A deliberative roundup of one city’s local politics. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Good morning sweet readers! Without fail, every super warm winter day reminds LL of the “Mr. Plow” Simpsons episode where Kent Brockman says, “Could this record-breaking heat wave be the result of the dreaded greenhouse effect? Well, if 70-degree days in the middle of winter are the ‘price’ of car pollution, you’ll forgive me if I keep my old Pontiac.” News time:

Emails Of Fortune: The Post editorial board has some pretty interesting emails from one of the losing lottery contract bidding teams showing that “the lottery seekers were concerned about what they viewed as an inappropriate, if not illegal, demand from” Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham. Among Graham’s alleged concerns, whether lotto seeker Warren Williams Jr.‘s family had contributed to the campaign of one of Graham’s opponents. Yikes. Responds Graham: “I have no recollection of anything like this occurring.” Plus he says, the IG cleared him of any illegality. What’s weird: the lobbyist hired by Williams used to be an aide to Dick Cheney. Speaking of the lottery contract, yesterday was not a pleasant one for CFO Nat Gandhi, who took a beating over the IG’s finding that the CFO shop didn’t properly follow procurement regs when it added the iGaming option to the contract after it had been awarded. Gandhi pushed back hard, saying everything his office did was above board. Arch nemesis Councilmember David Catania used the occasion to call for Gandhi to resign and even talked about suing Gandhi.

AFTER THE JUMP: Plotkin Out; Red and White Cabs; Disaster at Deauville…

The Plotkin Thickins: WTOP’s Mark Plotkin was canned yesterday. Why? Well, the Post cites “co-workers” saying Plotkin got the boot “after berating a fellow station employee, one in a series of blow-ups with colleagues that Plotkin had engaged in over the years.” Plotkin, who almost never let a news conference go by without bringing up statehood, has also been fond of giving several fellow old school D.C. newsies the silent treatment, says the Post. Harry Jaffe, who’s been on the receiving end of said silent treatment for 15 years (phew boy, that’s a long ass time) also quotes anonymous sources saying WTOP brass sent Plotkin to anger management classes before giving him the boot. (C’mon WTOP gossips. You are reporters, give that stuff up on the record.) Also, be sure and check out this old City Paper piece on Plotkin penned by former editor David Carr. Its headline: “The Plotkin Thickens.” Priceless. In any event, Plotkin was always helpful to LL, who wishes him the best.

Red and White Cabs: A group of the District’s elected officials and their staff have flown to New Hampshire for the day, where they hope to press for D.C. statehood (or voting rights, it’s hard to keep track). Along for the ride is the Post‘s Tim Craig, who reports that Mayor Vince Gray wants new taxi rules to include a provision that would force all cabbies to paint their rides red and white. Why is this necessary? We don’t tell food trucks what color they have to be (at least for now). Speaking of cab regulations: the CEO of Uber came to town for a party and said: “Here’s to life, liberty and the pursuit of Überness.”

In Other News:

  • Mount Pleasant’s Deauville apartments, still burnt down.
  • Gray deserves more credit on new hiring program.
  • Jaffe: there are nearly 600,000 ways $600,000 could be better spent than on a citizen summit.
  • Council to Mayor: let’s hold off on the extra spending, m’kay?
  • Feds to Council, via Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown: Keep your questions about the Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation and the kickbacks to HTJ to yourself until at least May 1.
  • TWT’s gun-seeking Emily Miller needs to hand over her journalist card, get an advocate card instead.

Gray sked: New Hampshire baby!

Council sked: New Hampshire baby!