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:
Even More Bad News Regarding Navigators
Good morning sweet readers! Did you know babies do not recognize or acknowledge daylight savings time? Nor do they recognize or acknowledge that a respectable time should pass before soiling a fresh diaper. News time:
More Bad News for Kwame: D.C. Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown has already been dinged for not being able to manage his personal finances, nor those of the District’s. Shall he now be dinged for not being able to manage his campaign finances? Last week The Washington Post‘s Tim Craig took a look at some of Brown’s 2008 campaign financial disclosure filings, which have undergone an initial audit by the Office of Campaign Finance, and found what looks like $270,000 worth of previously unreported donations and spending. “When The Washington Post reviewed Brown’s 2008 finance reports last week, data attached to the online file appeared to have stemmed from the audit. Brown’s list of donors included a line indicating that there had been $102,763 in ‘contributions previously not reported per aud[it].’ There also was an entry for $169,431 in ‘expenditures previously not reported per audit.’ Wesley Williams, a spokesman for the Office of Campaign Finance, said the financial information was posted by mistake. It was removed from the Web site Thursday afternoon.” Oops. Williams goes on to say that nothing’s final and no one should jump to conclusions until a final audit is released… someday. Brown declined to comment on specifics. Okay, LL will wait for the final audit, but $100,000 worth of donations and and $170,000 worth of spending sure seems like a lot of money not to report.
AFTER THE JUMP: Transition Fail; Forge Ahead; 180 Degree Turnaround…
Transition Fail, Hiring Fail: Former Department of Health Care Finance Director Julie Hudman lets Mayor Vince Gray have it for dumping the likes of Sulaimon Brown at her old agency, as well as for running what looks like a completely incompetent transition. “D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray should know better. It was his legislation that created the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) in 2007, because he recognized the importance of improving the administration of health-care services for the District’s most vulnerable residents. … During the transition after the November election, many of us were concerned that we would receive conflicting directions from our boss and from the incoming leadership. The reality was worse: Though I reached out, not once did the Gray transition team contact me. I left District government on Dec. 31 without having spoken to anyone in the incoming administration and deeply concerned about the fate of the agency and, more important, the residents it serves. As feared, after the inauguration the Gray administration started filling the many vacant senior positions with people who lack the technical knowledge or experience needed at a critical juncture of implementing reforms for this agency.”
Forge Ahead: The WaPo editorial board has the news that the Board of Elections and Ethics is investigating whether Republican at-large candidate Pat Mara‘s campaign submitted petition signatures that were forged. “An unscientific look reveals a number of cases in which multiple signatures seem to be written by the same person,” says the Post, which then wonders: “How was it that both the [Sekou] Biddle campaign and this page were aware of the charges of possible forgery well before Mr. Mara’s campaign was notified? And was there consultation between the board and the Biddle campaign about whether the challenge should be withdrawn?”
The Old 180: Post columnist Colby King reminds Gray aides Howard Brooks and Lorraine Green, as well as Gray tormenter-in-chief Sulaimon Brown, that lying to the feds is illegal. More interesting was Gray’s comments to King “that all of the children of staffers, except Lorraine Green’s daughter, were hired without his approval. All, he said, are now off the payroll.” That’s quite a reversal from a few weeks ago, when Gray was defending the hiring of all the kiddos by saying they were the next generation of leaders and shouldn’t be barred from District employment because of who their parents are. Jonetta Rose Barras wonders how Gray didn’t know his aides were hiring their kids. “Who’s in charge? How can you not know that your staffers are hiring their children?”
Speaking of Sulaimon: It appears Brown was charged in 1988 with attempted murder in Chicago, reports WUSA9’s Bruce Johnson. A jury found him not guilty. Johnson got ahold of background check commissioned by the Gray transition. Funny thing is, Johnson reports that the background check was amended last week, after Brown had already been hired and fired and made his infamous claims against the Gray Team. So is the Gray transition doing more oppo research on Brown to try and discredit him? But wait a second, didn’t they give him a $110,000-a-year job and then defend his hiring?
In Other News: Examiner has more on D.C. Auditor’s report on Office of Risk Management. The Times sums up several problems afflicting D.C. politicians. DCFPI advocates a “balanced” approach to filling budget gap. Hearing on DCPS budget today. Are cops arresting people for talking back?
Gray sked: 3 p.m. cabinet meeting.
Council sked: 10 a.m. hearing on First Source, and 11 a.m. hearing on whether to release the Trout report.
At-Large Council candidates’ forum, 7-9 p.m., Bruce Monroe at Park View Elementary School, 3560 Warder Street NW.
On Newstalk with Bruce DePuyt: Councilmember Jack Evans, and UDC President Allen Sessoms.