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:

White People: Tax Us

Good morning sweet readers! LL finally got around on his vacation to watching the “new” Indiana Jones movie. Man, did that stink. LL had to turn it off once Shia LaBoeuf started swinging on vines in the Amazon. Is that guy contractually obligated to ruin franchises from LL’s childhood? News time:

Councilmember Ronald Moten?: It’s looking more likely that Peaceoholics co-founder/mayoral campaign strategist/music mogul Ron Moten might actually run for the Ward 7 council seat next year. This is good news for anyone who enjoys political theater because, love him or hate him, Moten is easily one of the most entertaining characters in the tragicomedy known as D.C. politics. Moten told LL yesterday that he’ll do it if enough residents of Ward 7 show that they are serious about supporting him. What perfect timing then, for a positive profile of Moten by the Post‘s Courtland Milloy. “No doubt Moten has something of a hustlers’ streak and rubs many people the wrong way. But if he sometimes has difficulty transitioning from a streetwise persona to a more suite-wise sophisticate, at least part of the problem could be a result of the vast distance between the worlds he’s seeking to bridge,” write Milloy before quoting Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton saying Moten is “a man with unusual experience, well-known for his effective works.” For a must-read on Moten (which he probably hates) see this Washington City Paper profile from 2009. And LL just jogged his own memory banks and recalled that the first time he ever met Moten was caught on tape. “Chairman Gray, how can you call me a crony, sir?” Ah, memories.

AFTER THE JUMP: These Hearings Are B.S.; House Republicans to D.C.: Show Us Your Money;

These Hearings Blow: The Times‘ Jeffery Anderson has a sharp-elbowed piece about the likelyhood of Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh‘s hearings on the Gray administration’s hiring practices being a “political dead end,” especially if key witnesses like Sulaimon Brown don’t even bother to show up (please come, Sulaimon, for the sake of the press corps). “Given signs that key witnesses are refusing to comply with subpoenas issued by Committee Chairwoman Mary Cheh, observers say District residents should brace themselves for a hearing — if not a final committee report — of little consequence. Lost in the rhetoric of nepotism and public integrity that has emanated from Ms. Cheh’s committee hearings is a trail of conflicting testimony and unanswered, if not unasked, questions.” Cue anonymous council staffer sniping at Cheh: “Is she caught between a rock and a hard place? Yes. Has it influenced her handling of the matter? Absolutely.”

House Republicans to D.C.: Show Us Your Money: The House Oversight Committee has invited Mayor Gray, Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown and other city bigwigs to come justify the city’s budget at a hearing tomorrow morning. “The subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-SC., has called the hearing to examine the fiscal sustainability of D.C. spending,” the committee says in a news release, before reminding everyone about the control board. Umm, is this a sign that overlord Gowdy is about to get all up in D.C.’s business? Or is he just going through the motions? LL doesn’t know! Per the AP: “Ilir Zherka, executive director of D.C. Vote, a nonpartisan group that lobbies for more independence for the District, said Thursday’s hearing was another unwelcome intrusion into local affairs. The group was planning another protest on Capitol Hill Wednesday. ‘We suspect they have ulterior motives in holding this hearing,” Zherka said. ‘We’ll see on Thursday what those are.’ Brown, however, said he had no reason to question Gowdy’s motives. ‘I’ve only known him to want to be helpful in terms of the District of Columbia,’ the council chairman told AP.”

You’re In Charge: In a piece about the D.C. Council tweaking the mayor’s budget to include more funding for police officers, BikeShare and $1 Circulator bus rides, Chairman Brown gets the quote of the day award. Brown says his top priority is going to be restore funding in the mayor’s budget for homeless shelters and victims of domestic violence. But other than that, Brown says he’s likely to defer to the mayor, who once led the Department of Human Services in the 90s, on other social services budget cuts. “If it was any other mayor that sent down these cuts, I might pause,” Brown said. “But I had to take a second and say, ‘You know, this is a man whose whole life has been in this area.’ So, the least I can do is say, ‘He’s put some thought into it.’”

In Other News: Clarification on the number of DCPS employees who need to find a new job.

Gray sked: Weekly presser at 10 a.m.; Meeting with Iraeli ambassador at 11:30 a.m.

Council sked: Budget work galore.