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 afternoon sweet readers! Ricky Williams is still playing football!? LL once saw him in the Austin airport after he won the Heisman. His legs were huge, as they probably still are now. News time:

Where’s The Trust?: The Post‘s Mike DeBonis digs into the mass dysfunction at the Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation, which was the main vehicle disgraced former Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. used to steal city money. “The Thomas prosecution appears to be the culmination of a three-year tailspin for the trust, a trajectory precipitated by the encroachment of politics on what was intended to be an independent grantmaking process. More and more money sent to the trust during the time Thomas was fleecing taxpayers came in the form of ‘earmarks’—grants directed by council members to favored groups, absent any competitive process. In fiscal 2009, for instance, council members directed funds to 47 groups. During the same period, the trust was roiled by then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s move to bring its board more solidly under his control.” Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown said Friday he wanted the trust shut down. But none of the rest of his colleagues took that bait, and Brown has backed away from that position. Prediction: Audits will be done, investigations performed, and the trust will be given a clean bill of health. Then sometime in the future, the trust will be misued again by pols.

AFTER THE JUMP: Recall Begins; Curmudgeon Tom; Gay Marriage Flip-Flop…

And So It Begins: Fentyite Fredrick Butler has filed the paperwork to recall Mayor Vince Gray and Chairman Brown. “The proposed recall paperwork is sent to Gray and Brown, both of whom are given the chance to respond. (They have 10 days to do so.) If they respond, their statements will be printed alongside statements justifying the recall on nominating petitions that are circulated to voters. According to D.C. regulations, 10 percent of registered voters — including 10 percent of voters from five of the city’s eight wards — need to sign the petitions to get a recall on the ballot. Given current registration figures, that’s over 45,000 signatures — in 180 days, no less.” Bring it on, says Gray: “I feel I have done an excellent job.”
Curmudgeon Tom: NBC 4’s Tom Sherwood gets a bit ornery in his weekly column. First, he blasts the elected officials who are feeling sad for Thomas. “Nearly every official written statement we read, however, expressed more concern for Thomas and the impact on his family than it did for the children who were cheated. Various people called it a ‘sad’ day for the city, but that was about it. And some earnestly added that the Thomas family and the city need to put this ugly chapter behind us and ‘move on.’ Well, pardon the interruption, but don’t citizens get a moment to just be angry? It was vile greed. (Look it up if you don’t know the word ‘vile.’ It fits.)” Then Sherwood blasts pols for heading to New Hampshire to press for voting rights when their current approval ratings are in the toilet.

Gay Marriage Flip Flop: Ward 5 candidate Delano Hunter says he’s changed his mind on whether there ought to be a referendum on gay marriage. “It is settled. It is a moot point.” Guess he won’t be endorsed by NOM this time around.

In Other News:

  • TWT continues to note that it’s difficult to be a legal gun owner in the District.
  • Gray used to bag groceries at Safeway.
  • Rep. Darrell Issa still inquiring about Occupy DC.
  • Chuck Thies explains why Thomas won’t be making a political comeback. “Who in their right mind would give a contribution to a Thomas campaign?”

Gray sked: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: U.N. Environment Programme World Environment Day Announcement/Mayor’s Biweekly Press Briefing; 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: D.C. Public Library Martin Luther King, Jr. “Dr. King: His Impact on My Life” Lecture.

Council sked: 6:30 p.m. meeting to talk about Economic Development in Ward 7, Dorothy Height/Benning Library.