Fraud and Failure
Dear Washingtonians:
The ethics reform bill — yes, I know I’m harping on just one
subject — is being promoted as though it had been written and passed
in the interest of good government. But it has not been written in a
good government way. As Mayor Gray pointed out in his letter on the
legislation that was being considered in last week’s city council
session, http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/ethics111206.htm,
Councilmember Muriel Bowser circulated a new version of the bill, with
fifty-one additional pages added. There was no chance for councilmembers
to read, much less study, the changes that she had made. At the urging
of Bowser and Council Chairman Kwame Brown, the councilmembers voted for
the bill, even though they hadn’t read it, much less debated it.
But no matter. Councilmembers don’t want a good ethics bill; they
want headlines on newspaper articles and television stories that say,
“council passes an ethics bill.” Don’t be fooled by the headlines;
read those rare articles that actually analyze the fraud and failure
that is being called an ethics bill. Two of those articles this week are
by Deborah Simmons, http://tinyurl.com/8xcvw3q,
and Colbert King, http://tinyurl.com/6rgtq9v.
I heartily recommend them both.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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At the beginning of last summer my regular postal carrier told us
about the coming reduction in postal carriers. Now in all my years in
Mt. Pleasant I have had three postal carriers (well, four — one did
get replaced). One delivered to us in the North when I lived on
Ingleside and Newton, one delivered to us on Kilbourne, and one who
delivered to us here on Park. When we moved to Park in 2001 they were
all still here, so all our mail made it to us no matter where it was
addressed. Additionally they knew all their customers, and on occasions
alerted authorities if something was amiss (especially important for the
elderly and disabled living alone).
Wes informed me that in some odd way to prevent the appearance of an
actual reduction they would each keep one street from the old route and
we would be getting a highly thought-of woman from Brown street. My
husband has met her; she is a young woman, very diligent. Our mail has
been getting later and later, 8:00 p.m. became regular. Then Monday
night the mail hit the door at 9:45 p.m. Since there was a certified
letter I ran, and I mean ran, to catch her. I found her at her truck
parked next to an alley where the previous Saturday night we had several
robberies at about the same time. I hadn’t previously met her but my
husband had spoken to her a lot and I was struck by her youth, energy,
and quite frankly her beauty. I felt compelled to tell her to be
careful, and she laughed it off. I stopped and said, “No, I am
serious,” and told her about my neighbor’s attempted robbery feet
from where she was parked Saturday night and that the police had told
her it was the ninth call that night.
What are we doing to our carriers that they have to work such long
hours to diligently complete a route? I can’t imagine what the regular
substitute must be going through, and the sorters at the post office
routinely give us mail for 1752 (we are 1725) and 1724, because is used
to be vacant. Wes had time to check the mail to make sure 1752 got its
mail, even the misaddressed ones, and the same for us. Our new carrier
barely has time to complete her route let alone check every piece of
mail. From the people who were her previous clients and my husband’s
brief conversations with her, she is a diligent, hard working, caring
person, so this is not her, this is our Post Office. I wonder if the
Postmaster General with his salary over a half million dollars or the
USPS board have ever worked under such conditions?
Add to this her personal story (which my husband who is often at home
when she comes has gleaned from her in pieces). Her young daughter went
blind and they found a school for her in Chicago where her husband moved
to live with their child while she awaited a transfer (since she had the
better job with a chance for transfer they decided as a family on this).
She put in for the transfer three years ago, I cannot say I have much
hope she will get it and if she does, does it make her a higher risk for
layoff? It must be heartbreaking for her.
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This is to advise that the December 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 “The Role of Brownstone in Washington’s Domestic
Architecture”) — 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) “Postal
Service Plan to Close Certain Neighborhood Post Offices Reversed”; 2)
“DC Public Library System-wide Resurgence Having Impact City-Wide;
Residents Applauding New and Renovated Buildings”; 3) “18th Street
Reconstruction Work to Be Suspended on Saturdays Through Holidays.”
The next issue PDF will publish early in the morning of January 13
(the second Friday of the month, as usual). For more information, either
send an E-mail to newsroom@intowner.com
or call 234-1717.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Cultural Revolution Cookbook,
December
12
Sue Hemberger, smithhemb@aol.com
Foodies, Sinologists, and politicos unite! Come to Monday’s author
talk at the Tenley-Friendship Library to celebrate the publication of
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook. Authors Sasha Gong and Scott
Seligman will discuss the stories behind the recipes and their process
of collaboration. The book is beautifully illustrated and the recipes
include lots of vegetarian dishes, http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Revolution-Cookbook-Sasha-Gong/dp/9881998468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323631930&sr=8-1
Copies will be for available for sale before and after the talk (sorry,
we can’t handle credit cards).
The Tenley-Friendship Library is located at 4450 Wisconsin Avenue,
NW, at Albemarle Street, across from the Metrorail station. The talk
starts at 7:00 p.m. and will take place in the large conference room on
the second floor. Coffee and light refreshments will be served.
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Kenneth Wollack at Woman’s National
Democratic Club, December 15
Patricia Fitzgerald, Pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org
On Thursday, December 15, Kenneth Wollack will speak on following up
on the Arab Spring: Elections at a Woman’s Democratic Club luncheon.
Kenneth Wollack is president of the National Democratic Institute. He
has been actively involved in foreign affairs, journalism, and politics
since 1972. He joined NDI in 1986 as executive vice president. The
Institute’s board of directors, then chaired by former Vice President
Walter Mondale, elected him president in March 1993. Mr. Wollack has
traveled extensively in Eastern and Central Europe, the former Soviet
Union, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa on behalf of the
Institute’s political development Far East Policy Survey, a
Washington-based newsletter. He also wrote regularly on foreign affairs
for the Los Angeles Times. From 1973 to 1980, he served as legislative
director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He has
testified on numerous occasions before congressional committees,
appeared on national television and radio, and spoken before world
affairs councils across the country. He has served on various task
forces sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the United States
Institute of Peace, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for US
Global Engagement, the Atlantic Council, the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy, and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Mr. Wollack currently is a member of the Advisory Committee on
Voluntary Foreign Aid and has serves as chairman of the US Committee for
the United Nations Development Programme. The bar opens at 11:30 a.m.,
lunch will be served at 12:15 p.m., and the lecture, presentation, and Q
and A will be from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Cost: $25 members, $30 nonmembers,
and $10 lecture only. Woman’s National Democratic Club, http://www.democraticwoman.org,
232-7363, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW.
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DC Federation of Citizens Associations,
December 15
Anne Renshaw, milrddc@aol.com
Thursday, December 15, 6:45-8:45 p.m. DC Nonprofit Code revisions . .
. need help? District Nonprofit Code changes will be effective January
1, 2012. If a membership association was incorporated pre-1962 or is an
unincorporated community organization, is it subject to tax? If an
organization is a 501(c)3, is it tax exempt? What are the tax reporting
requirements? What should a nonprofit do if it has yet to file with the
tax authorities? The Citizens Federation welcomes nonprofit tax expert
Regina Hopkins, Director, DC Bar Pro Bono Program, who will
explain important changes to the District’s Nonprofit Code that may
affect member associations. Meeting location: All Souls Memorial
Episcopal Church, 2300 Cathedral Avenue, NW; entrance off the church
parking lot on Woodley Place, NW.
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CLASSIFIEDS — DONATIONS
Serving People by Lending A Supporting Hand (SPLASH), helps
low-income households facing financial emergencies to pay their water
and sewer bills — but it has regularly run out of funds each month and
turned away qualified applicants. Greater Washington Urban League’s
fundraiser, designed by me as a former DC Water board member and now a
League volunteer, can remedy that shortfall. Hard-up families need your
help this month! Please see full information and donate at http://www.Razoo.com/SPLASH.
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