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:

Kwame Brown: “I’m Fully Loaded”

Mayor’s Office Mum on MVGSG

Mayor Gray Looking To Boost Executive Pay Scales

Good morning sweet readers! LL has learned the secret to grilling the perfect hamburger: love. Also, Sulaimon Brown informs via text message that he’ll be in court this afternoon, probably explaining to a judge why he doesn’t want to appear before a council committee. News time:

Can You Hear Me Now?: Both LL and The Examiner‘s Freeman Klopott covered Friday’s hearing on a bill proposed by Mayor Vince Gray to increase the salary cap of upper-level employees by $100,000, otherwise known as the stupidest legislation to be introduced in 2011. The bill ain’t going nowhere, but one has to admire the Gray administration’s chutzpah for trying, given the lumps its already taken over executive pay. Oh, wait, that’s not chutzpah. “‘I don’t think this was a nefarious move,’ Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh told The Washington Examiner following a hearing on the bill. ‘But somebody is tone deaf.'” True that. LL has more on the poor performance at Friday’s hearing by human resources director Shawn Stokes, who got chewed up and spit out by Councilmember Phil Mendelson. Jonetta also weighs in, saying that “since taking office, Gray has acted like a politician who believes himself entitled everything he wants when he wants it.”

AFTER THE JUMP: Mendo v. Wells; Wal-Mart Ultimatumgate; Brodsky resigns…

Mendo v. Wells: Mendelson also didn’t hold back when talking to the Post‘s Bill Turque about what role Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells has played in the ongoing redistricting battle. Turque reported that Mendo reached out to Sharon Ambrose, Wells’ predecessor, for advice on whether to include Eastern High and Eliot-Hine Middle School in the part of Ward 6 that’s slated to become Ward 7. Ambrose told Mendo to reconsider, but listen to why Mendelson says he reached out to Ambrose in the first place: “He said one reason the panel reached out to Ambrose, who chaired his 2010 reelection campaign, was that Ward 6 incumbent Tommy Wells had been ‘absent from discussions on redistricting, essentially taking a pass.’ He added that Wells had ‘incited’ Ward 6 residents into pressuring for the change. Wells, for his part,called Mendelson ‘a nitpicker’ who, ‘once he gets locked into a position, can be irrational.'” The Post‘s Mike DeBonis has more on how Ward 6 residents are unhappy.

Developers Threaten Mayors, Not The Other Way Around: LL is a bit confused by the ongoing Wal-Mart Ultimatum-Gate. First we have the Post‘s Jonathan O’Connell reporting that Gray told Wal-Mart they can’t come to the District unless they build a store at Skyland Town Center. Then Gray’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor Hoskins tells the Post editorial board that the mayor’s comments were made in “jest,” and Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander tells LDP that O’Connell’s story was “so not true.” But now comes O’Connell doubling down, with a report on how developers of other proposed Wal-Mart sites in the District were caught off guard and a little annoyed at Gray’s supposed ultimatum. What’s the matter? Can’t they take a jest?

In Other News: Fenty pal Chuck Brodsky resigns from booze board after conflict of interest complaints. Twenty cops retired in the last month. Some male cops allege Police Chief Cathy Lanier goes easier on women cops. Hardy Middle gets new principal. Park Police take a break from harassing dog owners at Lincoln Park to arrest dancers. No mayoral cannonball.

Gray sked: Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy Groundbreaking at 11:30 a.m.

Council sked: Judiciary talks foreign money at 10 a.m., stolen property at 11 a.m.