Resignation Poll
Dear Friends:
Three citations to the Washington Post poll results: “Mayor
Gray Should Resign, Most DC Residents Say,” by Mike DeBonis, Nikita
Stewart, and Peyton M. Craighill,
http://tinyurl.com/7pw265k;
poll results, part 1,
http://tinyurl.com/88d9wn4;
poll results, part 2, “DC’s Direction: More See District on Wrong
Track,”
http://tinyurl.com/78azj8r.
The Post has been pushing the theme of Gray’s resignation for a
while, and last week solicited councilmembers to call for it. What is
your opinion?
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If, on the other hand, you want to write about something else, I
would certainly understand that. Just write. What’s going on in your
corner of town that we should know about? If you don’t tell us, we’ll
never know.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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According to the DC Bar Association, there are currently 98,181
attorneys licensed to practice law in Washington, DC — in a city with
601,000 residents. In the coming months, it is likely that three of
those attorneys — Ronald C. Machen, Jr., Vincent H. Cohen, Jr., and
Robert J. Spagnoletti — whose lives first intersected in the 1990’s at
the US Attorney’s Office — will have the most dramatic impact on how and
whether the District addresses the issue of government corruption
effectively.
Ronald Machen. On March 23, 2009, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton
names seventeen District residents to serve on the DC Federal Law
Enforcement Nominating Commission. Norton established the Commission in
order to investigate, interview, and vet applications for US Attorney
for the District of Columbia, US District Court judges, the US Marshal,
and other federal law enforcement offices. The Commission was, and still
is, chaired by attorney Pauline Schneider, a partner in the Orrick,
Herrington, and Sutcliffe law firm. Its other members include Katherine
Broderick, dean of the UDC Law School; Terence Golden, executive
committee, Federal City Council; Robert Spagnoletti, a partner in the
Schertler and Onorato law firm; Thomas Williamson, a partner at the
Coverington and Burling law firm and currently president of the DC Bar;
and Beverly Perry, senior vice president, Pepco. For a full listing of
Commission members, see
http://tinyurl.com/7dqqaon.
After soliciting applications for the position of US Attorney in
April 2009, the Commission reviewed and interviewed a series of
candidates prior to forwarding their recommendation to Norton. During
the Commission’s deliberations, one member of the selection panel,
Robert Spagnoletti, who had been an Assistant US Attorney in the office
from 1990 to 2003, pressed for Machen’s appointment over Channing
Phillips, the presumed front-runner who was then the acting US Attorney.
At the time of his application, Machen was a partner at the law firm of
Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr. Previously, he had been an
Assistant US Attorney from 1997 to 2001.
Vincent H. Cohen, Jr. In a January 4, Washington Post obituary
for Vincent H. Cohen, Sr.,
http://tinyurl.com/7y7tug7,
Machen stated that, prior to submitting his application for US Attorney,
he consulted with Cohen, Sr., a revered black attorney in the District
who had served as a mentor to a generation of young black attorneys. It
is noteworthy that Machen, following his nomination to the post by
President Obama in December 2009, and his subsequent confirmation by the
Senate in February 2010, then chose Vincent Cohen, Jr., the son of his
professional mentor, to be his principal deputy at the Office of the US
Attorney in July 2010. Machen and Cohen, Jr., had become close friends
during Cohen’s tenure at the US Attorney’s Office, 1997-2003. However,
it should also be noted that at the time of his appointment by Machen,
Cohen was a law partner with Robert Spagnoletti, who served on the 2009
Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, at Schertler and Onorato.
Robert Spagnoletti. On July 5, Mayor Vincent Gray nominated
Spagnoletti to serve as the chair of the newly created Board of Ethics
and Government Accountability in the District of Columbia. During the
press conference announcing his appointment, Spagnoletti indicated that
he had already had “preliminary discussions” with the US Attorney’s
Office. Given Spagnoletti’s tenure at the US Attorney’s office
(1990-2003), which overlaps with that of Machen’s (1997-2001), and
Vincent Cohen Jr.’s (1997-2003), as well as his legal partnership with
Cohen at Schertaler law firm, one can only assume that the foundation
for a close working relationship among these three individuals had
already been laid.
Alan Suderman profiles Vincent Cohen, Jr., in the current, July 18,
Loose Lips column in the Washington City Paper, “Native Fed,”
http://tinyurl.com/7qecbgb.
Suderman describes Cohen as a “well-connected native Washingtonian” who
is also “a possible mayoral contender in a future race.”
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