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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:
Being the Mayor’s Chief of Staff is Like Being Spinal Tap’s Drummer Andi Pringle: The Ten-Day Deputy Chief of Staff Is David Catania a Chivalrous Sell Out?
Good afternoon sweet readers! It’s Thursday, and you all know that means that Washington City Paper‘s bosses are likely to be found all over cable news plugging this week’s dead tree edition. In some alternate reality. This week’s cover story is a tale of woe about how spray painting graffiti isn’t as as cool as it once was. The most interesting thing you’ll read all week is LDP‘s filthy exposé of what happens with all that dirt builders have to move before they can build parking garages 95 feet below the surface. “In order to find places to put all that dirt, the companies employ brokers who buy and sell the stuff, cutting deals at whatever price they can negotiate. ‘We have three guys now that all their job is to find out where dirt can go,’ says John Strittmatter, owner of Strittmatter, noting that his company expects to move more than a million cubic yards of dirt this year. ‘You could get nothing for a load of dirt, or you could get $100. There’s really no system to it.'” That sounds like a pretty good gig. Dave McKenna wonders if fewer people are interested in going to Redskin games because football on TV has gotten so good (LL’s wife hates those dancing robots, for what it’s worth). And LL’s column this week takes a look at one of the worst jobs in District government: the mayor’s chief of staff. News time:
AFTER THE JUMP: Andi, We Hardly Knew Ye; Walter Fauntroy, D.C.’s Gaddafi Propagandist; Cornell Jones Sues D.C…
Andi, We Hardly Knew Ye: How bad does this look? Mayor Vince Gray’s new deputy chief of staff Andi Pringle resigned yesterday after it was disclosed that she’d killed a man in Tennessee, er, LL means possibly violated local voting laws and had out-of-date business license records. Pringle, you’ll recall, was brought on last week to help the mayor reshape his image. The news comes a mere day after Paul Quander, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff for public safety, went on TV to say that new deputy chief of staff Pringle’s job was safe. What a difference a Washington Post editorial makes. TWT‘s Tom Howell Jr. wins the gold star for including this quote from the mayor: “Do I wish this had not happened? Of course I wish this had not happened,” Mr. Gray said. “Do I wish we did not have to deal with this? Of course, especially since this is something we were hoping to get past from the early days of this administration, to have questions raised about the people we have hired and if their backgrounds were properly reviewed.” The big irony: the Pringle resignation overshadows Gray’s new job creation initiatives, you know, the thing that was his entire campaign platform. (Of course, no one really would have paid attention to that story anyway, because a giant crane fell!)
That’s Quite a Tale: The Rev. Walter Fauntroy, D.C.’s former congressional representative and a former candidate for mayor, has quite a story to tell about his recent trip to Libya. Per the Afro: “In an interview inside his Northwest D.C. home last week, the noted civil rights leader, told the Afro that he watched French and Danish troops storm small villages late at night beheading, maiming and killing rebels and loyalists to show them who was in control. ‘What the hell’ I’m thinking to myself. I’m getting out of here. So I went in hiding,’ Fauntroy said. The rebels told Fauntroy they had been told by the European forces to stay inside. According to Fauntroy, the European forces would tell the rebels, ‘Look at what you did.’ In other words, the French and Danish were ordering the bombings and killings, and giving credit to the rebels.” Fauntroy adds that “90 percent of the Libyan people love [Muammar] Gaddafi” and “the true mission of the attacks on Gaddafi is to prevent all efforts by African leaders to stop the recolonization of Africa.” Fauntroy then goes to on to say that his trip to Libya was part of a “continuous mission that started under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” to restore Africa to its “pre-colonial status.”
Take That: Miracle Hands, the non-profit run by former drug kingpin Cornell Jones that’s being sued by the city for allegedly using city AIDS funding and renovating a warehouse that became a strip club, is suing the city back, saying they didn’t do anything wrong and were discriminated against, says WCP‘s Rend Smith. The Post has a primer on Jones’ background.
In Other News:
- Lot more security in town since 9/11.
- Georgetown Dish’s Chuck Thies says Gray spokeswoman Linda Wharton Boyd needs to go, Gray’s campaign communications guru Mo Elleithee seems to agree.
- Post ed board says a certain Redskins owner should not be challenging the District’s anti-SLAPP law (you know, that anti-SLAPP law)
Gray sked: One City One Hire initiative launch at 10 a.m.; Various radio interview throughout the day in regards to 9/11; Welcome dinner for ATT Nation’s Football Classic.
Council sked: recess.