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 will buy a Slurpee for anyone who can answer why babies like electrical sockets so much. News time:

Recycled Cat Poop: Fox5 has a good story on a poor woman who is trying to do the right thing only to get hammered by the man. “Dupont Circle resident Patricia White says she has been fined eight times for throwing homemade cat litter in her trash. The fines total $2,000. White says she shreds old newspaper and junk mail to use as cat litter. She believes she is helping the environment by reusing the paper and avoiding cat litter you will find in store.” Sorry lady, DPW thinks its job is to dig through people’s trash to make sure they’re recycling, like, really recycling. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans vows to get justice.

AFTER THE JUMP: You Will Be Assimilated; The Ethics Are In The Details; Get Off My Country’s Lawn…

You Will Be Assimilated: Software giant Microsoft is either coming to St. Elizabeths, or is at least really thinking hard on setting up shop east of the river, both WBJ and the Post report. “Officials said Microsoft is considering the campus for both corporate offices and a Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC), a hub of services and programs aimed at growing local software companies. The company currently operates innovations centers in more than 20 countries, but has none in the United States. They are open to students, software developers, entrepreneurs and researchers.” Wheew. Talk about just what Mayor Vince Gray needs.

The Ethics is in the Details: A good and timely story by TWT‘s Tom Howell Jr. on how sloppy D.C. pols are when it comes to filing out their campaign finance reports. Neither Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser (the author of the ethics bill the council is set to pass) and Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander “with 164 and 87 donors respectively in their initial reports, listed any employer information for the people who gave money to their campaigns. ‘We had a small problem, but we’ll fix it,’ Ms. Bowser said. An amended filing posted by OCF on Tuesday expanded the number of her donors to 276, with most of the new names accompanied by their respective employers. Ms. Alexander could not be reached for comment, but she is hardly alone in the no-employer-listed trend; numerous candidates filed a patchwork of employer information or conceded the information was ‘requested’ but not received.” Why does employer info matter? Because it makes it easier to follow the money. Why do so many politicians leave that info out? See the last answer. WAMU’s Patrick Madden also reports that “council members are relying on corporate contributions now more than ever.” And one more ethics story: Jonetta Rose Barras says former D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols isn’t the best pick for the Board of Elections and Ethics. “While she was good at her job, she sometimes played wicked politics, delivering sound bites and reports when legislators needed them most, or withholding reports when they might do serious damage.”

Get Off My Country’s Lawn: Marion Barry‘s pal Rep. Darrell Issa is pushing hard on the feds to answer why Occupy DC protestors are allowed to camp for so long at McPherson Square. Issa is accusing protesters of “damaging McPherson Square after $400,000 in taxpayer funds were spent in recent years to improve it. He also questioned whether the Park Service has disregarded its own rules by making exceptions for the 10-week-old protest.” Wait, they spent $400,o00 improving the square? Where did that money go? Also yesterday, three hunger strikers for D.C. rights tried to meet with the Speaker of the House John Boehner, but were denied. So one of them responded by cut off the foreskin of his penis. Kidding.

In Other News:

  • Taxicab commission suggests small rate increase. Cabbies unhappy.
  • Pete Ross puts $102,000 of his own money into campaign to be unpaid shadow senator. Says he’s not crazy.
  • If the mayor and the chairman resigns, it would be up to the council to pick Michael Brown, David Catania, Phil Mendelson, or Vincent Orange as a temporary replacement.
  • Fired employee says mental health contractor ripping off the city.

Gray sked: 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.: Funeral Service for Joseph E. Robert, Jr.; 11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.: Unity Health Care Upper Cardozo Health Center Ribbon Cutting; 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments 2011 Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon; 1:10 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.: Developer Roundtable Holiday Luncheon; 2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.: D.C. Government Snow-Response Plan Press Conference; 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.: Georgetown Business Association Annual Meeting and Holiday Reception.

Council sked: Bill 19-0221: Regulation of Tattoo Artists and Body-Piercing Artists at 11 a.m.; B19-0045: District of Columbia Community Schools Incentive Amendment Act of 2011 at 4:30 p.m.