Contracting Issues
Dear Contractors:
Nobody has commented in themail on the series of six editorials that
the Washington Post has written over the past month about
Councilmember Jim Graham’s opposition to a contractor bidding on a DC
Lottery contract and to a contractor (with an overlapping group of
principals) bidding on a WMATA contract. Back when the lottery contract
was being let for bids and there were two groups competing, I commented
in themail that it was a shame that either of the groups would win.
There were good reasons to oppose both the group that was being
supported by Mayor Fenty and the group that was being supported by many
of the councilmembers. Part of what upsets the Post’s editorial
board does seem to result from its blind support of Adrian Fenty, and
reflects its continuing sentiment that Fenty’s contracting procedures
and decisions should never have been questioned.
But setting that bias aside, the Post’s editorials on
Councilmember Graham have raised a number of legitimate questions about
Graham’s actions and motivations. Graham has finally responded with an
op-ed article in today’s newspaper, “The Truth about the DC Lottery
Contract,” http://tinyurl.com/83tus3t,
that doesn’t adequately answer any of the issues that the Post has
raised, at least not to me.
The lottery contract, how it was negotiated, and everyone’s role in
it, stinks. We need an independent investigation of the entire matter,
starting but not ending with Graham’s role. Does anyone have a
different opinion?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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So what can be done about the oft-demonstrated “circle the wagons”
mentality of the DC council to protect their own -- even in the face of
federal evidence of embezzlement? One solution is to put a true
non-majority member on the council, as DC Home Rule requires.
Councilmember Michael A. Brown is a lifelong Democrat who switched
parties for political convenience. The original purpose of the
requirement was not only to allow for representation of the minority,
but for the non-majority members to act as a check upon the majority.
The outrage is that these valid goals are being frustrated by the same
people who protected Harry Thomas for as long as they could after he
embezzled over three hundred thousand dollars from taxpayers.
At this point, all those interested in good government should be open
to the idea of a check on the council's worst tendencies of cronyism and
corruption. Mary Brooks Beatty is running for the at-large seat on the
Council as a Republican. Mary served my community for six years on the
ANC. She was very responsive to the community's needs and I found her to
conduct herself with the utmost integrity. I think she could be just the
agent of transformation that the council -- and the city -- so
desperately needs.
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Until recently, the DC Antitrust Act provided for a District of
Columbia Antitrust Fund. The Fund paid for antitrust enforcement by the
DC Attorney General. It could be funded to a level not exceeding one
million dollars (The fund reached levels of over six hundred thousand
dollars, mainly from case–generated fees.) The fund provided a way to
pay for antitrust enforcement from a source other than taxpayer money.
The fund was built up mainly by sums recovered by the District of
Columbia from defendants in antitrust actions, and cy pres awards from
defendants. The Fund could also accept grants and appropriated funds.
See former DC Code § 28–4516(a), repealed last year.
The Antitrust Fund was used by the Office of the Attorney General for
the statutory purpose of “payment of costs, expenses, and charges
incurred in and reasonably related to the investigation, preparation,
institution, and maintenance of antitrust actions” under either DC or
federal law. DC Code § 28–4516(b), now repealed. As of 2007–2008,
the Antitrust Fund was covering the salaries of three Assistant
Attorneys General devoted full time to antitrust enforcement, and
associated support services.
Some may view last year’s repeal by the DC council of the statutory
provisions for the Antitrust Fund as consistent with continuing vigorous
local antitrust enforcement. The DC Attorney General did announce an
investigation of local gas pricing issues in 2011 (although no court
prosecution or other progress has been announced as yet). Others, noting
that the last Assistant Attorney General position devoted full time to
antitrust enforcement was eliminated at the end of 2011, may view the
scrapping of the Antitrust Fund as killing the goose that laid important
antitrust enforcement eggs. Yet others may simply be hostile to
antitrust enforcement, feeling that antitrust enforcement by local
government is unimportant or undesirable. My view is that the failure to
continue the Antitrust Fund is likely to reduce the quantity and quality
of valuable local government antitrust enforcement. I am formerly a DC
AAG for antitrust. The article from which this excerpt is drawn is at http://tinyurl.com/86xogjp
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New Public Participation Initiative at the Washington
Post
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
The Washington Post is widely expanding public participation
in the newspaper by asking readers to send in photos they've taken of
sunrises and sunsets, http://tinyurl.com/8yx7372
Life imitates art. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHVbxsbECCM
Daring. Pathbreaking. That's the only way I can think to describe this.
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Preserving Statistics
Richard Stone Rothblum, richard@rothblum.org
Gary, I take your point [themail, February 22] that the increase in
the rate of solution of murders in DC is probably due to the way they
are calculated. Methods of calculation of social and other statistics,
and the definitions on which they are based, change from year to year.
This is an unfortunate fact of public life. For example: calculations of
numbers of people living in “poverty,” numbers of “obese”
people, number of people suffering from “hunger” (now changed to
something like “hunger anxiety”), and the nonsense that one third of
women have been forced to have sex (“Did you ever have sex when you
really didn’t feel like it?”). My objection to the Washington
Post article was that there was insufficient information about how
the numbers were calculated and what had changed from previous
calculations for the reader to arrive at an informed opinion. Your point
that the numbers should be calculated uniformly throughout the country
is laudable, but without being insulting, can I suggest that it is
naïve? Chief Lanier claimed that the MPD did that. Her statement was
not refuted. So long as politicians are in charge of evaluating their
own performance, statistics are going to be twisted. The best that we
can hope for is a transparent statement showing exactly how the numbers
are calculated, and some sort of warning not to compare to previous
calculations on another basis. We depend on institutions such as The
Post to dig beyond the statistics as they are presented by those
whose careers are affected. When these institutions fail to do this in
an otherwise broadly researched article, they should be called on it.
[An editor’s note has been added to Cheryl Thompson’s article on
the MPD’s homicide statistics, and the article has been republished to
a new URL: http://tinyurl.com/86nlpnz.
The editor’s note reads, in part, “In fact, as the article reported,
the department has followed practices consistent with federal crime-data
guidelines and relied upon the same methodology used by other major
municipal police agencies. The department hasn’t altered the ways it
calculates homicide-closure rates since Cathy L. Lanier became chief in
2007, and it discloses its methodology in its annual report. The data
the department publicly reports include prior-year cases that are opened
or closed during the calendar year. In recent years, the closures of
cases from earlier years have tended to enhance closure rates. For
capturing the department’s performance over time, that may be a
statistically valid approach, although it could leave the impression
that police are solving current-year cases faster than they actually
are. The decision to publicly cite the higher rate casts the department
in a more favorable light but does not mean that the underlying data are
distorted.” On Sunday, the Post also published an article on
homicide statistics by Chief Lanier on the Close to Home page, but it
has not yet posted that article online. -- Gary Imhoff]
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[The decision of the Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation that
affirmed the decision of the Historic Preservation Review Board,
discussed in the last issue of themail, was HPA #02-322, October 28,
2002.] As you can see, this is from years ago, so this does not mark a
recent trend. But in observing the HPRB in action, I see again and again
this insistence that alterations be either perfect matches to the
original, or be invisible from the street. The legal requirement that
alterations be "compatible with the character of the historic
district" is ignored. There are more such cases, though not as
dramatic as this one. (That the proposed repair method had the
endorsement of Historic Mount Pleasant, as well as the HPO staff,
testifies to its validity. We're not talking about "aluminum siding
on a brick townhouse" here.)
The problem here is that the amateurs put on the HPRB tend to be
fanatical -- or they wouldn't dedicate much of their lives to unpaid
historic preservation work. Then, on the board, they are the extreme
voices, demanding that no alterations change the appearance of a
building in any way, "compatible" or not. The text of the law
is this: the historic preservation act is "to assure that
alterations of existing structures are compatible with the character of
the historic district." Alterations are clearly allowed, and the
only requirement is that they be "compatible with the character of
the historic district." There's nothing there about
"replicating the original appearance of the building," though
that's the interpretation assumed by the Board.
And here's the definition of "compatible" from the historic
preservation regulations of the DCMR: "Compatible: Possessing
characteristics that allow for a harmonious relationship. Compatibility
does not require matching or copying of attributes, and may involve the
relation of dissimilar things that are juxtaposed to produce an
agreeable effect." That's the law, but that's not the way
preservationists think, especially these amateur preservationists put on
the Board. Why are they there, if not to provide some balance? Instead
of balance, they just tilt the board toward more extreme preservationist
dictates.
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Council Approval of Contracts
Kathy Patterson, kpattdc3@aol.com
I write to respond to questions I’ve gotten since Gary wrote [themail,
February ] about the DC council’s approving contracts over $1 million.
In ethics testimony last fall I recommended that the law be changed to
end council approval of major contracts. That was my position throughout
the twelve years I served on the council -- not a popular position with
my colleagues.
The evolving scandal over the lottery contract makes clear the
potential downside of legislators voting on all major contracts. The
temptation to take sides, and to bargain for chits that can be delivered
in the next election cycle, is great, and can outweigh any advantage to
the public in the council having a role in approving contracts. Gary was
correct to note that council review of contracts is an opportunity for
oversight. But the oversight of contracts, and of the procurement
process itself, exists independently of the current requirement that
each councilmember vote on every major contract. Aggressive oversight
can demonstrate when contracts are a poor bargain -- the council has the
bully pulpit of televised hearings. Committees should look at major
contracts as a part of the annual budget process. The council has access
to contract files with or without the approval function.
I am unaware of any other state legislature busying itself with the
purchase of goods and services; that’s an executive function. And
having the contracting function rest solely with the mayor makes it
clear where accountability resides. There is nothing to be lost by
removing the contract approval requirement -- except temptation.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Citizens Federation Assembly Program on Zoning
Rewrite, February 28
Debbie Schrieber, president@dupont-circle.org
How will the Office of Planning’s changes affect residential areas?
The Federation of Citizens Associations of DC will hold a briefing about
the citywide zoning rewrite, in response to DC residents’ questions
about changes to neighborhoods from a planned revision to the
residential zoning code. For the past year, a Zoning Rewrite Task Force,
comprised of over two dozen community, industry, political, and legal
representatives, has met with OP to discuss changes to, and
simplification of, DC’s complex zoning code.
The draft text of OP’s proposed zoning code changes can be reviewed
at http://www.dczoningupdate.org/default.asp.
Tuesday, February 28, 6:45-9:00 p.m., at All Souls Memorial Episcopal
Church, 2300 Cathedral Avenue, NW. (Entrance off church parking lot on
Woodley Place, NW; closest Metro stop, Woodley Park-Red Line.)
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Woman's National Democratic Club Meetings,
February 28, March 6
Patricia Bitondo, pbitondo@aol.com
Tuesday, February 28, , Robert M. Brandon, Voter Suppression
Legislation and the 2012 Election. Robert Brandon is the cofounder and
president for the Fair Elections Legal Network., a public affairs firm
that works to advance public interest and grass roots goals. He is an
attorney with over twenty-five years of public policy, legislative,
media, and campaign experience at the federal, state, and local levels.
Recognized as one of the nation's leading consumer advocates, he works
closely with a variety of public interest groups around the country. His
organization has been actively engaged in several states in the battle
against voter suppression laws, including voter ID requirements and
changes to laws that make it hard for organizations to conduct voter
registration drives to help people register to vote. Don't miss this
opportunity to get the current information on what is happening to
destroy the opportunity for citizens to exercise their right to vote. At
the Woman’s National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW.
Bar opens at 11:30 a.m.; lunch 12:15 p.m.; lecture, presentation,
Q&A: 1:00-2:00 p.m. Members $25, nonmembers $30; lecture only $10.
Register at http://tinyurl.com/874sbsc
March 6,, Sarah Blake, Read and Write, The Birth of a World War II
Novel. Writers of historical novels can't just write about what they
know. They have to read books, conduct interviews, find letters and
diaries, and then create characters and settings, reshaping dry research
into living people and places. Then those novels, of course, interact
with history, so books like War and Peace, Les Miserables, and Gone
with the Wind become some kind of record of their times and
conflicts. Novelist Sarah Blake, who was born many years after World War
II, wrote a bestseller about that war -- The Postmistress --
taking place in 1940 in London during the Blitz, in Europe during the
Holocaust, and on Cape Cod when American opinion was split between
staying out of the European mess and helping the besieged British. The
main characters are a female radio reporter working with Edward R.
Murrow and the female postmaster of a town on the Cape. Ms. Blake's
research included listening to recordings of Murrow's broadcasts. She
will tell of the development of her novel and also discuss the
importance of novels and storytelling to people's understanding of the
world -- past and present. Sarah Blake is the author of two novels -- The
Postmistress and Grange House. She holds a Ph.D. in Victorian
Literature from NYU and has taught workshops at The George Washington
University, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass., at The
Writer's Center in Bethesda and at The University of Maryland, where she
is this year's Petrou Reader in Residence. She lives in Washington, DC,
with her husband, the poet Joshua Weiner, and their two sons. The
Postmistress will be available for purchase and signing. At the Woman’s
National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. Bar opens at
11:30 a.m.; lunch 12:15 p.m.; lecture, presentation, Q&A: 1:00-2:00
p.m. Members $25, nonmembers $30; lecture only $10. Register at http://tinyurl.com/6nhrq8n.
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DC Public Trust Happy Hour, February 29
Kathy Patterson, kpattdc3@aol.com
Please join your neighbors who are working to get a measure on the
ballot in November to abolish direct corporate campaign contributions in
DC elections. Supporters are meeting Wednesday night, February 29, from
6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Lola’s on Barracks Row. The Leap Year happy hour
is designed to share information and build energy and support. For more
information go to http://www.facebook.com/dcpublictrust#!/events/313599938687236,
and you can sign up to help through http://www.dcpublictrust.org.
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National Building Museum Events, March 4
Stacy Adamson, sadamson@nbm.org
Sunday, March 4, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Model Airplane Workshop. Cost per
plane: $8 members, $14 nonmembers. Prepaid registration required. Ages
8+ and Webelos Cub Sports. Construct your own rubber-band-propelled
model airplane with the DC Maxecuters, then try a test flight in the
Great Hall.
Sunday, March 4, 11:00 a,m,-4:00 p.m. Flying in the Great Hall. Free
drop-in demonstration program. All ages. Watch as the DC Maxecuters fly
their model airplanes in and across the Great Hall! Both events 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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