's still on the job. After he leaves will be too late.
Norton seeks to keep 'Committee of the Whole' vote
By Ben Pershing
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2010/11/norton_seeks_to_keep_committee.htmlNovember 16, 2010; 12:15 PM ET
With Republicans set to take control of the House in January, the prospects for District voting rights don't look great. So Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is trying to keep one of the few legislative privileges she does have.
Norton isn't allowed full voting rights on the House floor, but she is allowed to vote in the Committee of the Whole -- a legislative term that describes when the full House chamber essentially becomes a committee for the purposes of considering legislation.
The House becomes the Committee of the Whole when considering amendments on tax and spending bills. Norton has been allowed to voteon those amendments, though not on final passage of the measures, while Democrats have been in the majority. But Republicans did not allow her that privilege during their reign from 1995-2007.
On Monday, Norton wrote to presumptive Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to ask that she be allowed to keep the vote in the 112th Congress.
"The opportunity to vote in committees, now including the Committee of the Whole, is significant to the American citizens who live in the nation's capital and pay full federal taxes annually to support our federal government," Norton said in a news release.
Norton's release notes that she is only referring to the District and not to U.S. territories, since "[u]nlike residents of the territories, who do not have federal income tax obligations, District residents have the same obligations of citizenship as the residents of the states, including service in every war, beginning with the Revolutionary War."
In the past, Republicans have challenged in court whether D.C.'s delegate should be permitted to vote in the Committee of the Whole, but federal courts have upheld the constitutionality of the practice.
So what will the GOP do? According to Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, "No decision has been made on that issue at this time."
Norton asks to keep her committee vote
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/norton-asks-to-keep-her-committee-vote-108467589.html#ixzz15WxLswOb
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/norton-asks-to-keep-her-committee-vote-108467589.html#ixzz15WxLswOb
11/16/10 1:55 PM EST
D.C.’s Congressional delegate has asked future House Republican leadership to allow her to keep the minimal vote she has had under Democratic rule.
Eleanor Holmes Norton can’t vote on the House floor, but she can vote in the Committee of the Whole, where all money bills are introduced when the entire House comes together as committee.
Previous Republican led Congresses have previously denied Norton that vote.
On Monday, Norton sent a letter to presumptive Speaker John Boehner to allow her to keep the committee vote.
“The opportunity to vote in committees, now including the Committee of the Whole, is significant to the American citizens who live in the nation’s capital and pay full federal taxes annually to support our federal government,” Norton wrote. She added that the District differs from territories because its residents are required to pay federal taxes, but still have no vote in Congress.
A Boehner spokesman told The Washington Post that the Ohio Republican has yet to make a decision on the issue.
Barry wants to be 'national advocate' for welfare reform
By Tim Craig
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
November 16, 2010; 3:48 PM ET
D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) hopes to become a "national advocate" for welfare reform, saying Tuesday that he's uniquely qualified to speak out about how the system is failing poor residents and taxpayers.
"It's like Nixon going to China," Barry said. "You learn that times require different approaches. We have been wedded to this system for years and it's been a miserable failure not to close the economic gap of our people."
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that Barry and D.C. Council member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7) are sponsoring a bill that would impose a five-year limit on cash payments to participants in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Barry's embrace of the time limits, which could force up to 40 percent of D.C. recipients off TANF, caught many advocates and council members by surprise.
Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), chairman of the Human Services Committee, all but declared Monday that Barry's proposal probably will not even be brought up for a vote. Wells said the legislation, as drafted, would force about 8,000 residents from TANF and would also end other benefits, such as childcare subsidies, that they may need to transition into the workforce.
But Barry, a former mayor with a reputation for being a fierce proponent of government spending, said his proposal is a first step in a broader fight to get more welfare recipients into the workforce.
Instead of "kicking people off the rolls," Barry said his proposal was designed to bolster job-training and employment services within the Department of Human Services, which administers the city's TANF program.
Barry said he will also be pushing a series of proposals to try to "get the private sector to live up to their responsibility" to hire city residents. With a little training, Barry said, welfare recipients could transition into well-paying jobs in the District. Barry will likely find an ally in Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D), whose economic development plan calls for tapping into the hospitality and other industries to try to reduce unemployment.
"There was a time in the African American community, even during segregation, when 90 percent of the waiters were black," Barry said. "This is an excellent opportunity to train these welfare recipients to be able to speak a certain way, to learn menus, to learn courtesy and make up to $200 to $300 a day."
On Wednesday, Barry plans to speak about his proposal on Fox 5 (WTTG) news. He also hopes to take his message to the national media, believing other urban areas also need to refocus their human service programs.
"I am going to become a national advocate for welfare transformation," said Barry, who has long been known to relish the spotlight. "Transformation is like a cocoon. You have a worm, in a cocoon, that transforms into a beautiful butterfly."
D.C. Council Looks At Streetcar Plan
Patrick Madden
Patrick Madden
WAMU
November 17, 2010
It's been more than half a century since a streetcar last ran down the streets of the District. But the plan to bring the trolley back is moving forward, and tracks have already been laid in certain parts of the city.
Wednesday, the D.C. Council is holding an important public hearing on the final details of the plan.
For streetcar advocates like Dave Alpert, founder of the influential local transportation blog Greater Greater Washington, the message he wants to deliver to the council today is simple:
"There's a lot of public support for it. The council has identified funding for it, DDOT has done planning on where it starts and ends, what cars to use -- now is the time to move forward to get it built," Alpert says.
But some hurdles remain, such as long-term funding for the plan and the thorny issue of overhead wires (a federal law dating back to the 1880s prohibits such wires in parts of the city).
According to the plan, two streetcars lines -– one on H Street Northeast, the other in Anacostia -– could be in service by early 2012.
Wells says Wal-Mart headed for D.C.
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 11:42pm EST - Last Modified: Wednesday, November 17, 2010, 12:35am EST
Not much detail here, but D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, posted on Twitter Tuesday night that Wal-Mart is District bound.
"Walmart's coming to DC," Wells wrote shortly after 11 p.m.
He followed up, in response to a barrage of questions from followers, that Wal-Mart "promises to pay avg wage for major DC groc stores in city" and that the retailer will go with a "new urban model" far smaller than that of its suburban behemoths. He did not say where the Wal-Mart might go in the city.
Wells' post followed a vague Twitter message from Ward 7 D.C. Councilwoman Yvette Alexander, who wrote: "Big box retailer coming to Ward 7? Stay tuned!" She later wrote that "news should be coming soon." And she ruled out Skyland, probably because the eminent domain-related legal proceedings there are still in the briefs stage.
Wal-Mart has toyed with the District before, numerous times over the years, but has yet to open a store within the city limits. The Washington Post reported in July that the world's largest retailer was in negotiations with D.C. again, this time for a site on New York Avenue NE in Ward 5.
DCPS Chancellor A No Show At Office Hours
Kavitha Cardoza
Kavitha Cardoza
WAMU
November 17, 2010
In her first month as DC's interim school chancellor, Kaya Henderson is trying to engage more with the public, holding open office hours and community events. But she's already disappointing some trying to approach her about concerns. A dozen people came to the office hours hoping to meet Henderson Tuesday night.
Thirteen-year-old Miranda Woods says she wants her principal reinstated because the school culture has changed. "Students get into fights, they write on stalls in the bathroom," Woods says.
Clarise Harmon wanted to talk about a lack of school supplies at her daughter's school. "Toilet paper in the bathroom, paper towels in the bathroom, soap for the kids to wash their hands" Harmon lists.
But Henderson canceled at the last minute. And that upset Marvin Tucker who says parents are shut out of DCPS. But Peggy O'Brien the head of Public Engagement in DCPS says there is a new effort for more senior staff to be out in the community.
"The idea that there are lots of people working in schools and those folks should have a lot more chances to interact with the public," O'Brien says.
She blamed a "scheduling conflict" for Henderson's absence.
More info. on identifying D.C.’s wrongful foreclosures
By: LIZ FARMER
Examiner
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/more-info-on-identifying-dcs-wrongful-foreclosures-108525454.html#ixzz15WvfA8ye
Examiner
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/more-info-on-identifying-dcs-wrongful-foreclosures-108525454.html#ixzz15WvfA8ye
11/16/10 6:30 PM EST
Attorney General Peter Nickles has issued a “Questions and Answers” notice about his statement of enforcement regarding deceptive foreclosure sale notices. (That statement, issued in October, said a foreclosure against a District homeowner should not proceed unless the noteholder’s security interest is properly filed with the District’s Recorder of Deeds.)
The Q&A clarifies that a noteholder’s failure to record the note before the foreclosure sale does not necessarily invalidate the foreclosure. Nickles also explains how a foreclosure can be started on behalf of a noteholder even if transfers of the note were not previously recorded.
The entire guide can be found here.
The attorney general restated his intent to bring action against anyone found violating D.C.’s foreclosure sale procedure.
“A homeowner should be able to go to the Recorder of Deeds and confirm who has a security interest in his or her home and who has a right to foreclose,” Nickles said.
D.C. will quiz doctors' HIV/AIDS knowledge to ensure better screening
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111606809.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111606809.html
Tuesday, November 16, 2010; 9:00 PM
The District government plans to ask the city's more than 4,000 private doctors how much they know about HIV/AIDS as part of a broad effort to urge them to offer routine screening for a disease that has been diagnosed in more than 3 percent of Washingtonians.
Starting Wednesday, the health department will e-mail the physicians asking them to complete a 15-question online survey. They'll be asked to rank the parts of the city and age groups with the highest prevalence rate and to say whether they are aware of the local and federal recommendations about screening. The survey will run through Dec. 3.
The District's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is the highest of any city in the nation.
Officials and advocates say local studies and anecdotal evidence point to a gap in understanding among doctors about the severity of the epidemic in Washington.
Many doctors may think that only high-risk groups need regular testing, the officials said. But since 2006, the city's health department has recommended that all residents ages 13 to 84 be screened annually for HIV, the illness that causes AIDS.
"If you're a D.C. resident and you're sexually active, you are in a high-risk network called Washington, D.C.," said John Newsome, a spokesman for the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, a nonprofit group that is working with the District government to increase testing and helped develop the survey questions.
"We suspect there are gaps in doctors' understanding of testing guidelines that have changed considerably, and we really hope to understand where they are so we can address any gaps," Newsome said.
A common misperception among many doctors is that the disease affects mostly young people. But the largest share of new diagnoses are among people in their 40s and 50s, according to District data.
Officials say one of the most effective measures to combat the disease is increasing routine voluntary screening, starting in the doctor's office.
Health department studies conducted in 2008 and 2009 found that 75 percent of those with a recent HIV diagnosis, including heterosexual, gay and bisexual residents, had been to at least one medical provider within the previous 12 months. Experts consider those missed opportunities to catch the disease earlier.
Sometimes, the diagnosis does not take place until a patient goes to the emergency room.
"People come in with sprained ankles or cuts or have rashes - all the normal stuff that brings them to an emergency room - and we run a routine HIV screen, and it turns out a number are infected with HIV," said Jeremy Brown, director of emergency department HIV screening at George Washington University Hospital.
The rapid bedside test takes 20 minutes, involves swabbing the gums and is extremely reliable, he said.
D.C. Human Rights Office Releases Annual Report
Posted on November 16, 2010 by Dana Farrington
The Front Burner (WAMU)
The District’s Office of Human Rights released its annual highlights report for the 2010 fiscal year.
Among the highlights:
In FY10 OHR recorded a 80% increase in the number of Language Access complaints filed and trained 697 DC government employees on the Language Access Act’s requirements.
After one year of implementation, OHR’s E-learning program experienced a 1,700% increase in the number of users in FY10. More than 7,000 users from District government and the private sector participated in the program.
In FY10, OHR docketed 463 new cases. The numbers and complaint categories were:
· 415 Employment (top two reasons for filing: retaliation, race)
· 24 Housing (top two reasons for filing: disability, race)
· 11 Public Accommodation (top two reasons for filing: race, age)
· 9 Language Access
· 4 Educational Institution (filing reasons include national origin, disability and religion)
The office’s stated goal is “to eradicate discrimination, increase equal opportunity and protect human rights for persons who live, work, or visit the District of Columbia.”
D.C.’s first electric-car charging station opens Tuesday
By: Liz Farmer
Examiner
Examiner
11/16/10 11:40 AM EST
D.C.’s first charging station for electric cars is scheduled to open Tuesday at the Franklin D. Reeves Center near 14th and U streets Northwest.
Mayor Adrian Fenty and officials from the station’s manufacturer, Coulomb Technologies, will do the official introduction, according to a news release.
The public curbside Coulomb ChargePoint station is part of the company’s $37 million ChargePoint America program. The program is funded by a $15 million grant from the federal stimulus package.
The station owner — in this case, the District — can set the fees for using the charging station, according to Coulomb. Users can set up a subscription account or pay on a per-use basis. BlackBerry and iPhone users can download an application to help them find the nearest open station.
Other regions slated to house one of Coulomb’s 4,600 free charging stations are Austin, Texas.; Southern Michigan; Los Angeles; New York City; Orlando, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif.; the San Jose/San Francisco area and Bellevue/Redmond, Wash.
Illegal Immigrants or "New Americans"?
D.C. Region at Center of National Debate
By P.J. ORVETTI
WRC – NBC4
Updated 1:46 PM EST, Tue, Nov 16, 2010
The Washington area is a microcosm of the nation’s attitudes on immigration. In January, Virginia’s legislature will consider a wide array of immigration proposals, including legislation mirroring Arizona’s controversial law that requires police to check the immigration status of an individual in any case of reasonable suspicion -- which critics say will result in racial profiling.
And Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins was recently named one of the nation’s “toughest” enforcers of immigration law in a Fox News survey of immigration policy experts.
On the other end of the spectrum, Arlington County, where one in four residents was born outside the U.S., was thwarted in a recent effort to withdraw from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "Secure Communities" program, in which fingerprints of arrestees are added to criminal and immigration databases for the purposes of identifying and deporting "criminal aliens."
Also, during an October debate, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley repeatedly referred to those in the U.S. illegally as "new Americans," leading rival Bob Ehrlich to ask, "If someone breaks into my house, is that a new member of my family?"
O’Malley’s phrase was a capitulation in a war of euphemisms. In recent years, immigrant rights advocates have managed to convince many that the term "illegal immigrants" is a slur, with such slogans as "no human being is illegal." Of course, no one is saying that the existence of these individuals is illegal -- merely their status as migrants to the United States. The preferred term became "undocumented" Americans.
If illegal immigrants are "undocumented," shoplifters are merely "unreceipted." No matter how you phrase it, a law has been violated.
I am deeply sympathetic toward anyone who wants to become an American. My own family came here from Scotland, Ireland and Italy, with only a distant Choctaw relation a true "native." We live in a nation run by people with names like Obama, O’Malley, Mikulski -- and Ehrlich. All of these families started out across the Atlantic.
Those who come here illegally are often embarking on an act of desperation. They often leave behind their families in order to make the arduous journey into the U.S., a journey that is fatal for some. They may be carted across the border in a poorly ventilated truck, or scramble through a desert where water is scarce. Once here, they take the least desirable jobs at the lowest pay, and must constantly fear detection.
But it’s still illegal.
The sad truth is that the United States cannot embrace everyone who wants to come. It is just not economically feasible, no matter how sincere the desire of those who want to come, nor the direness of their circumstances back home.
It would also be unfair to "create a pathway to citizenship" for them, as O’Malley has called for. That would allow the 13 million people who entered this country in violation of U.S. law to get ahead of the millions of others seeking to immigrate through legal means.
While the government of Mexico likes to kvetch about U.S. deportation policy, Mexico has much harsher immigration rules than the U.S., and a history of corruption and abuse toward those sneaking into Mexico across its own southern border. We are much more open, and more fair, than many of our critics.
A policy that allows many to come to the United States through proper channels -- but that tells those who enter illegally that they may be sent back home -- is entirely reasonable. Those who don’t like it might cry racism.
That’s why O’Malley, the descendant of legal immigrants, calls illegal immigrants "new Americans." The number of Latinos in the U.S. has swelled, and now forms a substantial voting bloc. To vote, of course, these Latinos must be citizens, and therefore in the U.S. legally. But those political activists who stand to gain from riling them up point to what they call the inhumane treatment of those who came illegally. And politicians like O’Malley want to win their support.
Many of those illegally entering the U.S. are Latino, though certainly not all. That makes it easy to pretend there is a racial element. And it’s true that Customs and Border Protection is more assertive along the Mexican border than on the Canadian one.
But there’s nothing racist about enforcing what is already a very liberal immigration standard.
An Alternative to Backyard Pot?
City Desk (Washington City Paper)
If you're not willing to roll the dice on having charges dropped against you forgrowing pot at home, you might want to smoke fake pot instead.
The substance is legal, if pricey; just 3 grams can set you back $40. But it reportedly has the same effect as cannabis. Synthetic marijuana, which looks a lot like potpourri, is sold as incense. A Cleveland Park listserv post written by D.C. police Detective John Paprcka in October suggested the counterfeit weed had hit District schools.
A provision in At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson's Criminal Code Amendment bill is aimed at banning the stuff. Mendelson says he's attempting "to work up the bill for this week." So the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary may vote on it Thursday.
Mendelson says synthetic marijuana needs to go, both because it's a "loophole" and because "there might be problems with public health." The substance is said to cause high blood pressure, and heart palpitations in some.
If Mendelson's legislation goes through, one avid Spice (a brand of the man-made pot) smoker will be very disappointed. The enthusiast, who asked City Desk not to name him, says he uses synthetic weed daily, and can't say enough good things about it. He says it's different from pot. "It doesn't have as much depth" and doesn't last as long, but still gets the job done.
Another great thing about it:"I don't believe it to be physically addictive." The smoker doesn't want to see the substance banned, but wouldn't mind another kind of government intervention. "I'd like to see it regulated," he says.
Of course, to state the obvious, if authorities would "regulate" marijuana as opposed to prohibiting it, no one would have to toke up on its iffy chemical stand-in.
by Mark Jordan • November 16, 2010 3:49 pm
Greater Greater Washington
DCDSC National Committeeman Vincent Orange, a presumptive leader in the race to fill Kwame Brown's to-be-vacated at-large council seat, is drawing battle lines around any proposals to amend the Home Rule Act or convince the DSDSC to appoint a caretaker.
In an e-mail to committee members, Orange suggests that the Democratic party is being targeted unfairly. He suggests Greater Greater Washington's criticism of the appointment process is actually a masked effort to add an Independent or Republican to the Council.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Here's Orange's email:
There is a movement to manipulate the DCDSC out of its power granted to us by the Home Rule Act. There is a desire to weaken the DCDSC by placing an Independent or Republican on the DC Council through the Special Election process. We must stay focus[sic] on the mission granted to us by the Home Rule Act. If this was a Republican At Large vacancy or Independent At-Large vacancy, there would not be an editorial entitled "Getting a leg up on D.C. Council". We cannot let the Washington Post or Greater Greater Washington divide the DCDSC or manipulate the intent of the Home Rule Act.
See below the latest twist on the election process. Remember, no one contacted the DCDSC for comment on trying to amend the Home Rule Act.
Together we stand with the Home Rule Act, divided, we fall.
First, Orange is mistaken about the DCDSC being singled out. The argument against allowing a partisan state committee to appoint at-large councilmembers applies equally to Democrats, Republicans, DC Statehood Greens, or any other party. Any amendment to the Home Rule Act should address all parties equally.
We can't speak for the Washington Post, but we certainly would call for the same thing if this were a Republican vacancy. If it were an Independent at-large vacancy, the Home Rule Act would not give any party committee the power to appoint a successor. Instead, the full DC Council would fill the seat until the special election.
While still a flawed process, it is marginally better than an appointment by a political party. As we previously argued, however, at-large vacancies should be treated no differently than ward vacancies, and should be left vacant until filled by special election.
Second, in stating, "We must stay focused on the mission granted to us by the Home Rule Act," Orange focuses on the authority currently delegated to political parties as if it carries some moral authority. But as the history of the U.S. constitution and individual state constitutions makes clear, mere inclusion in a constitution (or Home Rule Act) is not synonymous with either justice or good governance, which is why have amendment processes. And the Home Rule Act is far from a perfect document, such as giving Congress too much authority over the District's affairs. Why revere its pecularities?
Finally, there is no effort to "weaken the DCDSC by placing an Independent or Republican on the DC Council through the special election process." To the contrary, there is only an effort to ensure a fair special election process, unencumbered by the current undemocratic process.
This is consistent with an argument Orange himself made in an October 22 e-mail to the DCDSC, in which he wrote that "[t]he beauty about democracy is that it boils down to the one person, one vote theory. The majority prevails."
There are over 440,000 registered voters in the District as of August 2010. Fifty percent plus 1 votes from an 81-member body does not represent a majority prevailing in the election of an at-large councilmember. The seat should be filled only after all registered voters have an opportunity to weigh in on the decision.
Orange himself has served as an elected ward member in the past, has run twice for at-large positions, and certainly would make a credible run at the at-large vacancy in next year's special election. If he wants to strengthen the Democratic party as he says he does, he should forgo the temporary appointment process and win the seat in a fair contest.
From Tuesday:
Mike DeBonis: http://wapo.st/duKeik
Loose Lips (daily column): http://bit.ly/cv1pjA
DMV Daily (P.J. Orvetti): http://bit.ly/aSLL99
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