Noncombatants
Dear Combatants:
At the bottom of this introduction to themail are four important
articles on DC’s current corruption scandals. I recommend that you
read them all, because I don’t have anything to add to them.
Except one thing. No politician in town has presented himself or
herself as a credible opponent of corruption. No politician has tried.
No politician has expressed any outrage about any charge that has been
made against any of his or her colleagues. Mayor Gray’s popularity has
dropped partially because of the continued animosity of the Fenty
supporters who are his political enemies, who are running a recall
campaign six months before recall petitions can even be circulated. But
it has dropped mostly because Gray hasn’t shown any willingness, much
less eagerness, to confront any corruption anywhere, whether in his own
campaign, in any of the fiscal manipulations of councilmembers, or even
in the Fenty administration that he campaigned against. Gray’s only
anger has been directed against reporters who try to give him an
opportunity to express anger against corruption and scandals. The
message that Gray sends to citizens is that, in the fight against
corruption, he is a noncombatant.
Colbert King, “Money Distorts District Politics,” http://tinyurl.com/3esw8sd
Freeman Klopott, “DC’s Officials’ Quest for Cash and Power Leads
to Corruption Charges,” http://tinyurl.com/3meolaw
Deborah Simmons, “DC Trouble Continues to Run Deep,” http://tinyurl.com/4ybzyl6
Nikita Stewart, Jon Cohen, Peyton Craighill, “DC Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s
Popularity Plunges,” http://tinyurl.com/3bag778
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
The June 2011 edition of Accounting Today page 14 references a
study of state tax systems on page 14 (http://www.accountingtoday.com/ato_issues/25_6/playing-the-state-tax-lottery-58499-1.html).
Unfortunately the District of Columbia comes in dead last, the worst
ranking out of the fifty-one tax jurisdictions reviewed! A link to the
study, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Business Tax Index 2011,
is http://www.sbecouncil.org/businesstaxindex2011/report.pdf.
I believe the rankings are largely driven by the small business tax
burden. Given that small businesses are the real job providers in the
US, the significance of a last place ranking shouldn’t be taken
lightly, especially considering the 25 percent unemployment in ward 8.
I’m sure DC politicians and their supporters can come up with
reasons why the study could be flawed, but the city’s high
unemployment, especially compared to Virginia, with its much more
favorable fourteenth place ranking, perhaps tells a lot of the story.
###############
Taxing Out-of-City Bonds
Stewart Reuter, rtlreuter@aol.com
Our city council, seeking ways to raise taxes instead of cutting
spending (so, what’s new?), has just done a real disservice to the
citizenry. By deciding to tax the interest on “out-of-state” bonds
held by DC taxpayers, they have not only changed the rules in the middle
of the game, they have passed what seems like an ex post facto
law. Those who purchased securities under the old rules (no tax on bonds
from other jurisdictions because of limited choice of District
securities) will now pay the tax. In their infinite “wisdom,” the
council even says the tax goes back to 1 January of this tax year, and
on bonds purchased years before their new tax concept. An analogy would
be for the politicians to instigate a tax on home sales, and then send a
bill to someone who sold their home three years ago and moved out of the
District. I hope one of the many lawyers in town sues the city based on ex
post facto reasoning.
###############
Prison Gerrymandering
Ralph J. Chittams, Sr., rjchittamssr@gmail.com
“Prison gerrymandering” is not just a local issue; it is also a
national issue. It is being debated from New York to California. There
are several issues. Should prisons be considered residences? Does an
incarcerated person become a resident of the state, city, town, or ward
in which the prison is located? For example, does a DC resident who is
incarcerated in Ohio cease being a DC resident and become a resident of
Ohio? Let’s bring the question locally. Does a Ward 1 resident
incarcerated at DC Jail become a Ward 7 resident based solely on his
status as an inmate and the location of the prison? Prison records list
an inmate’s “home” address, not his prison address, as his
permanent address. How then does the inmate population at DC Jail
increase the population of Ward 7 by 3,200 simply because the prison is
now located in Ward 7? Clearly it does not. With this understanding, it
is clear that the population of Ward 7 post-redistricting is actually
lower than it was prior to redistricting — the only Ward suffering
from this defect post-redistricting.
Are we to believe that our elected DC officials are not aware of the
issues outlined above? I, for one, do not presume them to be that
ignorant. Why then did they perpetrate this fraud upon the residents of
Ward 7? There are many reasons. First and foremost, Councilmember Yvette
Alexander, the Councilmember representing Ward 7, wanted it to happen.
She voted “Yes” to the redistricting plan which reduces the
population of her Ward 7 — a vote not in the best interest of her
constituents. However, it was a vote that benefited her personally.
Councilmember Alexander is facing a bruising battle for reelection.
Removing the Marbury Plaza community from Ward 7, while absorbing 3,200
people, many of whom can not legally vote in Ward 7, in her mind
probably makes her path to reelection easier. She has lowered the number
of voting residents of Ward 7 and thus needs fewer votes for reelection.
She has created the illusion that Ward 7’s population increased when
in fact it actually decreased. In addition, Councilmember Alexander did
not want the Hill East or Rosedale communities redistricted into Ward 7.
Why? They had already made their feelings known about her — she has to
go!
Gerrymandering is usually used to benefit a political party. DC has
elevated gerrymandering to new heights, using it to protect an elected
official from members of her own party. Shameful!
###############
Who Gained from the Recent Redistricting
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com
In my last submission I pointed out that the redistricting overseen
by Michael Brown, Jack Evans, and Phil Mendelson was not really about
insuring that the populations of Evans Ward, Wells’ Ward, and
Alexander’s Ward were equal. And I asked did the key players hope to
gain by the redistricting.
Here’s what I conclude. What did Jack Evans get? Evans got rid of
Shaw, the only part of his ward that is largely black, and now his ward
is 80 percent white. Wells got rid of Reservation 13. If it’s not part
of his ward any longer, his constituents can’t complain about to him
that he’s using it as a dumping ground on the edge of their
neighborhoods. In her June 11 posting on the New Hill East listserv,
Judith Knee, one of his constituents, commented, “Res. 13 was
bargained away, and Tommy shouldn’t be so complacent about it.” And
Ward 7’s Yvette Alexander wanted and got a piece of the action on the
west side of the Anacostia River. Stealing part of a prosperous and
mostly white ward will play well with the constituents in her ward. She
said, ““I think it went pretty well. I think Ward 7 got a good deal,”
she said. “We got RFK Stadium and Reservation 13 and Kingman Park’s
parking issues are resolved. I wanted to welcome Hill East, but they
wanted to stay in Ward 6.”
Mark Plotkin, WTOP’s political analyst, summed up the whole
nauseating process: “This is about race and perceived status. That is
what motivates those who draw these lines. The whole process is polluted
and corrupt.” From my perspective the recent redistricting is just
another example of the blatant corruption of the DC government.
###############
DC’s Political Corruption Reflects Its
Political Structure
Vic Miller, Washington Heights, millervic@hotmail.com
DC’s political ethics issues are similar to the market dominance of
a monopolist. Most people in this country elect a couple of dozen
politicians to directly represent them. In addition to the president,
each person has two US senators, a congressman, a governor, state
officials (attorneys general, treasurers, comptrollers, etc.), at least
two state legislators, county and city councilmen, mayors, local
officials, school board members, often judges, sheriffs, special
district officers, etc.
These people are both competitors in one sense and in training for
higher office in another. It is not perfect, but they do police each
other in their own political interests. Now that the School Board has
been eliminated in what has been called “reform,” each DC city
councilman and his/her ward heelers pretty much run each ward, and each
council chair runs his/her committee. It is pure “scratch my back”
politics. While it is very tempting for politicians everywhere to ignore
their voters’ needs in behalf of moneyed interests, in most cases
there is natural oversight from their competitors. Almost no such
oversight exists in the District of Columbia. Indeed, as we know all too
well, it appears acceptable for city councilmen to lobby for hundreds of
millions of dollars in subsidies for corporations that employ them or
the firms they work for. It is not acceptable. It is corruption, whether
legal or not.
It is foolish to expect a single official, or even an agency, to
oversee effectively the politics of allocating power and money in this
city. Until the thinness of Washington, DC’s, democracy is addressed,
we can sadly continue to expect the poor judgment and ethics that we so
often see today.
###############
DC Will Move Forward
Kathryn Pearson-West, wkpw3@aol.com
Say it ain’t so, folks embroiled in scandals. Despite the
distractions, diversions, challenges, evolving scandals, and
proclamations that the city is corrupt, the District of Columbia is
moving forward toward the elusive “world class city.” Instead of
hating on the leadership, some citizens are celebrating the vision of
“One City” and believe that something good is forthcoming from some
of the new DC leadership. True, the nation’s capital is embarrassingly
plagued with scandals, allegations, and innuendoes from Congress to the
mayor’s office to the DC council to the Advisory Neighborhood
Commission offices. Good guys sometimes become bad guys, and sometimes
when the scandal is over we’ve found that people have been exonerated
and were not the bad guys we thought they were. Whatever, DC citizens
are determined not to let anyone try to drive a wedge between groups to
try to divide the One City into many little segments and shake the
confidence of the public because the leader is not the person they want
or expected in office.
However, still some citizens are asking, “Where is the public
outrage over the brewing scandals and the perceptions of public
corruption?” Actually, the rage is simmering or suppressed inside
while waiting for due process to run its course. Disgust and concern are
expressed over the phone, via the blogosphere, listservs, and the
grapevine. People think about the obscene amounts of cash collected in
campaigns and they begin to wonder how many children could have been fed
with that or how many homeless people could be housed or school books
bought or medicine purchased for the sick and elderly. They wonder if a
politician can be bought and they wonder if they didn’t get something
in their community because they were bought. They wonder if some
politicians were caught while others were doing much worse or pulling
the strings and calling the shots. They wonder whether there are bigger
fish to fry and whether the politicians are at the bottom of the totem
pole. They wonder how any corruption accusations could possibly be true.
They can’t imagine anyone risking their freedom an potential disgrace
or incarceration just so someone could exercise their greed with
impunity and keep up with the Joneses or create some foolish image of
wealth. They speculate that someone just messed up the paperwork or
somebody got something wrong with the accounting. They hope that some of
the trips mentioned were to ask for money for children’s programs or
cars purchased to tote the disadvantaged children around.
Hearing about the many different money scandals by public officials
is a bit unnerving; however, the Sulaimon escapade with the mayor sounds
too silly to be more than TV entertainment. That scandal is so unreal
and unbelievable; but it was fun to watch S. Brown wear his sunglasses
and stick it to the overbearing council as it was trying to appear “holier
than thou.” Political patronage jobs have been around forever and will
continue to be, but in the mayor’s case somebody exercised poor
judgment or just didn’t have the political juice, savvy, wisdom, or
judgment to make things happen in a less scintillating way. Besides,
there is a less humiliating and public way to move people from their
positions.
###############
Jack McKay wonders at the number of police officers in the District [themail,
June 15]. Aside from the fact that the MPD also fulfills the functions
that state police agencies usually accomplish, with supplementation by
the FBI, no other jurisdiction is also forced to provide presidential
protection services on a regular basis. This is provided without any
direct or indirect payment — mostly because not doing so would be a
morale killer. While this obligation could be passed to the US Secret
Service Uniformed Division, this would essentially require shifting
quite a few officers to the federal service to do so, and would still
require links to the MPD to deal with traffic management whenever the
President moves by car. This is a three-shift responsibility, as is
having the organic ability to provide police protection to the many
events that have nothing at all to do with the District itself. The
number of police officers is not important. The fact that the federal
government does not pay its share for any services provided to the
monumental core is. DC taxpayers fund all of it, even though by law the
president is required to appoint an administrator for the National
Capital Service Area, whose main duties are to coordinate police
protection and a reimbursement agreement over and above any federal
payment scheme (which is designed to replace lost commuter taxes, not
reimburse services). No administrator has ever been appointed, however.
###############
Deanwood Aquatic Center Temporarily Closed
John A. Stokes, dcdocs@dc.gov
The Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will close Deanwood
Aquatic Center until further notice for unscheduled maintenance and
repairs to the air conditioning system. The aquatic center will reopen
once repairs are complete.
DPR is committed to maintaining and improving the best public aquatic
facilities in the District of Columbia as we work to enhance community
access to clean and safe recreational opportunities. District residents
and guests may use the Rumsey Aquatic Center located at 635 North
Carolina Avenue, SE, during the closure. Rumsey Aquatic Center hours of
operation are Monday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m., Saturday, 1:00
p.m.-5:00 p.m., and Sunday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. DC outdoor pools are
also open on weekends from 12:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. For more information,
please visit the DPR web site, http://www.dpr.dc.gov.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
The Capital Cause Summer Soiree, June 21
Joseph Lynn Kitchen, Jr., joseph@revkitchen.com
On Tuesday, June 21, Capital Cause will host some of the city’s
best, brightest, and most brilliant young professionals for a summer
social designed to connect the nation’s next generation of leaders
dedicated to serving their communities.
Guests will enjoy drink specials, complimentary dessert, and will be
invited to participate in an interactive networking activity designed to
connect them with trendsetters in attendance. Join us and learn about
our upcoming events and service opportunities. You don’t want to miss
the Capital Cause Summer Soiree! Click http://ccsummerevent.eventbrite.com
to RSVP for free.
###############
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.
