Naming the Board
Dear Namers:
A week ago in themail, Dorothy and I wrote that one of the problems
with the “ethics board” that Councilmember Bowser proposes to
establish in her new ethics bill is that the members of the board, who
will oversee the mayor and members of the city council, will be
appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the councilmembers. If the
problem were how to find, isolate, and discipline one bad apple in the
government, that might not be a fatal flaw to the ethics board approach.
But there is a widespread and justified public suspicion that the
problem is not one bad apple, but that the apple’s rottenness has
spread throughout the barrel. Our city’s political leaders may not be
uniformly corrupt, but they tolerate and do not discipline or even
express disapproval of those among them who are corrupt. How then can we
trust the mayor and council to appoint people who will really hold them
to high standards, when they have given every sign that they do not want
to be held to high standards? How can the newly appointed members of
such a board escape the taint and suspicion that will cling to them
because of the circumstances of their appointment?
To that observation, one reader who wants to remain anonymous asked a
penetrating question: “I’m curious — how would you have the ethics
officials appointed. . . ?” Viewed from one perspective, that question
would seem to trump our objection to the “ethics board.” Who, if not
officials elected by the public, would have the authority and power to
appoint the members of an ethics board? But viewed from another
perspective, the question exposes even more starkly the problem that the
ethics board proposal poses. The politicians who will be appointing and
confirming ethics board members are now so compromised that their
appointees will inevitably be suspect and their independence questioned.
If so, then the proposal itself is lethally defective.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Time Is Running Out for DC Bond Holders
Alma Gates, ahg71139@aol.com
As the remaining weeks of 2011 tick away, time is running out for DC
bond holders to make decisions regarding their financial future. Until
recently, one of the benefits for retirees living in the District of
Columbia was tax-free bond income, but that benefit substantially
disappeared in September 2011 under emergency legislation passed by the
DC Council. DC residents who are bondholders were grandfathered from
taxes on income from currently held bonds. Moving forward to January 1,
2012, any bond sales or income from new bonds would be taxed at a rate
of 8.5 percent, the current DC tax rate on income under $350,000.
The council has not made this emergency legislation permanent and the
Office of Tax and Revenue has failed to formally notify bond holders of
what they face in the New Year. If you are a bondholder living in the
District of Columbia, it might be a good idea to let the DC council know
that you are concerned about the state of the legislation and its
associated hardships with regard to income reporting. The tax
implications are fairly clear for individually held bonds, but an
accounting nightmare awaits taxpayers with obligations held indirectly
through a financial institution or by various investment companies. In a
November 17 news release, http://newsroom.dc.gov/show.aspx/agency/otr/section/2/release/22692/year/2011,
the Office of Tax and Revenue states the reporting perimeters. Income
from state and municipal bond funds will be subject to DC income tax if
the income is not income from federally exempt bonds or from DC and
Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority bonds, and the bonds were
purchased by the fund after December 31, 2011.
Council action has made bonds a less attractive investment tool for
retirees. Limited options, low rates of return, tax liability, and
accounting difficulties are factors that should influence bond holders’
decisions prior to the end of 2011. Moving forward, tax-free bond
options will be limited to, tax exempt state or municipal bonds acquired
before January 1, 2012; bonds that are exempt by federal law, such as
from possessions of the United States (Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin
Islands, and American Samoa); and DC bonds, including those issued under
DC official code 9-921 for the Metropolitan Washington Regional Airport
Authority.
Reporting will begin on sales of individually held bonds or
obligations held indirectly through a financial institution or by
various investment companies as well as income from new fund purchases
after January 1, 2012; and, estimated taxes on income over $100.00 are
due to be filed on April 15, 2012.
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[Stephanie Clipper, cyradaria@yahoo.com,
themail, November 23] is so right about Metro riding insanity. It’s a
mess. As for Metro’s so-called emergency number — 962-2121 —
forgetaboutit! I was assaulted on the escalator at Crystal City last
year, I dialed Metro’s emergency number, hoping to get Metro’s
security personnel or the police to at least come to Crystal City and
take a report. But noooo! The Metro person on the end of the phone line,
answering that number, was far less than humane — was nasty, rude, and
impatient, and certainly not empathetic in any way. She said there was
nothing Metro could do to help me. I kid you not. Nothing. And if I
wanted to file a report, I’d have to contact the police. I was
astounded, to say the least. The “emergency” number they constantly
announce in the stations is useless. Please don’t anyone waste their
time dialing it because you will just get lame excuses, and you, the
victim, will be accused of causing the problem yourself. And they’ll
just tell you to call the police anyway. I don’t even know why Metro
bothers. That number is just a facade of “security.” All promo show
and no substance. Make no mistake people, when you ride Metro, you
assume all the risk. Metro will not take responsibility and they will do
their best to not help you. When you ride Metro you are on your own.
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In the November 16 issue of themail I noted that the Ward Four ANC
redistricting task force has tried to define an ANC 4A that extended
south along Rock Creek to Klingle Road, in a vain attempt to assert
standing for advocating the reopening of the long-closed portion of the
road to automobile traffic. Nobody from Ward Four has responded, but a
contrary reply did appear, from none other than Laurie Collins, the most
prominent and persistent and renowned advocate of the road in the
District. The Ward Four tactic has nothing to do with the Klingle Road
dispute, she writes; it’s merely an innocent effort “to make the
city follow the law which, in the DC Code, already recognizes Klingle
Road in the boundary definition for Ward 4.”
Indeed, but that section of the Code is being revised by the “Ward
Redistricting Amendment Act of 2011,” Council Act A19-097, enacted on
July 11 of this year. That act changed some ward boundaries, and the ANC
redistricting task forces are naturally expected to work with the new
ward boundaries, not the old ones. The Ward Four boundary in this area
is “[south] along said Rock Creek to the intersection of a line
projected from the end of Piney Branch Parkway; thence along said
projected line to Piney Branch Parkway NW; thence in an easterly
direction along said Piney Branch Parkway, NW, to Sixteenth Street, NW”
Piney Branch Parkway, and this projection to Rock Creek, lie to the
north of Klingle Road. So ANC 4A must similarly terminate at Piney
Branch Parkway, not at Klingle Road.
Did the Ward Four redistricting task force people not know this? Last
July 18, I advised one participant of exactly this fact, that Ward Four
nowhere touches Klingle Road, and I even included a bit of the map
provided to the task forces by the Office of Planning clearly showing
the Ward Four boundary not at Klingle Road, but north of it. The Ward
Four folks cannot now claim to have been unaware of it. Their ANC 4A
boundary designation was clearly an attempt to evade that change in the
ward boundary, with no discernible purpose other than to establish a
claim to Klingle Road. But the Office of Planning will put paid to this
little ploy.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Gray and Cheh at Ward 3 Democratic Committee
Meeting, November 29
Shelley Tomkin, shelltomk@aol.com
The Ward 3 Democratic Committee will hold a community dialogue with
Mayor Vincent Gray and Councilmember Mary Cheh on Tuesday, November 29.
The meeting will begin at 7:15 p.m. at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church,
4201 Albemarle Street, NW. Open to the public.
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Barney Frank on Cutting Military Spending,
November 29
Patricia Bitondo, pbitondo@aol.com
On Tuesday, November 29, Representative Barney Frank, Democrat from
Massachusetts, will speak on “The Central Role of Reductions in
Military Spending in Making Rational Cuts in the Deficit” at a
luncheon at the Woman’s National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire
Avenue, NW. Representative Frank, a ranking member of the House
Financial Services Committee, is a leader in Congress in bipartisan
efforts to scale back America’s worldwide military commitments. For
decades, the subject of military expenditures has been glaringly absent
from public debate. The Pentagon budget is more than all other
discretionary spending programs combined. If we do not make substantial
cuts, we will incur substantial damage to our economy and reduce our
quality of life. Rebuilding our economy and creating jobs remains our
nations top priority. Congressman Frank will discuss the issue of
excessive military spending in order to ensure prosperity in the future.
The bar opens at 11:30 a.m.; lunch at 12:15 p.m.; lecture,
presentation and question and answer session at 1:00 p.m. Cost: $25,
members; $30, nonmembers; $10, lecture only. Register at https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5880/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=33275.
For more information, contact 232-7363 or pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org
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December Author Talks at Tenley-Friendship
Library, December 3, 7, 12
Sue Hemberger, smithhemb@aol.com
We have a busy schedule this month. Whether you’re looking for gift
ideas or a respite from shopping, check out our December author talks.
Saturday December 3, 3:00 p.m., downstairs in the Childrens’ Room: Jen
Allison, author of the Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator books. The
series is a fun choice for tweens and young teens, especially Harriet
the Spy fans. http://www.gildajoyce.com/
Wednesday, December 7, 7:00 p.m., upstairs: John Burgess, author of Stories
in Stone: the Sdok Kok Thom Inscription and the Enigma of Khmer History.
A former Washington Post foreign correspondent, Burgess tells the
story of how his research into an inscription in the ruins of a
Cambodian temple sheds light on the history of the early Khmer empire. http://www.stories-in-stone.net/Khmer-Inscription.aspx
Monday, December 12, 7:00 p.m., upstairs: Sasha Gong and Scott D.
Seligman, authors of The Cultural Revolution Cookbook: Simple,
Healthy Recipes from China’s Countryside. This beautifully
illustrated (vegetarian-friendly) cookbook offers a fascinating mix of
politics, biography, and food. Highly giftable! http://www.culturalrevolutioncookbook.com/
All events are free and open to the public. Books will be available
for purchase (cash or check only). Light refreshments are provided at
the evening talks. The Tenley-Friendship Library is located at 4450
Wisconsin Avenue (at Albemarle), half a block from the Tenleytown
Metrorail station (and on the 30s bus lines). And our new building is
worth a look, if you haven’t already visited.
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