themail.gif (3487 bytes)

June 12, 2011

Time to Go

Dear People in Control:

The tsunami of ethical failures that has overwhelmed our government does not have to overwhelm us. These corrupt events are serious and have been eating at the heart of our city’s government for years. But they are not a new crisis. Recent events have come to light all at one time partly by coincidence, and they have partly been exaggerated by partisans of Adrian Fenty who are attempting to refight the last election and bring down Vincent Gray by connecting Gray falsely to them. (Frederick Butler, the same man who was the communications director of the Write in Fenty campaign and who works for Fenty crony and partner in scandal Sinclair Skinner, now runs the Recall Vince Gray campaign, http://www.recallvincegray.com.) But Kwame Brown’s and Harry Thomas’ and Yvette Alexander’s fundraising scandals are all independent of each other, and all of them occurred during Fenty’s mayoralty. We also have to note the fiscal and earmark corruption of Marion Barry over years and Jack Evans’ long-running practice of representing the same clients in his law firm’s office and his council office.

Jim Graham’s (and now Harry Thomas’) involvement with promoting taxicab medallions and Michael Brown’s involvement with promoting Internet gambling are corrupt, but that is because the industries they are promoting are corrupt in themselves. Cab medallions have nothing to do with improving taxicab fleets or taxicab service. Anything the government wanted to do to improve cab fleets or service it could do through Taxicab Commission regulations, if the government had a functioning Taxicab Commission, which it hasn’t had for years. Medallions are simply a method for the government to create wealth for large taxicab companies, politicians’ generous donors, by restricting the number of medallions and therefore artificially raising a barrier that prevents new drivers from entering the cab industry as independent cab owners. And as for Internet gambling, does anyone, even anyone who supports gambling, really believe that the DC government is going to devote the massive resources and attention it would take to clean up the gambling industry? There’s no profit in that.

The council has reacted to the mess it is in by considering a new ethics law, Bill 19-297 (http://www.dcwatch.com/council19/19-297.htm), proposed by Council Chairman Kwame Brown and Councilmember Mary Cheh. There will be a public roundtable on the bill tomorrow, but the bill is already a failure before the council has even discussed it. Not only does it not improve how the government deals with the ethical lapses of elected officials, it makes it worse, establishing new bureaucracies with no power or authority. As The Washington Post editorialized today, “It not only would fail to bring clarity to the city’s confusing code of conduct but also would create unnecessary bureaucracy. An ethics advisory committee would be formed and a new office of government accountability would be tasked with investigations, although it would only be able to make recommendations to a vaguely described ‘appropriate authority.’ Instead of creating dubious layers of government where investigations can go to die, the council should strengthen the agencies — the office of campaign finance, the inspector general, and the attorney general’s office — already in place,” http://tinyurl.com/3tteyku Mary Cheh has argued that opposing this bill is a case of opposing the good because it is not perfect. But  the bill is neither perfect nor good, and passing a bad ethics billl now means the council will consider its job done, and not pass a good bill later.

More importantly, individual councilmembers should grow spines and straighten out their current postures of going along with each others’ corruption in order to get along with each other. Most politicians normally maintain cordial relations with their colleagues in order to reach the compromises necessary to pass legislation, but these are not normal times. Councilmembers who have given each other free passes in the past need to learn not to turn their backs on unethical conduct by their colleagues and on the corrupt deals their colleagues promote, whether those deals are earmarks, free cars, taxicab medallion bills, favors for their donors or clients, hiring girlfriends or relatives, using council staffers as gofers, servants, or campaign aides, or any of a multitude of other schemes. And as voters we should consider again the term limits bill that Russell Cramer mentions below. When the voters passed a term limits bill several years ago, the city council waited several years, until just before the bill would go into effect, before Councilmember Jack Evans led the council in repealing it. Councilmembers don’t believe the people should govern the council; we should pass term limits again and let them know we’re serious about taking control back from them. They’ve grown too fat, sassy, and unaccountable in their positions;

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

###############

This Year’s Redistricting
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com

I’m going to try to sum up briefly what happened during the redistricting struggle that has just come to an end. A few weeks ago, three councilmembers who were in charge of the redistricting told Ward 6 residents that DC law required that each of our eight wards should be roughly seventy-five thousand each in population. Therefore Ward 6 had to give up to Ward 7 the eight thousand residents between 17th Street, SE, and Reservation 13. These council members were Jack Evans, Michael Brown, and Phil Mendelson.

But when citizens of Ward 6 fought back, the three councilmembers abandoned the shifting of Ward 6’s eight thousand people and simply gave Reservation 13 to Ward 7. And Ward 6 ended up receiving the Shaw neighborhood from Jack Evans’ ward. That is where things stand, now that the battle is over.

This makes it obvious that following the law concerning equal population was not really what motivated Evans, Brown, and Mendelson. I’m interested in what people think their motivation was.

###############

Time to Go
Deborah Bradford, bradford_deborah@yahoo.com

Wow seems like everybody up in that city council is crooked, we can sure need a change! Everybody need to go!

###############

Govern Yourself
Russell Cramer, ruslcramer@yahoo.com

Bring back term limits. Force these “representatives of the people” to rid themselves of their sycophants, opportunists, and robber barons who surround them and who make them feel important, invincible, and entitled. Have them get a taste of the real world every eighth year. In the meantime the people have four years to find out if the person who replaced them are better, and if not, to vote them back in again. All this rubbish about continuity, familiarity, and stability is nothing else but that — a load of rubbish! We can clean up and also set an example to Congress, that other den of thieves with unlimited terms. Let’s get a referendum on term limits going. If it is good for the mayoral position, it ought to apply to the Council as well.

###############

CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Hearing Tomorrow on Ethics Reform, June 13
Kwame Brown, tellkwamebrown@gmail.com

I made a promise after being elected Chairman to have an ethics reform bill for my colleagues to vote on before the end of this legislative session. I’m proud to say that we’re delivering on that promise. On May 17, I co-introduced legislation, with Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, establishing the Comprehensive Ethics Reform Act of 2011 (CERA). This legislation will create the Office of Government Accountability (OGA) and, within it, the Ethics Advisory Committee (EAC).

The Director of the OGA will have the power to investigate any matter involving lobbying, conflict of interest, financial disclosures, and other ethical matters and standards of conduct relating to District of Columbia employees. Accordingly, the Director will be empowered to subpoena, depose persons, recommend civil penalties, and report potential criminal violations to the appropriate authorities and agencies.

The CERA Act will broaden requirements of lobbyist registration, require disclosure of business relationships between lobbyists and public officials, and require elected officials to disclose external fundraising activities. We will hold a public hearing for this ethics bill tomorrow, Monday, June 13, at noon in Council Chambers, Room 500. Please attend the hearing or watch it live on our web site.

###############

National Building Museum Events, June 18, 29
Stacy Adamson, sadamson@nbm.org

June 18, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile. Free, registration not required. Held at the National Museum of Natural History, Baird Auditorium, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW. John Ochsendorf, engineering professor at MIT and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, discusses the history of Guastavino vaults, which employ terra cotta tile and mortar to form self-supporting arches and domes. Presented in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s Architectural History and Historic Preservation Division, the lecture will take place in the National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium, a spectacular example of Guastavino vaulting.

June 19, 1:00-3:00 p.m. Mosaic Mania. $12 per child for members, $17 per child for nonmembers. Prepaid registration required. Learn to tell a story through art and architecture! Join mural artist and founder of City Arts, Byron Peck, in this hands-on, art-making adventure for the whole family. Work with tiles and learn to make your own small mosaic mural that you can take home and enjoy. Registration fee covers the cost of materials. This program is presented in conjunction with Walls Speak: The Narrative Art of Hildreth Meière. Both events at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square Metro station. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.

###############

Voices of a Movement Open Mic, June 19
Jasmine Taylor, One Common Unity, contact@onecommonunity.org

One Common Unity proudly presents the most socially conscious open mic night in DC: Voices of a Movement: Marriage and the Family. Hosted by HawaH and Maimouna Youssef on Sunday, June 19, 8:00-10:00 p.m., at Busboys and Poets (5th and K Streets, NW).

“Voices of a Movement” is your chance to take the stage and share your story through music, spoken word poetry, and other artistic mediums. And if performing is not your thing, simply come and listen. Every month, we highlight a different issue facing our community. But you’re welcome to bring work about any topic which concerns you to share. For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=184538171586998

###############

CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING

Affordable Condos in Anacostia and Good Hope/Naylor
Parisa Nourizi, parisa@empowerdc.org

There will be an information session on Saturday, June 18, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Uniontown Bar and Grill, 2200 Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue, SE. Find out about affordable new condos in Anacostia and Good Hope/Naylor. A free brunch will be served and a presentation on neighborhood history and culture will be given by Anthony Gualtieri from Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. Hear about affordable home ownership and the Buxton Condo in Anacostia and the Belgrove Condo in Good Hope/Naylor from developer Manna, Inc. Credit counseling and housing purchase assistance available, and an optional tour of the property will follow the event. To RSVP or get more information, contact Parisa at 234-9119, parisa@empowerdc.org

###############

themail@dcwatch is an E-mail discussion forum that is published every Wednesday and Sunday. To change the E-mail address for your subscription to themail, use the Update Profile/Email address link below in the E-mail edition. To unsubscribe, use the Safe Unsubscribe link in the E-mail edition. An archive of all past issues is available at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail.

All postings should be submitted to themail@dcwatch.com, and should be about life, government, or politics in the District of Columbia in one way or another. All postings must be signed in order to be printed, and messages should be reasonably short — one or two brief paragraphs would be ideal — so that as many messages as possible can be put into each mailing.

 


Send mail with questions or comments to webmaster@dcwatch.com
Web site copyright ©DCWatch (ISSN 1546-4296)