Feel Good Bills
Dear Washingtonians:
Today’s print edition of Politico has a front-page story by
Jonathan Allen (“Congress Cleaning Up Its Act? Don’t Count on It,”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69939.html)
on the raft of ethics bills that have been proposed in Congress that are
designed to give the impression that Congress wants to reform its ways,
without actually doing anything to accomplish reform:
“But here’s the kicker: the punishment for breaking the
blind-trust rule, if it was enforceable, would be a $50,000 civil
penalty — reminiscent of paltry pro-football fines that for years made
after-the-whistle cheap shots on the quarterback seem worth the price.
Fine print aside, what the Bachus measure really shows is just how
sensitive members of Congress have become to the public perception that
they use their offices for personal gain. It’s just one of a bumper
crop of feel-good ethics bills that have popped up as Congress’s
approval ratings have cratered around the 10 percent mark.
“Some lawmakers see this as a critical moment in trying to regain
the trust of voters. ‘We cannot survive as a democracy unless there is
more confidence in our elected officials than there is now,’ Rep. Brad
Miller (D-N.C.) said Tuesday at a Financial Services Committee hearing
on the STOCK Act, which takes a different approach than the Bachus bill
to preventing insider trading on Capitol Hill. ‘The first step to
restore their trust is to be trustworthy.’ But are these types of
bills going anywhere? Not likely — many don’t stand a chance of
passing, but they make for good press release fodder.”
Change that story by substituting “Bowser” for “Bachus” and
any other councilmember’s name for “Brad Miller,” and you have a
ready-made story about the city council. So why is the city council’s
approval rate any higher than the 10 percent that Congress gets?
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Speaking of foolish bills that won’t accomplish anything, and that
won’t get anywhere, Councilmembers Bowser and Wells have withdrawn
their bill that would have imposed a fifteen-mile-per-hour speed limit
on residential streets throughout the District. Don’t expect that to
be the end of the matter, however. They are certain to continue pursuing
their fantasy that most people long for a city with no cars, in which
walking, bicycling, and mass transit are the only ways to get around.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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At a time when the District is in the midst of a very active debate
about improving ethics in the District government, a November 30 court
deposition by the city’s Chief Financial Officer, Natwar Gandhi,
indicates that District officials often use personal E-mail accounts to
correspond about official District business in order to circumvent the
city’s Freedom of Information Act (http://tinyurl.com/6p54q2c).
In an editorial, the Washington Post notes that, “Observers and
insiders of DC government say the use of private E-mail is so widespread
as to be essentially a shadow level of government” (Shadow Government”
http://tinyurl.com/84hlac8).”
This week’s news stories are finally making public what has become
an increasingly common use of personal cell phones and E-mail accounts
by both elected officials and senior government employees. Under
District law, DC Code 2-1701, a “public record” means “any
document, book, photographic image, electronic data recording,
electronic mail, paper, video recording, sound recording, microfilm,
computer disk, or other material, regardless of physical form or
characteristic, that documents a transaction or activity made, received,
or retained pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of
public business by or with any officer or employee of the District. The
medium upon which such information is recorded shall have no bearing on
the determination of when the record is a public record.” This year,
as a result of the numerous ongoing law enforcement investigations
underway in the District into misconduct by government officials, as
well as the more frequent use of the District’s Freedom of Information
law by reporters, attorneys, and civic organizations, government
officials have increasingly resorted to private E-mail accounts and
disposable “burn” phones in order to circumvent leaving a traceable
record on a government server. Moreover, as certain federal probes got
underway in the spring, a number of the District’s elected officials
became increasingly concerned that communications on their
government-issued cell phones and E-mail accounts could be tapped and
monitored.
Within the Gray administration, the mayor, City Administrator Allen
Lew, and Chief of Staff Christopher Murphy have regularly conducted city
business using private E-mail accounts and cell phones. In the city
council, Chairman Kwame Brown and Councilmember Harry Thomas have become
so paranoid that they have been replacing their disposable cell phones
on a nearly weekly basis. At his press conference this week, I asked
Mayor Gray whether he would issue a directive instructing District
government employees not to use personal E-mail accounts and cell phones
when conducting government business, but to use only government issued
accounts and phones, so that there would be a public record of their
communications. Mayor Gray tried to make light of the issue and to joke
about it, but after the former press conference ended, he indicated that
he would have the Attorney General look into the matter and develop a
formal government policy going forward.
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Great War (World War I) Memorial
Stephanie Clipper, Woodley Park, cyradaria@yahoo.com
This weekend, the Post published a terrific little op-ed piece
by DC’s own William N. Brown of the Association of the Oldest
Inhabitants of DC. In his letter, Mr. Brown picks up on a recent
discussion started by John Kelly (in his own column) focusing on the
potential for a national World War I Memorial on the Mall. Mr. Brown
reminds us that such a memorial exists in Kansas City. He supports the
idea of using Pershing Park — Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 14th and
15th — as a location for honoring those who fell in the war
(1914-1918).
The Association has a nice web site at http://aoidc.org.
And DC has a lovely memorial for the District’s own Great War dead.
Both are worthy of a visit.
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If Your Post Office Closes
Star Lawrence, jkellaw@aol.com
Out here in Arizona, where actual service to citizens is thin on the
ground, I am incensed about the Post Office announcements to the effect
of: hey, no money, no service. Overnight? I takes a good week from East
Coast to here now. Anyhow — if your local brick and mortar Post Office
gets the ax, sign up for the Philately catalog and order stamps online.
It costs a buck in handling, but it’s fun. Call 800-782-6724. If you
don’t have the catalog, you can ask for it and still get some stamps
— try the Pixar cartoon stamps or Shelter Animals or Mark Twain. Ask
the rep to look them up.
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The current council has the right to censure at any time, so the
ethics bill is a joke. The right to vote should be suspended while under
indictment, with the right of the council to remove the councilmember.
Moreover, the constituent service accounts are nothing but slush funds.
If the councilmembers truly wanted to help people, why not help raise
money for third party charities (Salvation Army, Red Cross) and let them
vet the recipient? What makes the councilmembers think that they have
the expertise to determine who is “worthy”? Only Dems? Only
campaign-connected? Only quid pro quos? Finally, if the council
were truly interested in ethics, they would pass an ex parte rule
like there is in Montgomery County, Maryland. In short, this rule
prohibits any councilmember from any lobbying which is not on the
record.
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Welcoming the Occupy Movement to Hometown DC
Samuel Jordan, Samuel.Jordan@msn.com
If you’ve been sentenced unjustly to life in prison, it doesn’t
matter who opens the gates or how. Run! Escape! Organize the
Freedom-Seekers! Build a world of our own making! Celebrate! These
exclamations mark my response to the emergence and tenacity of the
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. Yet, when applied to local conditions
here in Washington, DC, an enthusiastic welcome is not necessarily
forthcoming for more than the effort made to establish the “occupation.”
Where is the working connection with local movements, local issues? It
is very important that Occupy Washington DC has underscored the national
lack of investments in infrastructure with its March to Key Bridge or
the failure of the Congress and the federal government to contain the
escalation in college tuitions. Is there more that can be done locally
by a movement claiming it is inspired by the growing inequality in
income in the nation? Are there local 99%ers who can benefit from
collaboration with the national movement on specific local issues?
Around the country, each Occupy encampment takes its identity from
local participants. However, here in Washington, DC, the Occupy movement
prefers to “attract” support and empathy from area residents rather
than to “generate” support by its merger of national issues of
inequality with local campaigns seeking a more equitable distribution of
available resources. The latter approach urges the Occupy cadre to reach
out to communities engaged in campaigns to secure legally enforceable
Community Benefits Agreements applicable to announced Wal-Mart plans to
locate six (6) stores within DC city lines. That approach should
embolden the Occupy movement to criticize the decision made by the
District to greatly restrict funds available to subsidize residential
energy assistance programs.
With a little effort, it should be possible for the Occupiers to find
a local struggle worthy of support in their own designated areas of
concern: Environment, healthcare, education, employment. When income
inequality is at issue where is the Occupy rage that the District ranks
among cities with the greatest increases in poverty among children?
To insist that the Occupy movement take up every or any specific
local issue is to violate its autonomy. However, solid, meaningful
connection with local 99%ers can only be helpful. A selection can be
made of the local issue(s) that demonstrate(s) the omnipresence of
income and wealth inequalities while establishing genuine good will
among local residents who might be responsive should an appeal be needed
for an extended encampment or for continued nonviolent police action.
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A Serious Split in Socializing Styles
Paul Michael Brown, pmb@his.com
So the most recent issue of themail [December 4] tells us Republicans
in Ward 7 are planning a holiday party at the Denny’s on Benning Road,
which will also serve as a toy drive for needy children. Meanwhile the
Woman’s National Democratic Club will gather for a “light supper”
followed by Le Diner de Cons, a French film which is apparently a
trenchant social commentary featuring a “spherical buffoon.” No
mention of any charitable works by the Democratic ladies that evening.
Looks like the major political parties are just as poles apart when it
comes to socializing as they are on the major issues of the day.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library Holiday Book
Sale, December 10
Alexander Padro, padroanc3c@gmail.com
The Friends of Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library will hold a holiday book
sale on Saturday, December 10, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the
library, located at 1630 7th Street, NW (Metro: Shaw-Howard University).
This will be the first book sale since the new building opened, and will
include many recent titles in the childrens, young adults, fiction (lots
of vampire, historical and romance novels), and nonfiction (history,
architecture, African American studies, politics, humor, religion)
categories. A selection of CDs, DVDs, and video tapes is also available.
Admission to the book sale is free. All proceeds support programs at
Shaw’s neighborhood library.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Great Holiday Gifts: 2012 Children’s Black
History Calendar
Ingrid Drake, ingridnatasha@yahoo.com
With full-color illustrations made by DC school children, the MOMIE’s
TLC 2012 Children’s Black History Calendar is now available. Each
month you can learn about great heroes and sheroes, such as Jack Beula
Dodd, a black British entrepreneur and socials worker, or Elizabeth
Keckly, an ex-slave and highly successful seamstress, who worked for
First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. All of the proceeds benefit MOMIE’s
award winning cultural education programming for DC children. For more
information, go to http://momiestlc.com/childrensblackhistorycalendar.htm
or E-mail ingridnatasha@yahoo.com
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