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D.C. Government/Council media clips for Thursday, November 4, 2010
Missed yesterday? http://bit.ly/aD5pHJ
Deliberation on display as Gray names transition team - Washington Post
D.C. mayor-elect names transition team - Washington Business Journal
Gray Transition Director Reuben Charles Owes Illinois $236,000 in Taxes - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper blog)
Mayor-elect's transition team has ties to 1990s Barry - Examiner
Where creating 'One City' will require some work - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
Harry Thomas considering at-large seat - Examiner
A Right-Wing Darling Now Oversees D.C. (And Why His Tea Party Ties May By Washington’s Best Hope.) - Washington City Paper blog
Was Chief Cathy Lanier Supposed to Resign Today? Don’t Ask Cop Kris Baumann - Washington City Paper blog
Disservice Sector: Trouble for a Nonprofit Run by David Wilmot, D.C. Superlobbyist - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
D.C. Republicans in danger of becoming 'minor' party - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
City on a Hill: The District’s forgotten second party - Georgetown Dish
ANC Results of Note - Housing Complex (Washington City Paper blog)
D.C. Area Doing Great. D.C. Itself? Not So Much. -Housing Complex (Washington City Paper blog)
Interim chancellor Henderson steps up - D.C. Schools Insider (Washington Post blog)
Deliberation on display as Gray names transition team
By Nikita Stewart and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/03/AR2010110308019.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/03/AR2010110308019.html
Thursday, November 4, 2010; B06
Vincent C. Gray began his first day as mayor-elect with a traditional unveiling of his transition team - a signal that he will apply his deliberative leadership style to his administration and a noticeable difference from incumbent Adrian M. Fenty's fast-charging style of governance.
Four years ago, Fenty (D) announced his transition team and also appointed his city administrator and chief of staff the day after he was elected. But Gray (D) rolled out a 16-member transition team that will guide him over the course of the next several weeks in shaping his administration.
At a midday news conference near his new fourth-floor transition office in the Reeves Center, Gray said he would have lunch with President Obama on Dec. 1, an invitation that he received Tuesday when he won the general election with 74 percent of the vote. A write-in campaign for Fenty appeared to draw 23 percent of the vote.
The strong write-in effort and a shift to a Republican-controlled House of Representatives presents Gray with the immediate challenge of sharpening his skills at wooing potential detractors.
The primary and general elections showed a city still fractured by several divisions, said Gray, a 67-year-old native Washingtonian. "It also became clear that there is much that unites us as a city," Gray said, adding that he planned to meet Wednesday with Fenty, whom he described as "gracious."
He said he would tell residents who wrote-in Fenty that "the message is: 'Work with us. . . . We have the interest of this city sincerely at heart.' "
Gray said he plans to meet with GOP congressional leaders soon to urge them to allow the city to manage itself.
Members of the team
Managing his transition will be longtime friend and adviser Lorraine Green, an executive at Amtrak who has a career in personnel.
Gray's picks for his transition appeared to reflect the priorities for his administration: the budget, economic development and jobs, and education.
Interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, the deputy chancellor who replaced Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee on Monday, attended the news conference, though she did not speak. Leading the transition team to tackle Gray's plans to expand school reform to pre-kindergarten, vocational education and higher education will be Michael Lomax, president and chief executive of the _blankUnited Negro College Fund, and Katherine Bradley, the president and co-founder of _blankCityBridge Foundation, a nonprofit that has pushed universal pre-K.
Lomax and Bradley were among the targets of Gray's behind-the-scenes efforts to ease the fears of philanthropists and education advocates about losing Rhee and rolling back reform if he was elected.
As announced previously, former mayor Anthony A. Williams and economist Alice M. Rivlin, both credited with digging the city out of its fiscal crisis in the 1990s, will advise Gray on the city's budget. Meanwhile, former George Washington University president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg and Barbara Lang, president and chief executive of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, will tackle economic development and have been asked to find ways to address the city's record unemployment immediately.
Other transition team members include Maria Gomez, head of _blankMary's Center for Maternal and Child Care; Chinatown activist Alexander Chi; and former attorney general Robert J. Spagnoletti, who was Gray's personal attorney in a dispute with city about a fence he installed at his Hillcrest home without a permit.
Tax troubles
Although Gray's news conference was uneventful, he faced tough questions about his decision to throw his victory party at Love nightclub, owned by Marc Barnes, who owes more than $860,000 in back sales taxes to the city, and about his selection of entrepreneur Reuben Charles to run the day-to-day operations of his transition.
A few hours after Gray's announcement, the Washington City Paper reported that _blankCharles also owes $236,620.74 in unpaid sales and use taxes in Illinois.
In an interview, Charles said the lien, issued by the Illinois Department of Revenue, is not a personal debt.
He said he previously served on the board of directors of an Illinois-based company that he was unaware had failed to pay its taxes. He said that under the state's tax laws, board members are listed as being liable for company-based debts. He declined to immediately identify the name of the business but said the issue should be resolved within a few days.
"We are getting that removed in terms of my record," Charles said. "I do not have income in the state of Illinois at all that I owe taxes on."
Joshua Langfelder, recorder of the Sangamon County Recorder's Office, said records suggest the debt might be both personal and professional.
"I would say it's attached to him because it has his Social [Security number] on it, but also has [an employer identification number], which makes me believe it's something attached to his business," Langfelder said. He referred further questions to the Illinois Department of Revenue, which was unavailable to comment.
Charles, who was a venture capitalist in St. Louis before moving to the District three years ago, has had several tax liens and judgments that he said were related to his business career.
Gray deflected questions Wednesday on Charles and Barnes, promising to be "open and transparent" without addressing his judgment in the matters.
D.C. mayor-elect names transition team
Washington Business Journal - By Michael Neibauer
Date: Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 2:57pm EDT - Last Modified: Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 3:06pm EDT
D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray Wednesday unveiled his transition team and put them to work as his "chief advisers" ahead of his Jan. 2 inauguration.
"This has been a journey, hasn't it?" Gray said during a press conference held about 12 hours after his victory was confirmed. "And it continues."
D.C. Chamber of Commerce CEO Barbara Lang and former George Washington University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg will head Gray's economic development committee. The duo, Gray said, will focus on job creation, business attraction and retention, workforce development and growth of the District as a regional economic engine. There was no talk of the construction side of development, which follows Gray's campaign platform.
The chamber, no friend of Mayor Adrian Fenty, was essentially frozen out of policy decisions during the Fenty administration's four years. Lang's transition role suggests a much more active role for the organization in the Gray administration. Trachtenberg, meanwhile, oversaw GW's aggressive expansion into Foggy Bottom during his 20 year tenure as the school's president.
Former Mayor Anthony Williams and Alice Rivlin, once head of the control board that led the District during its darkest financial days in the 1990s, will lead Gray's budget and fiscal responsibility team. The pair "will look at both the operating and capital budgets and government spending in light of the challenges facing the city," Gray said.
The District faces a $200 million budget gap this year and upward of $400 million in fiscal 2012. Gray's supporters and his eight transition teams will certainly offer a raft of policy recommendations, many of which will cost money to implement, but the mayor-elect and outgoing D.C. Council chairman said those spending decisions will come down to "desirability versus feasibility."
For example, Gray said he would like to roll back parking meter enforcement, which now goes to 10 p.m. weeknights and includes Saturdays. But it's not something the city can afford right now.
Gray's transition team was quickly ushered away after the press conference to the confines of Gray's transition headquarters on the fourth floor of the Reeves Center at 14th and U streets NW. They were not available to answer questions.
Lorraine Green, Gray's campaign chair, will chair the transition effort while Reuben Charles, a Gray confidante who is relatively unknown in District circles, will run its day-to-day operation. Other transition members include:
Education: Michael Lomax, president of UNCF, and Katherine Bradley, president of the CityBridge Foundation.
Government operations: Constance Berry Newman, a Republican and former director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Legal affairs and public safety: Karl Racine, managing partner at Venable LLP, and Robert Spagnoletti, partner at Schertler & Onorato LLP and former D.C. attorney general.
One City: John Parham, director of schools programs with the College Success Foundation, and Alexander Chi, a technology consultant.
Government operations and transportation: Thomas Downs, former Amtrak CEO and current chairman of the North American Board of Veolia Transportation, and Cellerino Bernardino, vice president of development with the Fort Lincoln New Town Corp.
Health and human services: Peter Edelman, Georgetown University law professor, and Maria Gomez, CEO of Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care.
Gray addressed other issues during the question and answer session.
On the 27,874 voters who wrote someone else's name on the ballot Tuesday, most likely that of Mayor Adrian Fenty, the subject of an unauthorized write-in campaign, Gray said, "I think the message is, 'Work with us.' I think people will see we have the interests of this city deeply at heart."
On Republicans who will soon control the U.S. House of Representatives, he said, "I look forward to working with you, but you also need to work with us." He said he would actively pursue budget and legislative autonomy for the District, as well as a vote in the House.
And Gray said he received a call Tuesday from the White House inviting him to lunch with President Barack Obama on Dec. 1.
Gray Transition Director Reuben Charles Owes Illinois $236,000 in Taxes
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper blog)
Reuben Charles, the director of Almost Mayor Vince Gray‘s transition team, owes $236,620.74 in unpaid sales and use taxes in Illinois.
The tax lien issued by the Illinois Department of Revenue obtained today by LL is pretty sparse on details, though it says the lien was filed on April 1, 2008. A clerk at the Sangamon County Recorder’s office told LL that there’s no record of Charles having paid that debt.
LL has alreadydocumented that Charles has several other unpaid debts in St. Louis, where he ran a venture capital fund. Charles has characterized those debts as part of the regular knocks that come with being a businessman who invested heavily in real estate. (Charles had also told LL he used to do business in Chicago.) Court records in Missouri also show that he went to court three times over tax issues, though all of those cases have been settled.
The voicemail box on Charles’ cell phone was full. So LL has a call into Gray’s camp seeking a comment from Charles on the Illinois debt; LL will update as needed.
Charles was the subject of a little bit of awkwardness at Gray’s press conference today at the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center, courtesy of NBC 4′s Tom Sherwood and D.C. Watch’s Dorothy Brizill.
Sherwood wanted to know why Gray, who was introducing his “Transition Leadership Team” hadn’t brought up Reuben Charles, who will be running the transition team, to stand with the rest of the group. And Brizill grilled Gray pretty hard about whether Charles would have a dual role of raising funds while managing the transition.
In the past, Gray has been effusive in his praise for Charles, who is rumored to be Gray’s next chief of staff. During his victory speech last night, Gray even gave Charles an extended shout-out for his prodigious fundraising abilities.
At today’s press conference, Sherwood asked why Charles was standing in the back of the room, instead of in front of the press with Gray and the rest of the transition team, given that he’ll be running the day-to-day operations of the transition.
“I’ve yet to see [Charles] in person or hear him speak… Can he come up front so we can all have picture of you sir, with his team?” Sherwood asked. “No shadows in this administration,” he added jokingly.
At that point Charles came up and stood next to Gray, until Gray kind of shooed him back to stand with the rest of the transition team.
When Sherwood tried later to get Charles to answer a question, Gray said: “No, no, you’ll just hear from me today.”
Mayor-elect's transition team has ties to 1990s Barry
By: FREEMAN KLOPOTT
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Mayor-elect_s-transition-team-has-ties-to-Barry-administrations-1440759-106652368.html#ixzz14IelOy2u
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Mayor-elect_s-transition-team-has-ties-to-Barry-administrations-1440759-106652368.html#ixzz14IelOy2u
November 3, 2010
The transition team that will develop the framework for Vincent Gray's mayorship includes a handful of members with links to the District's troubled 1990s and former Mayor Marion Barry's administrations.
Gray announced his 15-member team Wednesday afternoon, a day after officially winning the uncontested mayor's race. Transition team members, Gray said, will prepare concrete plans for how he'll handle education reform, economic development and government operations.
The transition team "consists of the most esteemed political, business and community leaders that the District of Columbia has to offer," Gray said. "Each brings a highly regarded expertise forged from years of public service and a record of developing broad-reaching strategies for reform and growth."
Leading the group is Executive Director Reuben Charles, a venture capitalist with roots in St. Louis. Charles started out with the Gray campaign in May as a fundraiser and rose quickly.
But some of the transition team members have long ties to the District.
One of those is Thomas Downs, a former city administrator for Barry. Barry hired Downs -- who will co-chair Gray's infrastructure and transportation committee -- in 1981 to be transportation chief. Downs rose quickly and became Barry's chief lieutenant in 1983 after being credited for making the Transportation Department one of the city's best agencies. While serving as Barry's city administrator, Downs frequently played the role of spokesman for the mayor's troubled administration. In January 1987, it was Downs who defended the city's cleanup of a brutal snowstorm while Barry tried to make his way back from California, where the mayor had been watching the Super Bowl.
Joining Downs in leading the infrastructure committee is Cellerino Bernardino, who resigned as Department of Public Works chief in 1998 under an onslaught of criticism in the waning days of Barry's last administration. When he left, the city's inability to collect trash on time, maintain sidewalks and fix broken traffic lights had become nearly legendary.
Two of Gray's picks, however, were notable in the 1990s for their resistance to Barry's demands as members of the control board put in power by the federal government to fix the city's broken finances. Alice Rivlin and Constance Newman were control board leaders known for keeping Barry in check.
"This is back to the future," said Terry Lynch, a local political observer. "Hopefully, Gray will get the best of the past, but also bring in some fresh voices."
Where creating 'One City' will require some work
By Mike Debonis | November 3, 2010; 7:00 PM ET
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
These are the 15 precincts where Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray did not win a majority of the votes cast, according to unofficial returns:
- Precinct 130 -- West Capitol Hill (Ward 6) -- 40.8 percent
- Precinct 9 -- Spring Valley (Ward 3) -- 43.4 percent
- Precinct 5 -- East Georgetown (Ward 2) -- 43.7 percent
- Precinct 12 -- Massachusetts Avenue Heights (Ward 3) -- 44.9 percent
- Precinct 7 -- Foxhall Village/Senate Heights (Ward 3) -- 45 percent
- Precinct 90 -- Barracks Row (Ward 6) -- 45.5 percent
- Precinct 8 -- Palisades (Ward 3) -- 45.8 percent
- Precinct 6 -- West Georgetown (Ward 2) -- 45.9 percent
- Precinct 89 -- Central Capitol Hill (Ward 6) -- 46.3 percent
- Precinct 52 -- Chevy Chase (Ward 4) -- 46.5 percent
- Precinct 51 -- Chevy Chase (Ward 4) -- 47.1 percent
- Precinct 11 -- Glover Park (Ward 3) -- 47.4 percent
- Precinct 88 -- Lincoln Park (Ward 6) -- 48.6 percent
- Precinct 84 -- North Capitol Hill (Ward 6) -- 49.4 percent
- Precinct 16 -- Logan Circle (Ward 2) -- 49.7 percent
And here's 10 precincts where Gray saw the least opposition:
- Precinct 124 -- Washington Highlands (Ward 8) -- 97.2 percent
- Precinct 92 -- Eastland Gardens (Ward 7) -- 96.3 percent
- Precinct 119 -- Anacostia (Ward 8) -- 96.0 percent
- Precinct 125 -- Washington Highlands (Ward 8) -- 96.0 percent
- Precinct 98 -- Deanwood (Ward 7) -- 95.8 percent
- Precinct 116 -- Shipley Terrace (Ward 8) -- 95.6 percent
- Precinct 76 -- Ivy City (Ward 5) -- 95.4 percent
- Precinct 101 -- River Terrace (Ward 7) -- 95.4 percent
- Precinct 102 -- Benning (Ward 7) -- 95.2 percent
- Precinct 103 -- Benning Heights (Ward 7) -- 95.1 percent
Harry Thomas considering at-large seat
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/harry-thomas-considering-at-large-seat-106633013.html#ixzz14GH0Utik
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/harry-thomas-considering-at-large-seat-106633013.html#ixzz14GH0Utik
11/03/10 3:20 PM EDT
Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., is still basking in the sun of his big re-election victory on Tuesday, but he’s also thinking about the next step.
Thomas won 85 percent of Ward 5 votes on Tuesday. But he also has been a constant presence at city-wide events recently, attending all eight of the town hall meetings Vince Gray held across the District over the past month.
When asked if he’s eying the at-large council seat being vacated by Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown, Thomas said, “it would be strange if I weren’t thinking about my future.”
He added he won’t make any announcement until after he’s sworn in, once again, as the Ward 5 representative and has had a chance to consult his constituents. The swearing in is scheduled for Jan. 2. A special election could be held in early March if it gets approval from Congress.
A Right-Wing Darling Now Oversees D.C. (And Why His Tea Party Ties May By Washington’s Best Hope.)
Washington City Paper blog
Loyal residents of hometown D.C. love to flaunt how little they care about the goings-on in federal Washington. Usually, the provincialism a way of disproving a national stereotype about the District: Hey, America, behind all that monumental marble, we’re still a normal city where people care about zoning and crime and neighborhoods and don’t need Uncle Sam’s help, thank you very much.
But this fall, as the District carried out its own electoral campaign, the lack of discussion about the national election seemed more like an exercise in wishful thinking: If we don’t talk about looming change on Capitol Hill, we can pretend we’re on the cusp of statehood rather than prepare to again debate federal needle-exchange bans like in the bad old days.
That make-believe reality ended last night. Thanks to the District’s goofy constitutional status, the whims of voters who don’t live here mean there will be a new congressional committee chair in charge of overseeing D.C. But thanks to the myopia of the District’s political establishment, voters and officials have spent almost zero time contemplating how to butter up, battle with, or get around this new boss, a right-wing representative from a rural Utah district named Jason Chaffetz.
Think I’m kidding? A month ago, my colleague Alan Suderman chatted upVincent Gray about the prospect of a GOP Congress. By this point, Gray had been the city’s presumptive mayor for two weeks. Adrian Fenty was history and there was no serious challenger in the general election. So, given the long, ignominious history of congressional conservatives playing to the base back home by meddling with the city’s budget, would Gray’s transition team be pondering how to deal with a hostile Congress?
“I have not addressed that,” Gray said at the time. “I actually would like to think that we will continue to have…Democratic control of the House—we’ll face that when we get to it. But no, I haven’t appointed anyone to address that issue.”
Gray was hardly alone in that regard: The city’s election season briefly turned the likes of Ron Moten, Sulaimon Brown, and Michael D. Brown into household names, but it featured scarcely a peep about Chaffetz. The D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, whose job description involves fighting encroachments on Home Rule, acknowledged that she’d only had one conversation with Chaffetz since he’d arrived in the House as an obscure minority-party representative.
It’s not like Chaffetz’s politics are a secret. He led congressional efforts to undo same-sex marriage in the District. Though the now-dead D.C. voting right compromise would have given his native Utah an extra congressional seat, too, Chaffetz blasted the measure as unconstitutional. A certain local weekly paper gave him as Best of D.C. award for “Best Congressional Meddler.”
One of the nice things about the District’s orphaned status is that pols are liable to be honest about their plans for us—after all, there are no actual voters here who need to be placated with weasel words. So when Chaffetz chatted with Dave Weigel for a Washington City Paper profile earlier this fall, he was forthright about his intentions: He’d like to undo gay marriage. He thinks D.C. autonomy is unconstitutional. He thinks an ideal fix for the city’s Home Rule troubles would involve retroceding most of the District into Maryland.
Chaffetz’s political situation back home should give District loyalists even more reason to worry. A proto-Tea-Partier, he’s mulling a challenge—from the right—against incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch. That’s a situation that will incentivize him to win points with ultraconservatives back home. And for a guy whose constituents are 2,000 miles away, beating up on liberal Washingtonians is an easy way to do it.
Of course, Weigel’s piece also offers a possible silver lining for worried Washingtonians: As a darling of Tea Party activists, Chaffetz may also face voters who take all that “Don’t Tread on Me” stuff seriously—and might react poorly to the spectacle of their congressman telling other people what do with with hard-earned local tax dollars. In a place like Provo, Utah, “No Taxation Without Representation” might find a surprisingly friendly audience.
Appealing to the sense of philsophical consistency of angry rural voters half a continent away, though, seems like a bad bet. For now, though, it seems like the only strategy District leaders have going. Let’s hope Gray, Norton, et al., come up with a better one soon.
Better Choices: Moving DC Forward
November 3rd, 2010 | by Kwame Boadi
The District's Dime.(DC Fiscal Policy Institute)
Last Wednesday, a coalition of labor, housing, religious and community associations and nonprofits launched a campaign to preserve important public services as the incoming Mayor and Council dig out of the latest budget crisis. Better Choices: Moving DC Forward held a press conference prior to Mayor-Elect Gray’s Ward 6 town hall meeting at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The campaign’s launch was covered by the Washington Post and the Washington Business Journal.
While some believe that the city’s $175 million budget shortfall can be resolved solely through additional budget cuts, as Mayor-Elect Gray stated this fall, “We have not only cut to the bone, we are down to the bone marrow.” A cuts-only approach would threaten important investments the city has made in schools, libraries, recreation centers, and health care, and it would devastate the city’s ability to address the sharp increase in child poverty in DC. Such an approach would likely mean that the effects of this recession on DC residents would be felt even after the recession ends, hampering the city’s recovery and long-term economic growth.
Better Choices: Moving DC Forward is advocating a balanced approach to closing the budget gap, including new revenues. Better choices would keep our city moving forward and keep families economically secure in uncertain times.
A balanced approach to maintaining services and meeting growing needs could include:
Increasing the income tax rate on the wealthiest. DC residents earning $40,000 pay the same marginal tax rate as those making $1 million. Raising the rate on income above $200,000 would bring in millions of dollars and affect less than 5 percent of DC households. For many, the increase would be no more than the cost of a cup of coffee a day.
Ending DC’s tax exemption for interest paid on out-of-state bonds. Only DC and Indiana provide income tax breaks for residents that invest in other states’ infrastructure. Eliminating this exemption would raise needed revenue and help give District residents an incentive to invest in DC’s roads and bridges, rather than in other states’ projects.
The District’s future is in the balance. We need to meet people’s needs today and invest in a secure tomorrow.
Was Chief Cathy Lanier Supposed to Resign Today? Don’t Ask Cop Kris Baumann
Washington City Paper blog
D.C. police union chief Kristopher Baumann has had a tough time getting through dinner of late. Just last Wednesday, members of a news outlet Baumann declines to name called him six times as he tried to scoop his vittles. If it’s not reporters coming at him, it’s residents: “I tried to buy a soda at the store, and I got caught for twenty minutes.” Each time Baumann is asked to give up the vital information he’s being pestered about, he tells the truth—he has no idea what the future holds for Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier.
Though Baumann has started asking people to stop asking him about Lanier, that doesn’t stop folks from passing plenty of rumors along to him.
Today, for example, he was told by some “political” sources that the chief would be resigning at a 12:00 p.m. press conference. Just in case you’re wondering… that didn’t happen. Asked about the scuttlebutt, Lt. Nicholas Breul of MPD says he hasn’t heard anything about Lanier “leaving anytime soon.”
But that kind of sounds like another rumor, and as many times as Baumann has heard Lanier is on her way out, he’s heard that incoming mayor, Vincent Gray, has decided to ask the popular police chief to stay on.
If that happens, even though Baumann and Lanier have butted heads on many occasions, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) head is prepared to deal with it. “If he decides to keep her, we will proceed accordingly,” Baumann says.
Another rumor that’s been flung Baumann’s way is that the chief and mayor-elect are conducting “secret meetings” about whether she should stay. Baumann doesn’t put much stock in the gossip: “There’s no way to track that down.” But it would kind of make sense.
The departure of nationally adored and locally criticized schools chancellor Michelle Rhee in the wake of Gray’s primary victory likely has those who have been wondering about Lanier on pins and needles now that the general election is over. The Washington Post says business interest will pressure Gray to keep the chief, but Gray also owes a debt to the FOP for supporting his candidacy. (The rank and file officers that make up that organization are said not to think very highly of Lanier. They haven’t gotten a raise since she started her post, after all)
A few secret meetings might help Gray to find the best way out of his dilemma. Also, it might be a good idea for him to figure out if Lanier actually wants the job. Cops say Lanier’s position means grueling hours and lots of stress, and as City Desk previously reported, Lanier has an extremely sweet retirement package that kicks in the moment she’s either fired or decides to walk.
In that case, as a spry 43-year-old retiree, Lanier would pull down a salary that exceeds $100,000 a year plus benefits. Which doesn’t sound like a bad situation—and might even inspire to tell Gray to look elsewhere.
Disservice Sector: Trouble for a Nonprofit Run by David Wilmot, D.C. Superlobbyist
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Here’s a novel idea: Maybe three of the most prominent lawyers in D.C. politics shouldn’t be in charge of group homes that care for the developmentally disabled.
That modest suggestion comes after LL learned of the latest sad chapter in the story of Individual Development Inc., a non-profit whose board includes super lobbyist David Wilmot as president and chairman; longtime Marion Barry attorney Fred Cooke Jr. as vice-president; and A. Scott Bolden, the attorney who represents various friends of Still Mayor Adrian Fenty when they get crosswise with the D.C. Council, as secretary and treasurer.
IDI’s latest round of trouble includes $241,089.60 in fines for 10 violations of a settlement agreement with the city to improve services, as well as a federal complaint that alleges the unfair firing of an employee who was trying to start a union. (The non-profit, according to published accounts and the most recently available tax records, receives roughly $14 million a year in Medicaid funding to run 11 group homes and look after about 75 developmentally disabled patients.)
That IDI is in hot water again probably shouldn’t be a surprise. Mental health advocates have been asking the city for years to take action against IDI’s homes. Last year, Attorney General Peter Nickles finally did, suing IDI and citing “systematic” problems with how the nonprofit was caring for the city’s most vulnerable citizens.
Nickles originally sought to have two of IDI’s homes placed in receivership, then settled with IDI after they promised to make improvements.
But IDI has not lived up to all of its part of the bargain, according to an independent monitor. According to a letter from Nickles to Wilmot, the monitor reported 25 separate violations of the settlement in March, but said that IDI was making “substantial” improvements in its care. Based on that opinion, the city decided not to impose a fine at that time. But in September, the monitor reported 10 more violations, which led to the hefty fines. (The letter does not detail what the specific violations are.)
IDI appealed the fine, to no avail. In his letter, Nickles wrote that the “recurring violations” at IDI were “disconcerting.”
Wilmot did not return calls for comment for this story, Cooke declined to comment, and Bolden has a long-standing practice of refusing to speak with LL.
Adding to IDI’s problems: 150 or so employees of IDI voted to unionize last month, against Wilmot’s wishes.
Avril Smith, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union, says IDI’s employees voted to join SEIU’s Local 500 because IDI pays its lower-level employees poorly and its management is deaf to its workers concerns. Smith says many IDI employees can barely live off the low wages, and some have to rely on Medicaid for their own health care needs. The average salary for IDI employees is $31,826 a year, according to a city report.
The low pay might explain why IDI doesn’t attract the best workers. Two former employees have been found guilty of criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult in the last three years. One hit a client; another dragged a client across the floor.
IDI active treatment specialist Gerard Bradley says most employees are conscientious and enjoy being able to help the disabled. But he says his hourly rate of $10 an hour, $11 on weekends, hasn’t changed in the three years since he started. He says employees are treated like children by management—which is to say they’re mostly ignored until they start acting up.
The SEIU filed a grievance with National Labor Relations Board on behalf of a former IDI shift supervisor, Toni Odoms, saying IDI “discriminated and retaliated” against Odoms for her pro-union activity.
Odoms was fired this summer, she says, because she used a work van for “personal use” against company rules. The problem, Odoms says, is that everyone used the work van for personal use, like going to buy lunch, and IDI was only looking for a pretext to fire her because management got wind that she was working with the union.
“That’s the only thing I can come up with, I mean really,” she says. (IDI’s CEO did not return LL’s call for comment.)
Before the union vote, Wilmot sent a letter to employees telling them it would be a mistake to vote to unionize.
“All of your wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment are subject to the uncertain process of collective bargaining with the union,” Wilmot wrote. “While of course we would bargain in good faith, I can tell you that IDI cannot and would not agree to anything that is not in the best interest of our business, our employees, and our residents.”
Odoms also complained to LL about IDI’s low pay for lower-level workers. She says that whenever workers approached management about raises, “they said they didn’t have any money.”
IDI may not have enough money to boost the weekly take-home salaries of its grunts, but it does have enough to give “excessive” pay to Wilmot and IDI’s chief executive officer, Ronald Raghunandan, according to a report from the city’s Office of Inspector General.
This summer, an IG report found that Wilmot’s $261,000 2008 salary was about $80,000 over industry standards. Wilmot’s more current salary data isn’t known, but tax records unearthed by a previous LL show that Wilmot’s annual IDI pay has gone as high $346,743, which he earned in 2003.
Sandy Bernstein of University Legal Services, a nonprofit that advocates for the mentally disabled, says Wilmot’s salary wouldn’t be such a big issue if IDI’s clients were receiving excellent care. “The people aren’t getting the gold-star treatment, but [Wilmot] is getting the gold-star salary,” she says.
(In his letter to employees warning them against unionizing, Wilmot had the chutzpah to warn of the “sky-high salaries of union officials, including the president of the SEIU Local 500, who has been paid over $100,000 per year, and the senior officials of the SEIU, including the International President who was been paid over $300,000 per year.”)
The IG’s report also raised the question of whether Wilmot’s pay wasn’t breaking city regulations, which say Wilmot’s salary was acceptable as long as Wilmot documents his time performing managerial duties for IDI. “Not only did the IDI president not personally prepare or certify his time, but during the time that our audit team was on-site at the IDI officers, the president’s Chief Executive/Financial Officer appeared to perform the day-to-day management of the company,” the report said.
How much time Wilmot actually spends running IDI was a matter of some debate last year, when IDI was in the news after Nickles’ lawsuit. Tax records and previous stories indicate that Wilmot’s hours at IDI varied from five hours a week (in 2001 when he made $105,000) to 75 hours a week (in 2006 when he made $290,000.) The most recent tax filing puts Wilmot’s hours at 40 a week.
But Wilmot’s work as one of the city’s best-paid local lobbyist makes it hard to believe Wilmot’s giving IDI eight hours a day, 5 days a week.
For the first half of this year, lobbyist disclosure records show that Wilmot has been paid $203,250 from seven different corporations or organizations, including a monthly retainer of $13,125 from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Wilmot’s making the big bucks, presumably because he’s got valuable connections to the city’s elected officials. The type of connections, according to Wilmot himself, that take a lot of work.
“People just don’t realize we live and work in this place,” Wilmot told theWashington Business Journal’s Michael Neibauer in an interview this summer at the Wilson Building. “These relationships are built from working these halls. Part of it is just picking up intelligence. People ask, ‘Why are you here? It’s because you’re here.’”
Bradley and Odoms say Wilmot has virtually nothing to do with running the company. “He’s involved in the money, other than that, he’s not involved at all,” Bradley says.
In addition to the salary issues, the IG reported that IDI couldn’t provide supporting documentation for $48,000 in payments to its board members. The IG also noted that D.C. code prohibits non-profits from making loans to its directors or officers. But IDI has done exactly that. As a former LL noted last year, Wilmot took out a $300,000 loan from IDI in 2001, around the time of his costly divorce. Bolden received a $55,000 loan a year later. By the end of 2008, the IG report says, the loans were still outstanding. Wilmot and Bolden told The Washington Post last year that the loans were being repaid.
In a written response to the IG’s audit, Wilmot says the IG’s method for determining the industry standard for executive pay was wrong, and notes that his salary was the lowest of five group home providers IG said paid excessive executive salaries. Wilmot has also said that his high pay is fair given that he worked without salary for several years when he took over IDI’s bankrupt predecessor.
Wilmot also addressed the IG’s contention that the personal loans may have been illegal, saying the city law cited was outmoded and “does not contemplate” nonprofits like IDI, which receive all their funding from collecting fees for providing services. As for the $48,000 payments to board members, “IDI believes it can support the deliverables,” Wilmot wrote.
Wilmot’s letter does not address the questions raised about how much time he actually spends at IDI.
Perhaps the bigger question is how much time the next attorney general will spend going after IDI. Wilmot hosted a fundraiser for Almost Mayor Vincent Gray during the mayoral campaign, and the Post reported that Wilmot is something of a political adviser to the next mayor.
IDI’s latest troubles make that relationship somewhat complicated, for two pesky reasons: For one thing, Gray spent much of his non-profit career advocating for the developmentally disabled. For another, he won the election thanks in no small part to support from unions. When LL asked the mayor-elect about IDI, Gray said he was “not close enough to know the details.” He said the bottom line for him will be making sure the city’s disabled get the best care possible.
And Gray also quibbled with the description of Wilmot as a political adviser. “He’s somebody I respect for the work he’s done in the city,” Gray told LL, but added that Wilmot is more of a long-time acquaintance who didn’t have any active role in the campaign.
D.C. Republicans in danger of becoming 'minor' party
By Mike Debonis
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
November 3, 2010; 11:21 AM ET
UPDATED 1:35 P.M.
Yesterday, on its surface, was not a good day for city Republicans. Plenty of pundits applauded the local party for providing an alternative to the city's Democratic near-majority, but voters simply did not appreciate the the particular alternatives they were offered.
Ward 3's David Hedgepeth did the best, capitalizing on incumbent Democrat Mary Cheh's endorsement of Vincent Gray, unpopular in the ward. Hedgepeth only got 34 percent. Ward 1's Marc Morgan won only 7.6 percent -- less than Statehood Green Nancy Shia -- and Ward 5's Tim Day managed only 5.9 percent -- less than independent Kathy Henderson. Ward 6's Jim DeMartino got 13.7 percent.
There's worse news -- the GOP is in danger of being demoted to a minor party. According to city election regulations, a party only qualifies as "major" -- meaning it's entitled to hold primaries -- if one of its candidates for certain citywide offices earn 7,500 votes or more in the previous general election.
There was only one Republican running for one of the qualifying offices -- congressional delegate hopeful Missy Reilly Smith, she of thegraphic abortion ads. She won only 7,385 votes, with an unknown number of absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted. (A candidate for shadow representative, Nelson Rimensnyder, won more than 10,000 votes but that office is not counted toward major party status.)
Paul Craney, the D.C. Republican Committee's executive director, said Wednesday that he'd been unaware of the major party requirement. The party earlier this year had touted its strategy of sitting out of citywide races, where it felt it had little chance, and focusing on the ward races.
Craney & Co. are now in the awkward position of rooting for a candidate they had all but disowned: "I guess it would be nice if she could meet that [7,500 vote] threshhold," he said, adding that he would probably petition the Board of Elections and Ethics to recognize Rimensnyder's showing if she did not.
He added that if Smith doesn't in fact reach the target, and the party is barred from holding a 2012 primary, "it's not going to change anything that we're doing." If the party doesn't earn itself a primary, its candidates will have to collect a significant but not impossible number of signatures to get on the general election ballot.
There were bright spots for the GOP. They were able to bit a bit of a scare into Cheh and they dug up some dirt on Day's chief opponent,Harry Thomas Jr.
And a well-known local Republican actually did win office: Patrick Mara, the former council candidate, beat an incumbent to win the Ward 1 State Board of Education seat.
State Board seats, however, are nonpartisan; Mara did not run as a Republican. Craney would not discuss his victory on the record.
UPDATE, 1:35 P.M.: It appears that the GOP will safely keep its major party status after all, Martin Austermuhle reports at DCist:
In the end, though, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) came through to save the D.C. GOP. According to D.C. statutes we consulted with a BOEE lawyer, Republicans would have to have come in under the 7,500 mark for both the general election and the previous presidential election. They certainly appear as if they did for yesterday's general election -- but the 17,367 votes McCain received in the District in 2008 puts the party comfortably above the necessary threshold to avoid a demotion.
City on a Hill: The District’s forgotten second party
On Tuesday night, in a small, dimly lit Adams Morgan bar just off 18th Street, the old guard of the D.C. Statehood Green Party gathered together for an election party. The crowd, which was heavy on tweed coats, traded stories from their daytime campaigning. They booed audibly when a close race was called for the Republicans and cheered when the Democrats hung on to another seat. The bar’s choice to tune into Fox News proved controversial and the loud commentary about the on-air antics of Fox News’s Shepard Smith forced the bartender to change the channel to CNN.
The Statehood Green’s candidate for At-Large member of the D.C. Council, Howard University Professor David Schwartzman, pulled in only 6.8 percent of the vote. The At-Large race is a competition that allows anyone from the District to run in an open election in all of D.C.’s eight wards. Voters can select two choices, and the two best-performing candidates who are not from the same party are elected to the Council.
Though they have yet to win a seat on D.C. Council, the Statehood Greens represent an important force against the political establishment in a city that is almost completely dominated by the Democratic Party and lacks any meaningful Republican opposition. This September, D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray challenged incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty in a hotly-contested primary. But when Gray prevailed in the primary, the race more or less ended, leaving many D.C. voters out of the political process and granting the Democratic Party a virtual monopoly on the general race once again.
The D.C. Council races also ended with all of the same Democratic incumbents cruising to victory, with the exception of Independent At-Large David Catania (SFS ’90, LAW ‘94), who was able to win easily due to the unique structure of the At-Large election.
The Democratic stranglehold on local politics has two effects. First, because the Democratic primaries effectively choose the eventual political victors, anyone who is not a registered Democrat has little say in the political process.
Secondly, because they are sure to be reelected as long as they run as Democrats, members of City Council often act in ways that belie Democratic ideals.
As Schwartzman explained, the most recent D.C. Council—the same individuals who will be in power for the next two years with the exception of incoming Mayor Gray—made a number of painful cuts to health care and welfare services in the midst of the recession, and ran a disquieting deficit.
Schwartzman and other Greens are quite familiar with accusations that they contribute to the “spoiler effect.” Democrats across the country are fond of complaining about Green Party candidates who siphon away progressive votes from their party. This election cycle is no different—consider the grumbling about LeAlan Jones allegedly causing Democrat Alexi Giannoulias’s narrow loss to Republican Mark Kirk in the Illinois Senate race.
But Greens in D.C. play an important role in keeping the political class honest. While Schwartzman may have come up short in his At-Large bid this cycle, one can only hope that he will find a way to prevail in the future. A challenge from the left could be the right antidote to the too often passive Democratic establishment.
ANC Results of Note
Housing Complex (Washington City Paper blog)
Now that the dust has settled over at BOEE–all you teeth-gnashing overnight should have just gone to bed and waited for the morning, honestly!–let’s look at some of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission races that have been relevant to Housing Complex’s world (this isn’t comprehensive–if I haven’t mentioned a race, that doesn’t mean it’s not important).
In ANC 1A, Park View blogger Kent Boese is now a commissioner, while neither Jim Graham staffer Calvin Woodland nor Graham foe William Jordan ran for reelection.
In ANC 1B, Aaron Spencer topples ABRA committee chairman Peter Raia, who was moving out of the single member district anyway (new bars, meet new ANC contact). Raia foe Brianne Nadeau bows out.
In ANC 1C, Mindy Moretti, former Ward 1 Council candidates Bryan Weaver and Nancy Shia, library activist Chris Otten all gone.
In ANC 1D, chairman Gregg Edwards keeps his seat (defeating Mount Pleasant Main Streets’ Phil Greiner) as does pal Jack McKay; D.C. bicycle ambassador Ben West, Laura Phelan, and Tommy Wells staffer China Terrell join the fun.
In the only contested race in ANC 2B, Ramon Estrada–scourge of noisy bars everywhere–fends off smart growth insurgent Sunit Talapatra.
In ANC 2C, Kevin Chapple cruises to victory over challenger Leroy Thorpe,which must be some consolation to Convention Center Community Association president Martin Moulton, who failed to take out Doris Brooks in her run for reelection against Rickey Williams.
In ANC 5C, Tim Clark squeaks out a win over Denise Wright, James Fournier ousts Barrie “The Commish” Daneker, and Jioni Palmerreplaces Marshall Phillips. This ANC could see some change.
In ANC 6B, Kirsten Oldenburg survives a challenge from transparency crusader Larry Janezich, as does Neil Glick from Laura McSorley–by nine votes!–but another reformer, Brian Pate, defeats Ken Jarboe.
In ANC 6D, David “DG-Rad” Garber knocks off Robert Siegel, and chairmanRon McBee survives a challenge from Mary Williams.
In ANC 8E, Sandra Seegars had no challenger, but Kay Armstead–who has led Highland Dwellings residents in their resistance to the Housing Authority’s relocation efforts–was defeated, 53 percent to 44 percent.
D.C. Area Doing Great. D.C. Itself? Not So Much.
Housing Complex (Washington City Paper blog)
September’s unemployment statistics are out, and the numbers for our little corner of the world look fantastic: We’ve dropped below six percent, thankyou very much! At 5.9 percent, the D.C./Maryland/Virginia/West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area has the lowest unemployment rate of any large urban area in the country.
That number, though, is a bit deceiving. The number for the District itself, seasonally adjusted, is 9.8 percent–a hair above the national average of 9.6 percent. This isn’t the only metric in which the MSA measurement gives us a skewed sense of the health of the our city–the same pattern shows up in income statistics as well. Why does that matter, if the region is doing well? Aren’t we supposed to be thinking regionally, after all? Sure–but to state an obvious fact that it’s not always clear people realize, D.C. is a separate tax jurisdiction that must finance all its own social services, which is different from, say, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont MSA. When D.C. can’t collect income taxes from the people who live here, we can’t share the region’s wealth.
It’s also interesting to compare the District’s unemployment against the nation’s over the last 10 years. D.C.’s rate never got as low as the national average–which hit 3.8 percent in April 2000–and skyrocketed much higher, reaching 12 percent in January 2010, when the number nationally was 9.7 percent. But it’s quickly returned to almost the same level, in large part because of the jobs the federal government has pumped jobs into the local economy. For recovery purposes, it sure helps to have an expansionary federal government in the neighborhood.
Interim chancellor Henderson steps up
By Bill Turque | November 3, 2010; 8:44 Am Et
D.C. Schools Insider (Washington Post blog)
Interim D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson officially planted her interim flag Wednesday morning in a brief message to DCPS parents, pledging a seamless transition from the Michelle Rhee era.
"Many of you know me well," the former Rhee deputy said. "A 13-year resident of the District, I've worked side-by-side with Michelle Rhee for nearly four years to shape the turnaround of our public schools."
Here's the full statement:
This week, I begin serving as your new Interim Chancellor of D,C, Public Schools. Although my title may be different, my steadfast dedication to reforming education in the district remains unchanged.
Many of you know me well. A 13-year resident of the District, I've worked side-by-side with Michelle Rhee for nearly four years to shape the turnaround of our public schools. With your unwavering support, we've all seen reform pivot education in our city - and we're going to keep going!
The DCPS management team remains intact and focused on continuing reform. And we know that we can count on you to continue this journey with us.
I am excited about the success that we will continue to achieve together. I am equally excited that my tenure begins with our district-wide celebration honoring highly effective educators. A "Standing Ovation for DC Teachers" recognized the supermen and superwomen who educate our future leaders, and I can't think of a better way to illustrate the enduring quality of our reforms.
Continued progress is not an option; it is a necessity for our children's future. And it is reassuring to know that I can depend on your continued support.
The DCPS management team remains intact and focused on continuing reform. And we know that we can count on you to continue this journey with us.
I am excited about the success that we will continue to achieve together. I am equally excited that my tenure begins with our district-wide celebration honoring highly effective educators. A "Standing Ovation for DC Teachers" recognized the supermen and superwomen who educate our future leaders, and I can't think of a better way to illustrate the enduring quality of our reforms.
Continued progress is not an option; it is a necessity for our children's future. And it is reassuring to know that I can depend on your continued support.
Mike DeBonis: http://wapo.st/99GAJa
Loose Lips (daily column): http://bit.ly/amUlVu
DMV (P.J. Orvetti): http://bit.ly/cbwKhU
Of interest:
The Washington area led the nation in employment growth with 56,000 new jobs created over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to federal government data released Wednesday.
(Click link for full story)
Washington unemployment lowest in nation - Washington Business Journal
The unemployment rate in the Washington area fell from 6.2 percent in August to 5.9 percent in September, the lowest unemployment rate among the nation’s large metro areas.
(Click link for full story)
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