Social Shaming
Dear Shamers:
Be sure to see the detailed suggestions for ethics reform from DC for
Democracy, below.
The people who have been talking about ethics reform over the past
several months have been the usual suspects, those who usually focus on
good government and ethics. But where have the powerful institutions in
our city been, the groups that should be speaking out and putting
pressure on the mayor and councilmembers to clean up city government?
Let me name a few of them: the churches; the universities; the
professional organizations of lawyers, doctors, accountants; the social
service organizations. Of course, all of these groups can be compromised
by the favors they seek from the government and the threats that
government can wield against them, but still the silence from them has
been astounding. Where are the resolutions of disapproval, the
delegations from these groups to the Wilson Building? What is missing
has been social pressure, the shaming both of the elected officials who
have engaged in corrupt practices and those elected officials who have
tolerated corruption by their inaction.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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On Monday, November 14, the DC Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE)
will make nominating petitions available to candidates in the April 3,
2012, primary election in the District. Candidates will then have until
January 4 to circulate the petitions and secure the requisite number of
signatures (e.g., two thousand for an at-large candidate for the
council and five hundred for a ward member of the council). Basic
information on the 2012 election, including a candidate’s guide to
ballot access, a calendar of important dates and deadlines, and a list
of candidate, is posted and periodically updated at http://www.dcboee.org.
As Gary noted in the last issue of themail, I was concerned about the
campaign committee Sekou Biddle, an at-large council candidate, had
filed with the DC Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) on November 21. On
Thursday, November 10, I made a formal request for an investigation by
OCF of Biddle’s committee registration, noting that, “the
registration indicates that the committee does not have a chairman.
Moreover, the only address that is given for the committee, 4401A
Connecticut Avenue, NW, #105, Washington, DC 20008, is a postal box at a
United Parcel Service store. As you know, both of these shortcomings in
Biddle’s filing are violations of the District’s campaign finance
laws and regulations. Moreover, while Biddle’s registration of his
campaign committee is deficient, he has, nevertheless, embarked on an
ambitious fundraising initiative.”
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Auditing the Auditor, Part 2
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
On Tuesday, November 15, the council’s Committee of the Whole (COW)
will meet. While the agenda has not been posted on the council’s web
site, it is widely believed that council chairman Kwame Brown will try
to get the council to approve the appointment of Yolanda Branche as the
District’s Auditor. As I have previously written in themail, Branche
is not only not qualified, but she may have lied to the selection panel
and embellished her qualifications. In summary:
1) The report by the DC Auditor search committee and a May 26 press
release issued by Kwame Brown’s office noted that Branche was selected
in large part because she was “an attorney admitted to the District of
Columbia Bar.” However, after I confronted her with the fact that the
DC Bar had indicated that her legal license had been suspended, she
admitted that she “was not authorized to practice law in the District.”
2) On her resume, which she submitted to the DC Auditor search
committee, and which was included in Brown’s May 26 press release,
Branche falsely claimed that she was a District resident, and listed an
address in the Fort Lincoln neighborhood in Ward 5. Shortly after being
selected, Branche admitted to me that she was not a District resident
and that, in fact, she did not become a District resident until
mid-July.
3) Branche is not an auditor. The qualifications detailed in the
position description developed by the DC Auditor search committee specify
a “minimum of five years experience in governmental accounting and/or
auditing” and “CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) or CGAP (Certified
Government Auditing Professional) certification preferred.” Branche,
however, was selected over other candidates who were more highly
qualified, even though she has only been a senior analyst (not an
auditor) at the Auditor’s office (since March 2008), and is neither CIA
nor CGAP certified. Strangely, at her confirmation hearing on October
25, John Hill, the CEO of the Federal City Council and the former
executive director of the Financial Control Board, tried to argue that
because he is an auditor and because Branche had worked for him in
administrative positions at four different organizations, she by
implication had auditing experience.
While Kwame Brown announced Branche’s appointment to be DC Auditor
on May 26, “effective June 1, 2011,” Branche’s confirmation
hearing wasn’t held until October 25. The delay occurred in order to
give Branche time to resolve some of the issues that had raised serious
doubts about her selection as DC Auditor. For example, she used the
additional time to renew her membership in the DC Bar, move into the
District, and resolve outstanding tax obligations in Maryland. As I
previously noted, “If the council is truly serious about addressing the
culture of corruption that it so pervasive in the District government,
then the office of the DC Auditor will and must play a pivotal role.
Appointing Yolanda Branche, who has neither the required skills nor
background for the position, and who lied on her resume to secure the
position, is a step backward, not forward.”
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The DC Public Library posted a notice at http://www.dclibrary.org/node/28663
describing their project “in partnership with the Downtown Business
Improvement District” to engage the Urban Land Institute for $125,000
for five days work to “review and assess the value of the
historic-designated Ludwig Mies van der Rohe building at 901 G Street,
NW, which houses the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library and
discuss how to leverage the value of the building the benefit of the
District of Columbia.” This clearly says that Ginny Cooper and/or the
Library Board want to develop the property. We are assured that a
library (probably much smaller) named for Martin Luther King will still
exist somewhere “downtown,” but not necessarily in this building.
The eight members of the ULI panel are all from out of town, five
from California, one from Tennessee, and one from Texas. Most are
developers or architects or planners for developers (including the VP of
architecture and planning for Disney’s real estate development group
in France, an adviser to NBC Universal on the master plan for its back
lot development, and a consultant for real estate developers of urban
mixed use, master planned residential and commercial land and
multifamily apartments and senior housing). Another creates marketing
programs for home builders. Only one has any experience as a librarian.
Another was a project manager for construction of two libraries, and one
is a historical architect with some experience in adaptive re-use.
Although the ULI panel is to consult with “stakeholders,” it is
questionable how many citizens and real library patrons they will really
consult. The public is invited to the presentation of their “findings
and recommendations” (but not to comment!) on Friday, November 18,
from 9-11 a.m. in the Great Hall of MLK Library. Buried in the notice is
a sentence that the public “is also invited to share their thoughts
about the use of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library building
at the Library Board of trustees meeting on Wednesday, November 16, 6
p.m., at Southwest Neighborhood Library, 900 Wesley Place, SW.” You
can find the list of the members of the Board of Library Trustees at http://dclibrary.org/about/boardoftrustees.
It also makes interesting reading.
I hope many readers of the themail will attend the November 16
Library Board meeting and the November 18 “presentation” and call
and write the council with their comments on this proposal. Why we are
spending $125,000 of our hard earned tax money on this “study” when
just a month or so ago the Library Board was going to close MLK Library
on Sundays (the last library with Sunday hours) until public outcry lead
to the mayor’s finding the money to keep it open. Somehow there is
always money to promote “development” of our public properties while
there is not enough money to operate them or keep them in good repair.
As many citizens testified five years ago, when Ms. Cooper and the
Library Board tried to get rid of MLK Library, the big problems are
inadequate maintenance and the need for updating old systems and the
District’s lack of adequate facilities for the homeless so our
libraries, whether they are brand new or old, become a place for people
to go in the day when they have nowhere else to go. None of these
reasons justify getting rid of Mies’ building. In addition, the mayor
and counsel, as well as the Library Board, need to do their real
homework and consult with the citizens of the District of Columbia first
before they spend big dollars on disposing of public property,
particularly iconic and important public properties such as our central
library. Many public facilities are on valuable land because our
forebears had the foresight to acquire the property in places best
located to serve residents, and they are property we can not afford to
replace.
This whole process just brings to mind the sorry saga of the Wilson
Building and how we almost lost it to the Federal Government because the
District Government didn’t properly maintain it. Let’s learn from
history and maintain and renovate our landmark central library rather
than sell our crown jewels for fast money.
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DC for Democracy’s
Proposal for Comprehensive Ethics Reform
Kesh Ladduwahetty, keshinil@yahoo.com
We have all been dismayed by the dark cloud of scandal over the John
A. Wilson building. Some may want to believe that this cloud rolled in
just this past year with the allegations of nepotism, illegal use of
campaign funds, misuse of city vehicles and public grant funds, etc.
Such scandals make for a perfect storm that has ripped away whatever was
left of any naïve faith that our laws are properly enforced. In fact,
however, the District -- just like the fifty states and the federal
government -- is threatened by something far more insidious: the
pay-to-play culture of crony capitalism that allows the privileged few
and the special interests to exert far more influence than their limited
numbers would allow in a truly democratic system.
We must address both types of threats referred to above. First, we
must prevent future scandals from engulfing the Wilson building by
enforcing the laws already on the books. The Office of Campaign Finance
(OCF) must be adequately staffed to audit campaign records and to
initiate its own investigations. Its current staff of four auditors is
clearly not sufficient. More importantly, enforcement of ethics
statutes, which are currently scattered across multiple agencies, must
be consolidated into a unified Ethics Code, as Ken McGhie of the DC
Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) eloquently urged at the hearing on
October 26. This unified and expanded ethics code would then be enforced
by an independent ethics board consisting of members nominated by the
mayor, council chair, and the Attorney General, as well as four members
from outside of government nominated by labor, business, and community
organizations. All would be subject to confirmation by the DC council.
Only an independent ethics board that is adequately staffed and
funded would have the authority for broad oversight, could carry out the
training of government personnel, including our elected officials, and
could enforce ethical behavior by all personnel. Establishing and
funding such a body will be an important test of the council’s
seriousness about genuine ethics reform. As important as it is, the
enforcement of existing laws alone will not solve the problem. The
pay-to-play culture of crony capitalism is deeply engrained throughout
our political system through the power of money. To curb its influence
in our local government and politics, our proposals include the
following: 1) ban political contributions by lobbyists and entities that
do business with the District; 2) ban the bundling of campaign
contributions, and reduce contribution limits for mayoral and council
chair campaigns to $1,000; 3) attribute contributions of corporate
affiliates and subsidiaries to the parent corporation for purposes of
campaign contribution limits; 4) eliminate private donations, using
public financing only, for transition committees, and limit donations
for inaugural activities to one hundred dollars per individual or
entity; 5) require reporting to OCF of independent expenditures related
to political campaigns; 6) eliminate constituent services funds; 7) ban
free or discounted legal services for elected officials, ban private
donations for official travel (use public financing only), and ban
public officials from receiving free or discounted prices not available
to the general public for entertainment, sports events, etc.; 8) require
full reporting to OCF of meetings between lobbyists and councilmembers.
Closely related to the pay-for-play culture is the potential abuse of
power by elected officials in cases where there is a clear conflict of
interest. To address this problem, we propose the following: require
councilmembers to state on the record before consideration of
legislation whether they have a conflict of interest and, if so, require
that they recuse themselves; and ban outside employment for
councilmembers beginning January 2014.
Finally, there must be accountability for those who have engaged in
corrupt practices. Too often, only public officials pay the price for
corruption, while the private parties -- without whom such corruption
would not exist -- escape punishment. To make sure there is
accountability on the part of these private parties, we propose the
following: prohibit organizations that have been convicted of fraud from
doing business with the District government for five years, and prohibit
contractors or individuals who have misrepresented information in the
contract awards process from doing business with the District government
for five years.
We believe that a piecemeal approach to ethics reform will not work,
and that it will not provide the necessary reassurance to District
residents that serious reforms are being adopted. The above proposals
will, in our view, go a long way towards clearing that cloud over the
Wilson building and restoring public trust in our local government.
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InTowner
November
Issue Now Online
P.L. Wolff, intowner@intowner.com
This is to advise that the November issue content has been posted at http://www.intowner.com,
including the issue PDF. There will be found the primary news stories
and certain features, including the popular Scenes from the Past (this
month titled “Luxury Apartment Building in Mt. Pleasant: From Opulence
to Slum to Restored for 21st Century Living”) — plus all photos and
other images, other features not included in the PDF, such as Recent
Real Estate Sales (which will be updated within the next 24 hours), can
be linked directly from the web site’s home page.
This month’s lead stories include the following: 1) “Proposed
Design for 16th Street Complex to Replace Existing Brutalist-Style Third
Church Christ, Scientist Near White House Well-Received by Dupont Circle
ANC”; 2) Logan Circle House Tour to Showcase the Area’s Restoration
and Renewal”; 3) “Purchase of Logan Circle’s Norwood Apartments by
Tenants After More Than Five-Year Effort Celebrated.”
The next issue PDF will publish early in the morning of December 9
(the second Friday of the month, as usual). For more information, either
send an E-mail to newsroom@intowner.com
or call 234-1717.
Special Note: We are now on Facebook and Twitter! On both we will be
posting alerts about news and information items that we upload on
occasion throughout the monthly issue period. It is easy to check by
simply clicking one of the link buttons located at the top of the button
panel on the left side of our home page -- or, better yet, follow us on
either of these social networks.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Getting to the Bottom of It, November 15
Parisa Norouzi, parisa@empowerdc.org
Empower DC and DC Jobs with Justice present a grassroots leadership
education program, Getting to the Bottom of It: Research and
Investigative Tools for DC Residents and Activists, Tuesday, November
15, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the Benning Road Library, 3935 Benning Road, NE
(Minnesota Avenue Metro/Green Line, parking available). Find out how to
use legislative research, the Freedom of Information Act, audits and the
tools of DC’s #1 Watchdog to get the information you need to make your
case and demand accountability!
With very special guests Victor Bonett, Legislative Affairs and FOIA
Officer for the Office of the Attorney General for DC; Ingrid Drake,
Analyst, Office of the DC Auditor, and DC’s premier government
watchdog, Dorothy Brizill, Executive Director, DCWatch. RSVP to Sequnely
at 234-9119 or Sequnely@empowerdc.org.
Limited child care available.
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Ward Two Public Meeting on iGaming, November
15
Debbie Schreiber, president@dupont-circle.org
The DC Lottery announced recently that it has confirmed the dates for
the rescheduled iGaming community outreach meetings. Meetings have been
scheduled in all eight Wards of the District, with the Ward 2 meeting
coming up on Tuesday, November 15. The meeting will be held at the MLK
Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
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Building in the 21st Century: 2011 Solar
Decathlon in Review, November 17
Stacy Adamson, sadamson@nbm.org
Thursday, November 17, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Richard King, creator and
director of the Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC, offers a
behind-the-scenes view of the biennial competition held on the National
Mall in October. Free. Registration required. Walk-in registration based
on availability. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW,
Judiciary Square Metro station. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.
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CLASSIFIEDS — DONATIONS
As we honor those who have served this Veterans Day, AT&T would
like to remind everyone that you can easily support our troops when you
recycle your old or unused cell phones. For each phone donated, AT&T
is able to provide US troops serving overseas an hour of talk time with
their loved ones back home through the Cell Phone for Soldiers
initiative.
Anyone with any carrier can help by dropping off your phone at any of
AT&T’s more than two thousand company-owned stores across the US.
Click here for a list of locations. Mailing in your used phone with free
shipping from anywhere in the US. To download a postage-paid shipping
label, click here. Since the program began in 2004, AT&T has donated
over one half million dollars in phone cards to help ensure every
deployed soldier is able to stay connected to their loved ones back
home.
For more information about Cell Phones for Soldiers you can visit http://www.att.com/pressroom/soldiers/index.html
or http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com.
I am also available at 295-8795 or elyssa.rae@harbourgrp.com.
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