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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Vive L’Orange
Good morning sweet readers! It’s Thursday, and we all know what that means: the tabloid known as Washington City Paper is now ready to be purchased at supermarkets citywide. In this week’s edition, LL examines newest almost-Councilmember Vincent Orange‘s resilience and looks ahead to how his addition to the council may be volatile. “Vincent Orange proved this week that good things can happen to politicians who refuse to go away.” As if on cue, Orange began dusting things up with his future legislative leader and former campaign river, Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown. First, Orange complained about taking over Sekou Biddle’s old office, which Orange made fun of on the campaign trail. “I might wind up in there, but it won’t be quietly,” Orange tells the Examiner. And in the Post version of what-Orange-means-for-the-council-story, Orange says he feels snubbed that Brown didn’t call him to offer congratulations right away. “I would have thought he would have called and said, ‘Congratulations — what does your schedule look like? Can we get together and see how we could proceed?’ ” (Brown called after Orange made those comments.) Also, be sure and check out the coolest pigeon picture you’ll ever see. News time:
Election Breakdown: Here’s an interesting tidbit from the Post story on Orange’s addition to the council: “Sharon Ambrose, a former Ward 6 council member who served alongside Orange, said that he is ‘more sophisticated’ on development issues than Brown or [Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr] ‘He understands business and economic development and how to do deals,’ she said. ‘I suspect that Vincent has big plans.’ Ambrose suggested that Orange will take an interest in advancing major projects in his home ward, including the redevelopment of the McMillan Sand Filtration site at North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue NW. Those are projects, she said, that Thomas will also be looking to shepherd. ‘I think it’s going to be a tussle,’ she said.” Meanwhile, the Examiner reports that the WTU is feeling good about its kingmaking ability. “‘It was a very close race, and the Washington Teachers’ Union made the difference in the outcome of both elections,’” says union President Nathan Saunders, referring also to the group’s school board endorsement of Trayon White. And the Examiner also briefly looks at how Sekou Biddle got royally screwed. “‘I wanted people to judge me on what I’ve done and what I will do,’ Biddle told The Examiner. ‘Unfortunately, given the events going on, I was never able to get to that place.'” Greater Greater Washington wonders if Biddle would have been better off without winning the Democratic State Committee’s appointment. And Orange tells the Times that a “perfect storm” led to his opponents fighting for the same voters while he took the gold. “The pie got sliced up real nice,” Orange says. See more Orange on Fox5.
AFTER THE JUMP: Lessons; Stop Snitching; OCF Proving Alexander …
What To Learn: D.C. Watch’s Gary Imhoff‘s take on the special election, in themail: “1) The racial divide in politics in this city is exaggerated, and not as great as some voters fear and others hope. Inevitably, in every election, some blacks and some whites will say stupid, insulting things, and most voters will ignore them. 2) The Republicans will occasionally have a chance to win some elections when everything breaks their way and they have attractive candidates. A good portion of the press will be willing to ignore a Republican candidate’s faults, as they did with Mara this time around. 3) The twenty-something voters are well on their way to taking over District politics, and will do so inevitably — in twenty or thirty years, when they’re in their forties to sixties.” LL’s take: Twenty-something voters will probably be in their fifties in 30 years.
Stop Snitching: MPD Police Chief Cathy Lanier calls police union boss Kris Baumann a snitch in Robert McCartney‘s column on CharlieSheengate. “[Baumann] says other celebrities have received escorts similar to Sheen’s, including Patti LaBelle, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Fran Drescher. Furthermore, says Baumann, supervisors routinely approve such escorts to raise money and do favors for the famous. ‘This is what we do. Whether this is a good idea is another question,’ said Baumann, who is chairman of the labor committee of the Fraternal Order of Police. His comments frosted Lanier. If that was true, she responded, then the rules have been broken a lot more than she realized. She ordered internal affairs to look into the union’s allegations about escorts for LaBelle and the other celebrities as soon as she received my e-mail asking about it. She also took a shot at Baumann for speaking out about it. ‘I find it shocking that the FOP chairman is now raising to my attention that I need to investigate other union members for violations in the past,’ Lanier said. ‘It’s going to fall squarely on the members that he represents.'” Never mind that Baumann was alleging that celebrity escorts are routinely approved by the police brass his union does not represent, not tattling on his own members. Lanier sure looks like she’s trying to throw lower-level cops under the bus for this whole mess. Are rank-and-file officers so unsupervised that they can arrange and carry out celebrity escorts without supervisors knowing? Also, Fran Drescher?!?!
In Other News: Is the Louisville prison boss D.C.’s next prison boss? MPD to start targeting litter bugs. Office of Campaign Finance is looking into Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander‘s use of her constituent services fund. Downtown BID scared of union protest. Southeast residents upset over police shooting and killing a man with a BB-gun. Yikes: “D.C. officials announced Wednesday that they intend to revoke the operating license of a Northwest special education school for violations that include staff members improperly restraining students for offenses as minor as throwing candy and leaving the cafeteria without permission.” Gray: Zoo needs some security coordination after stabbing. The Chuck Brodsky/ABC Board saga continues.
Gray sked: Human Rights meeting at 10 a.m.; Tour of St. Elizabeth’s at 11:30 a.m.; Appearance at fundraiser for Southeast Tennis and Learning Center at 6:30 p.m.