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October 10, 2012

Forgiveness

Dear Forgivers:

At the Washington Post forum on “the state of DC leadership” that Dorothy wrote about in themail on September 30, Chamber of Commerce President Barbara Lang said one thing that has stuck with me since then. The problem with our political system, she said, was that “we are too forgiving a people,” and we don’t hold politicians accountable when they screw up or when they are corrupt. We don’t make them pay a suitable price, or even resign from politics. Instead, we hold rallies for them, churches hold services to honor them, and their constituents organize to support them.

The court system is just as forgiving. Election fraud is never prosecuted. Politicians who are caught in even the most serious cases get light sentences. Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of government funds from youth programs, got a shorter sentence than most robbers who stick up a corner grocery store. On Tuesday, Council Chair Kwame Brown had a court hearing because he had failed to report to pretrial services three separate times prior to being sentenced. Brown was being required just to make a weekly telephone call. That was too burdensome for him. In response, the judge gave him a stiff talking to, required him to report to pretrial services once a week in person in the future, and told him that the next time he slipped there would be consequences. Today, Howard Brooks, who was the bag man who provided payoffs to Sulaimon Brown to benefit the Vincent Gray mayoral campaign, was sentenced to two years probation.

Brown and Brooks are supposedly cooperating with the FBI and prosecutors to expose other crimes and to build cases against others. That’s what we’re told justifies the leniency they have been given. We’ll see if the results live up to the buildup, or if we’ll have to extend forgiveness to the officials who have promised us they will clean up our corrupt system.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Taking Stock
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

On Wednesday, October 17, the council’s Government Operations Committee will hold an important hearing on how the legislation the council adopted last year to reform ethics in the District government is being implemented. The hearing will focus on the implementation of Act 19-318, the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability Establishment and Comprehensive Ethics Reform Amendment Act. The legislation was drafted by then council Chairmen Kwame Brown and Muriel Bowser, chair of the council’s Government Operations Committee. When it was adopted in December, the Washington Post referred to the legislation as “the most comprehensive overhaul of city ethics law in a generation,” while most DC residents viewed the bill as an ineffective, face-saving, knee-jerk reaction by the District’s elected leaders.

Tuesday’s hearing will focus largely on the new Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA), which was supposed to be up and operational by October 1. However, to date the BEGA appears to have only one staff member (the director), no working telephone, and an office at One Judiciary Square that is a well-kept secret. Most troublesome is the fact that the emergency and proposed regulations for the Board, which were published in the September 28 edition of the DC Register, were so full of drafting errors that they are now comprehensible. Entire sections of the regulations appear to be missing. A corrected copy of the regulations was not included in the October 5 edition of the DC Register; however, the deadline for public comments on the proposed regulations is October 27.

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DC or Area Driving School
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

A friend, also a non-driver, wants to learn again how to drive. She did drive, but it’s been years, and she needs to start again. Any recommendations for excellent driving schools for adults in the area? We checked Angie’s List and got some info; a firsthand recommendation would be even better. And if there are any you’d stay away from, those would also be appreciated.

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Does Photo Traffic Enforcement Save Lives?
Jack McKay, jack.mckay@verizon.net

As I noted in the September 17 issue of themail, the Metropolitan Police point out that “whereas nationally the fatality per 100K population rate has decreased from 2001 to 2011 by 28 percent, DC’s rate has decreased by 69 percent,” and imply that their speed and red-light cameras are the reason for the difference. “Photo Enforcement Saves Lives,” the MPD proclaims.

But there are problems with that logic, beginning with comparing the District, totally urbanized, to the nation as a whole. The theory seems to be that speed and red-light cameras have caused DC drivers to drive more carefully, and slower, hence the traffic fatality rate has dropped. If that is so, then we should see fewer pedestrian deaths, and fewer collisions. But we don’t. I note that, during this same time period, pedestrian deaths have hardly changed, hovering around ten per year (with a minimum of seven in 2002). Traffic collisions are down only slightly, by far less than the 69 percent fatality decrease.

It’s evident that the reduction in fatalities is entirely in the occupants of automobiles. That’s consistent with the conclusion that the decrease in traffic fatalities is due to safer cars, providing better protection to passengers than in the past. As older cars are retired and replaced by new cars, with air bags and the like, the traffic fatality count drops, even if DC driving habits don’t change. The fatality decrease is greater in the District than nationwide because these passenger-protection devices are more effective at the modest speeds of the city than at the higher speeds of suburban and rural highways. This analysis is illustrated in some detail here: http://dcjack.org/photo%20enforcement.html

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Vassar FilmFest at the Letelier Theater, October 20
Ann Loikow, aloikow@verizon.net

The Vassar Club of Washington, DC, will hold its eighth annual Vassar FilmFest from 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 20, at the Letelier Theater, 3251 Prospect Street, NW. The FilmFest replaced the Vassar Book Sale as the Club’s primary scholarship fundraiser and features shorts, documentaries, and full length films by Vassar students, professors, and alumnae/i. It has become a a very special event at which the audience gets to see new films and hear the filmmakers discuss their work, while the filmmakers have get a chance to meet and network with each other.

We are very pleased that Jeffrey Herrmann, class of 1992, and Managing Director of DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, will moderate our discussions with the filmmakers. In addition, Damon Ross, Class of 1994 and Vice President of Dreamworks Animation, and Noah Baumbach, class of 1991, will present Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, as part of our morning family program. Just in time for the playoffs, we will show the New York Times Critics’ Pick, Ballplayer: Pelotero, a hard-hitting documentary that examines the Major Leagues’ recruitment of baseball players in the Dominican Republic, by Director Isaac Solotaroff, class of 1993. Besides a number of shorts, other films include The Atomic States of America, narrated by Alec Baldwin and based on Kelly McMasters’ (class of 1998) memoir about growing up in Shirley, Long Island, home to a nuclear reactor, and The Pier by Jim Stark (class of 1971), a beautiful and contemplative film, set in a village in West Cork, Ireland, about the efforts of an estranged father to get his son to come back from America. A complete schedule and ticket information can be found at http://www.vassarclubdc.org.

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Empower DC Call to Action on School Closings
Daniel del Pielago, daniel@empowerdc.org

As Mayor Gray and Chancellor Henderson prepare to close more schools, we must push back against their narrative that school closures will improve our Public School system. In an effort to push back against this narrative we will be having a day of outreach to post up signs we have developed that inform DC residents about the negative impact of school closings and that ask them to take action against these threats. And that’s where you come in; we need volunteers to help out in these efforts.

Here are the details: Saturday, October 20, 1:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m., at the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station (Orange Line). We also need a few drivers to help shuttle folks around so we can cover a good amount of ground. If you are able to drive please let me know. If you are able to help out, please contact me (Daniel) at 234-9119 x104, or simply reply to this E-mail.

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