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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! LL still feels sick that the Giants have managed to luck their way into the NFC finals. News time:

So Long, Harry: Today the Board of Elections and Ethics makes it official: The Ward 5 seat once held by disgraced former Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. is now vacant. The special election is set for May 15. For the dozens out there wanting to replace him: How bad you want it?

AFTER THE JUMP: Corporations Are People Too; Quit Meddling; GUYS, the Post Is ON IT!

Aren’t Corporations People Too? The Post is first out of the gate with the news that former council candidate Bryan Weaver has been tweeting to reporters: he’s organizing a ballot initiative to prevent corporate donations to political campaigns. Ward 6 Councilmartyr Saint Tommy Wells says he supports the idea. “Based on the latest voter registration figures, the Committee to Restore Public Trust will have 180 days to collect 22,723 valid signatures from registered District voters — 5 percent of the city total — to get on the November ballot.”

Quit Meddling: How did Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson first learn of Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown‘s proposal to require every District student to take the SAT and apply to college? The newspaper. That’s a problem, says the Post editorial page, that can be remedied if the council were to reestablish an education committee and councilmembers were to stop coming up with half-baked school ideas.

In Other News:

  • Is it possible to cheapen Chinatown? Yes, says Harry Jaffe.
  • GUYS, there were iffy mortgages made during the housing boom, and the Post is ON IT!
  • GUYS, anonymous online commenters can be really mean, and the Post is ON IT!
  • Colby King is apparently going to call out every politician who has ever received bundled donations. This week it was Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser‘s turn.
  • Mayor Vince Gray, who loves charter schools, should give more money to charter schools.
  • Some possible Ward 5 candidates come with baggage, warns Jonetta Rose Barras.

Council sked: Legislative meeting to restrict number of medical marijuana facilities in Ward 5.

Gray sked: 2:45 pm. – 3:30 p.m.: U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting Panel Discussion; 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: D.C. Youth Advisory Council and Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute Swearing-In Ceremony; 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.: ANC 8B Meeting.