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November 18, 2007

Union Busting

Dear Busters:

Do the Washington Post editorial writers read the editorials in the Washington Post? On Friday, the Post editorialized about two employees of the DC Public School system who improperly billed the system for more than thirteen thousand dollars in meals and drinks (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/15/AR2007111502191.html). That’s right, more than $13,000. The Post was outraged that the system didn’t catch those massive improper bills quickly, and didn’t move to penalize those two employees more quickly. And it used its ginned up and exaggerated outrage to claim that the $13,000 in phony bills justifies School Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s demand that the city council strip school system employees of all their protections against being arbitrarily and capriciously fired. Mayor Fenty campaigned to strip the school system itself of its independence, and the Post enthusiastically agreed; the politicians in the mayor’s office and on the city council, it thundered, were more capable of overseeing and managing the schools than an independent school board was.

The next day, the Post editorialized about a little scandal in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/16/AR2007111601817.html). Two employees had been accused of running a scheme that embezzled over thirty million dollars over a period of almost ten years. Did the Post editorialists express the same degree of outrage and make the same demands for drastic immediate action over this little $30 million embezzlement as they did over the massive $13 thousand one at DCPS? No, on the contrary, they ask for caution and lobby to preserve the system as it is: “Meanwhile, if the council seizes on this scandal as an excuse to seek to limit the CFO’s independence, the blow to confidence in the District’s finances will be far greater. The CFO, who can be removed only at the mayor’s behest with a two-thirds vote of the council, is largely protected from the vagaries of city politics. He should remain so.” The Chief Financial Officer should be protected from the vagaries of city politics, but its schools, teachers, and students shouldn’t be.

The vagaries of city politics are already impinging on the schools in yet another way. On November 16, Mayor Fenty issued a press release, “Fenty Administration Examines Options for Schools in Federal Restructuring Status" (http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/071116.htm), and the Post covered the story on November 15 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402818.html) and today (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/17/AR2007111701410.html). Rhee is trying to give the impression that she is considering all the options for restructuring thirty-one city schools that have failed to meet federal Adequate Yearly Progress goals for five consecutive years, because she doesn’t want to give the public or school employees adequate time to organize against her preferred option -- privatizing all or almost all of the thirty-one schools. In fact, however, representatives of the four private school operating companies that she favors have begun visiting the schools, and the process of giving them control is well underway, though not finalized. The implications of this turnover are massive for school system employees. Privatization of the schools will be a backdoor way for Fenty and Rhee to break the teachers union. By District law, contractors are forbidden from supervising and giving work orders to District government employees, and the Washington Teachers Union has a contract only with the District government, not with these private school management companies. Unless several laws are changed, the teachers who work in any schools that are turned over to private companies will no longer be government employees, protected by their employee rights and benefits, and the union will lose hundreds and potentially thousands of members.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Still Paying for the Washington Nationals
Pat Taylor, ptaylor.dc@verizon.net

Every month when I write my check to Comcast for expanded basic cable service, I involuntarily pay Comcast an extra two dollars for the Washington Nationals sports network. Twenty-four dollars a year. Every year into the future. For a channel I never watch. Adding $38.4 million to Comcast’s annual revenues. This expense is thanks to the District of Columbia council and former Mayor Anthony Williams, who pressured Comcast into adding this network to be paid for by cable subscribers. First our elected leaders built a very expensive new baseball stadium at taxpayer expense. Then they brought us the increased cost of cable TV subscriptions. Now it looks like the next expense for DC residents will be funding parking facilities for Nationals fans. For the benefit of the privately owned baseball team. I hope Washington, DC’s, expensive saga in getting a big league baseball team will be a cautionary tale for taxpayers in other cities wishing for one, too.

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DC’s Attorney General Is Missing in Action
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

Last week, Mayor Fenty and Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi held a press conference at the Wilson Building to answer questions and announce reforms at the DC Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) as a result of the unfolding tax fraud scandal. Also attending the Wednesday event were Councilmember jack Evans, chairman of the council’s Committee on Finance and Revenue; Ben Lorigo, appointed by Gandhi to head OTR and replace Sherryl Hobbs Newman; and Peter Nickles, General Counsel to the mayor. Notably absent was the District’s Attorney General, Linda singer. At a time when the city and the Fenty administration is facing the largest case of public corruption and the largest theft from the District’s treasury in history, and an investigation is being led by the US Attorneys for the District of Columbia and Maryland, Singer’s absence was significant.

Tomorrow, the council’s Judiciary Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). Councilmembers will query Singer regarding the ever-decreasing role of the OAG and the increased prominence of General Counsel Peter Nickles in important legal issues facing the District. In recent months, Nickles has been the District’s legal counsel who, among other things, negotiated the sale of Greater Southeast Community Hospital, developed Fenty’s E-mail deletion policy, testified before the council regarding Fenty’s taxicab fare proposal, negotiated the settlement with former school superintendent Clifford Janey, represented the District in court in cases involving crowding at DC Jail and the treatment of the disabled, and responded to council concerns regarding the selection of school chancellor Michelle Rhee.

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Voluntary Agreements and the ABC Board
Jack McKay, jack.mckay@verizon.net

So-called “voluntary agreements” allow small bands of residents to impose stringent requirements on local restaurants and other liquor licensees. These VAs are supposed to render such businesses “appropriate” for the neighborhood, according to certain very specific criteria, e.g., “peace, order, and quiet.” But the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board avoids examining these VAs to confirm that the conditions are indeed justified based on those conditions, knowing that that would produce a wave of time-consuming disputes.

For example: live music and dancing are banned in Mount Pleasant restaurants. The ban on dancing is especially egregious. What possible connection is there between dancing in a restaurant and “peace, order and quiet” outside the restaurant? The restaurateur is even instructed to prevent his customers from moving tables to create a dance floor, should they be so inclined. The ABC Board has never required the proponents of this ban to defend their claim that dancing is a threat to peace in the neighborhood. When the conditions of a VA are challenged, perhaps by residents who think that folks dancing in restaurants are not disturbing the neighbors, the standard reply is that the restaurateur didn’t object to the ban when he signed the agreement.

Our local gang of mossbacks also requires, in their most recently imposed VA, that the restaurateur not “obscure the windows of the establishment in such a manner as to eliminate the ability of those outside to see into the establishment from the street.” Why not? I presume it’s so their vigilante squads can peer into restaurants to make certain that no one is singing or dancing or playing a musical instrument. It’s no wonder the streets of Mount Pleasant are lonely and deserted at night, even on fine summer weekend evenings. It’s a funless place, thanks to those who think that anyone having a good time in a Mount Pleasant restaurant is a threat to “peace, order, and quiet” in the neighborhood. The ABC Board, unhappily, allows itself to become the enforcement agency for such people.

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Cheh and OTR Groupies
Frank Winstead, Forest Hills, frank.winstead@gmail.com

At the November 14 Woodley Park Community Association meeting, Councilmember Mary Cheh expressed doubts about whether individual employee performance evaluations are actually conducted in the DC government and in particular in DCRA. She used the revelations in the DC school administration, where some employees do not even have job descriptions let alone evaluations, as support for her contentions. Patrick Leibach, son of ex-Councilmember Kathleen Patterson and now a helot in Cheh’s office, defiantly corrected Boss Cheh. He asserted that Cheh’s office receives copies of these individual evaluations from DCRA, which is under the purview of the committee that Cheh chairs.

One of the first bills Mary Cheh introduced this year was the Excellence in Government Amendment Act of 2007. That is a recycled bill that Kathleen Patterson failed to get passed during her long tenure on the council. The Cheh version calls for spending $500,000 or more per year to reward groups of DC government employees. Bill 17-0045 states “To qualify for a group performance award, a division must have exceeded the performance measures established for the division. . . .”

On page A-225 of Mayor Fenty’s Proposed 2008 budget is a performance table for the Office of Tax and Revenue with no explanation but with just the simple heading: “Percent of refunds issued within 14 days.” For 2005 the target was 95 percent, but the actual was 100 percent. If this Cheh/Patterson legislation had been in place at that time, overachieving OTR employees could have qualified for performance awards.

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Dead Men Walkin’
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

Natwar Gandhi, Joe Gibbs

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Office of Tax and Revenue Refund Scandal
Tolu Tolu, Tolu2Books@aol.com

I can guarantee that this open fraud is not limited to real estate tax refunds to businesses, nor are these crooks the only ones stealing mega bucks in DC government.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Going Green, Carrot or Stick, November 19
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org

Monday, November 19, 6:30-8:00 p.m. For the Greener Good Lecture Series: Part III: Going Green: Carrot or Stick? What is the tipping point for sustainability? This panel will examine solutions for motivating green building and life practices and will discuss what "green" practices cities should and should not regulate. The panelists include John C. Dernbach, professor of law, Widener University School of Law; Brian Gault, director of sustainable development, The Peterson Companies; Jason Hartke, manager, State and Local Advocacy, US Green Building Council; and Mark Palmer, green building coordinator, Department of the Environment, City and County of San Francisco. $12 members and students; $20 nonmembers. Prepaid registration required. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org. Walk-in registration based on availability.

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Climate Change Slide Show at Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, November 29
Beth Meyer, lmeyer8090@aol.com

Eli Pollak of the Climate Project will give a slide show on “Climate Change: The Facts and What You Can Do Now” on Thursday, November 29, at 6:30 p.m., in the first floor auditorium of the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, Connecticut and Macomb Streets, NW.

Eli Pollak is a senior high school student at Sidwell Friends School. He was one of a thousand students trained by Al Gore and the Climate Project to increase public awareness of global warming. Mr. Pollack will talk about the science of climate change, evidence of climate change throughout the world, and what we can do now to fight it. His presentation is an adaptation of the slide show that formed the basis for the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

The Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library is located near the Cleveland Park Metrorail Station. All District of Columbia Public Library activities are open to the public free of charge. For further information, please call the Cleveland Park Library at 282-3080.

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The Final Night of the Hotel Washington, December 31
Michael Karlan, dc@prosinthecity.com

On January 1, 2008, after ninety years of continuous operation, the Hotel Washington, which is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the District of Columbia, and is located just steps from the White House, is closing its doors forever. On December 31, Professionals in the City hosts the last party ever at the Hotel Washington, where attendees will have exclusive access to the entire hotel for the final twenty-four hours of the hotel’s existence as its last guests for an unforgettable New Year’s Eve Blowout Extravaganza. For details about this event or to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.prosinthecity.com/index.cfm?trackid=themailnye2007&cityid=1, E-mail dc@prosinthecity.com or call 686-5990.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED

DC Act Seeking Public Policy Analyst
Susie Cambria, scambria@dckids.org

As DC ACT’s health policy portfolio grows, we are ready to hire a public policy analyst whose job will be to conduct research and advocate for effective policies to improve child health outcomes in the District of Columbia. The analyst’s portfolio will include issues such as health care financing, mental health, and healthy youth development.

A full job description will be on-line at http://www.dckids.org in The Latest by November 19.

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