Flouting and Flaunting
Dear Washingtonians:
On May 11, the DC Auditor, at that time Deborah Nichols, released a
report on City Administrator Allen Lew’s management when he headed the
Office of Public Education Facilities Management, http://www.dcwatch.com/auditor/audit110511.
This office supervised the renovation and construction of schools under
the Fenty administration, and the audit detailed its many failings.
Dorothy summarized it in themail on May 18: 1) “OPEFM deliberately set
up their record keeping to obstruct transparency of and accountability
for its use of capital funds to DCPS facility construction and
modernization projects”; 2) “vendor payment records were inaccurate
and incomplete”; 3) there was a “$31 million discrepancy between
payments OPEFM reported to the Council and PM (project manager) files”;
4) the Auditor couldn’t “rely on PM (project manager) files to
determine accurate school- and project-specific modernization and
stabilization expenditures”; 5) there was a conflict of interest and
the appearance of impropriety when Thomas D. Bridenbaugh, a partner at
the law firm of Leftwich and Ludaway, served as OPEFM’s Procurement
Manager/Consultant, even though he was the son-in-law of a Turner
Construction Company Project Executive assigned to OPEFM projects (and,
in FY2008 and FY2009, there were $15 million in change orders approved
by OPEFM for Turner); 6) “OPEFM’s contract and procurement files did
not contain documentation to support $15.3 million in payments; 7) OPEFM’s
files for RBK Landscaping and Construction (owned by Adrian Fenty’s
friend and mentor Keith Lomax) did not contain “6 purchase orders and
supporting documentation for payments totaling $9,756,525”; 8) OPEFM
vendor payments for Turner Construction “did not include 6 purchase
orders and supporting documentation for $5,553,608 in payments to Turner”;
9) “OPEFM made payments totaling $411,425 without a valid written
contract” to McKissack and McKissack and OPEFM could not determine “whether
the services were delivered”; 10) “OPEFM paid $12.7 million for
project management services but did not require written documentation of
issues and recommendations”; 11) “OPEFM modernization projects
failed to consistently comply with requirements of Design Guidelines”
that list “specifications, finishes and furnishings for the
modernization and stabilization of DCPS facilities”; 12) OPEFM
improperly contracted with Warren Graves to be paid as an “on-site
consultant” and Chief of Staff to OPEFM Director Allen Lew; and 13)
“Given the projected $3.5 billion that OPEFM plans to spend on school
modernization and stabilization projects over the next 15 years, it is
imperative that OPEFM substantially improve its record keeping practices
and maintain files that are accurate, complete, and organized in a
manner that is consistent with best practices and applicable
regulations. Without an accurate, complete, record of each transaction,
it is impossible to establish a reliable, verifiable record of
accountability and transparency, or a sufficient audit trail.”
Now, on June 29, Charles Willoughby, the Inspector General, has
released his own audit of Lew’s management of the Office of Public
Education Facilities Modernization, http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/ig110629.pdf.
Michael Neibauer summarized Willoughby’s findings in the Washington
Business Journal: “. . . like Nichols, the Office of Inspector
General (OIG) concluded that Lew’s office disregarded and
misinterpreted procurement laws, operated without finalized procurement
rules, hired its chief of staff on a sole-source, consultant contract,
allowed consultants to work without valid written contracts, and failed
to appropriately address a major conflict of interest,” http://tinyurl.com/3ma8zqq.
Dorothy asked Mayor Gray and Lew about the DC Auditor’s report at a
mayoral press conference in May. The mayor said he hadn’t read it, but
he supported Lew, basically because Lew got the work done. Lew was
scornful of the Auditor’s report, and claimed that the audit was just
done incompetently. At today’s mayoral press conference, Dorothy asked
the mayor and Lew about the Inspector General’s report, which
confirmed and reaffirmed the Auditor’s findings. The mayor said he
still hadn’t read either the Auditor’s report or the Inspector
General’s report. Lew said to Dorothy: “I find your attitude a bit
questionable, okay. Why you focus on this as much as you do, I have no
idea what your agenda is, okay” http://octt.dc.gov/services/on_demand_video/channel16/Mayor_Gray_07_06_11.asx
at 30:00. The mayor supported Lew; they both implied that they found it
questionable that a reporter or a citizen would ask about major reports
by the two offices that are charged with investigating misconduct by
city officials that found repeated instances in which Lew flouted
District laws and regulations and proper accounting practices. Lew
flouted good government practices; Gray flaunted his indifference to
good government practices.
Gary Imhoff and Dorothy Brizill
themail@dcwatch.com and dorothy@dcwatch.com
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Taxation without Representation Begins at Home
Harry Gates, ahg71139@aol.com
I called our financial advisor to ask about the DC tax on
out-of-state municipal bonds and which investment grade bonds the
District might have to offer. The reply, “Investment advisors are up
in arms. There’s slim pickin’s if you are trying to buy quality DC
bonds.” With over thirty years of experience in the District, our
advisor said, “It would be impossible to diversity clients’
portfolios using only DC municipal bonds. Not only is the well of bonds
not deep, the quality and quantity of bonds that one can obtain from
other states, cities, counties and authorities is not available in the
District. Call it what you want, it is a tax increase.” On July 5,
there were forty-seven DC bonds available and most were not AAA. DC Bond
availability fluctuates daily, but the depth of selection remains
constant. An example used was the bond issue on the baseball stadium.
While this was meant to flood the city coffers with lots of cash, poor
attendance at games has not created the revenue stream council
predicted.
Most quality municipal bond funds don’t invest in District bonds!
Nevertheless, if District bonds are a good investment substitute for
out-of-state municipal bonds, as Phil Mendelson suggests, councilmembers
should vote to tie their retirement accounts exclusively to DC bonds.
After all, what’s good for out-of-state municipal bond holders is good
for the council.
The tax on out-of-state municipals was levied without benefit of
public input or discussion. Let’s not forget the city’s budget
originates at the Wilson Building. This “Taxation without
Representation” should be placed squarely at the feet of council.
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Can anyone speak as to the progress of FIOS?
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Does anyone know the official story about the rose license tags I’ve
started to see around the city? They are DC tags and have a red rose
flower to the left of a two or three digit license tag number. Does
anyone know the actual reason behind issuing such a license tag and what
do you have to do to get such a tag for your car? I hate to speculate,
and my suspicions are not very nice, so if anyone can give me the
straight story I’d appreciate it.
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Smokefree Law Weakened: Exemption for Cigar
Smoking in Hotels
Tac Tacelosky, Smokefree DC, tacman@gmail.com
Two weeks ago, the popular smokefree law was weakened via a budget
amendment, permitting cigar smoking in hotels once a year for special
events. Jack Evans has tried to push this exemption through almost every
year via emergency legislation in order to bypass David Catania’s
Health Committee and a public hearing.
Several problems: first, the smokefree law is enormously popular.
There’s no public outcry to permit smoking indoors for any reason.
Second is more systemic — why is policy made or changed via a budget
amendment, rather than via the normal legislative process that allows
for public comment during committee meetings? This is similar to the
online gambling legislation that was stealthily passed via a budget
amendment six months ago. On this, Jack Evans said he didn’t
understand why it was not introduced on its own, yet he used the exact
same tactic to push the smoking exception through. Furthermore,
evidently almost no one in the council (except Phil Mendelson, who cast
the only vote to protect the smokefree law) read the amendment, since it
wasn’t until Smokefree DC contacted them and pointed out that it was
not just the “Special Events” of Fight Night and the Friendly Sons’
St. Patrick’s Day gathering, but would allow seventy-nine hotels to
get an exemption for any reason and hold cigar smoking events annually.
On July 12, the council may bring this issue up to scale it back. But
why not restore the law? What justification is there for saying it’s
okay to expose certain hotel workers to secondhand smoke, when it’s
already been agreed upon that the rest of the workers in the district
shouldn’t be? Smokefree DC encourages people to contact their
councilmembers and ask that they repeal this exemption. If Mr. Evans
wants to weaken the smokefree law, let him do so in full view of DC
citizens, and get it past Mayor Gray, whose wife, a nonsmoker, died of
lung cancer after years of working in smoky bars, who has promised to
veto anything that would weaken the law.
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Crime and Punishment
Richard Stone Rothblum, richard@rothblum.org
Gary, your proposal to legalize prostitution [themail, July 3] was
clearly tongue-in-cheek, but it’s truly about time that all victimless
crimes were legalized. We have plenty of real crime to keep our police
busy.
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A Proposal Not Far-Fetched
T. Lassoc, cei76@aol.com
In that short piece [themail, July 3] you captured the utter
absurdity, mindlessness, and lack of wisdom, values, ethics, and
morality of the way in which we seem to be going — as well as the
certainty of the end thereof. We, and especially our elected officials
who hold the public trust, should all look in the mirror of that “not
far-fetched proposal” and change our ways now.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Solidarity Rally for Keith Silver, July 13
Karen Szulgit, freedcnow@gmail.com
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Keith Silver, SMD 6C01, was
arrested on April 18 and charged with “Unlawful Assembly —
Disorderly Conduct.” Commissioner Silver is due back in Courtroom 120
for a nonjury trial at 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday, July 13, before Judge
Frederick Sullivan. Although a total of 72 people have been arrested —
the “DC 41” arrested April 11, the “DC Three” arrested April 15,
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Keith Silver arrested April 18, the
“DC Eight” arrested May 4, the “DC Eight” (the sequel) arrested
May 11, and the “DC 12” arrested June 25 — Silver is the first of
the nine DC democracy activists who are to face trial this year. (Eight
other activists head to trial at 9:00 a.m., Monday, September 19.)
If convicted, Silver faces a maximum fine of up to $250 and/or jail
time of up to ninety days. He will be represented by private attorneys
Johnny Barnes and Yvette Mouton. For background information, read “ANC
Commissioner Arrested Last Night During Protest,” http://dcist.com/2011/04/protester_arrested_last_night_in_th.php,
and “Gray Undaunted by Small Turnout at DC Protest,” http://www.rollcall.com/news/-205034-1.html?pos=hln.
For more info, contact Karen A. Szulgit at FreeDCnow@gmail.com.
For frequent updates, call the FREE DC Hotline at 232-2500.
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One Common Unity (OCU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose
mission is to nurture sustainable, caring communities through innovative
peace education services, arts initiatives, and omni-media programming.
Every month the organization hosts a community open-mic event as part of
a series titled Voices of a Movement. Each month OCU focuses on a
different topic, and the event allows members of the community to use
their creative voices to speak out on various issues. OCU also partners
with other non-profits, namely those whose work/mission relate to the
month’s topic, and provides a platform for them to talk to the
community about what their organization is doing to alleviate the
issue(s) and educate them on available resources, information, etc. The
event occurs on the third Sunday of each month, from 8:00 p.m.-10:00
p.m. at Busboys and Poets at 1025 5th Street, NW. This month’s date is
Sunday, July 17; Voices of a Movement is a free event, with a suggested
donation of $5.
Our topic for July is domestic violence, and One Common Unity is
partnering with the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN), the
Baltimore Child Abuse Center (BCAC) and Women Empowered Against Violence
(WEAVE) as cosponsors. Voices of a Movement is the community’s chance
to take the stage and share our stories through music, spoken word
poetry and other artistic mediums. Even if performing isn’t your
thing, we strongly encourage everyone to simply come and listen.
We appreciate your attention and ask that you pass the information
about our event on to your audience. The Facebook event link is http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184538171586998
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