http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/ en Copyright 2008 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:04:31 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Please visit the D.C. Wire at its new address. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2008/03/dc_wire_has_been_moved.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2008/03/dc_wire_has_been_moved.html Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:04:31 -0400 So you're new Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and your reputation, the mayor's political future and, indeed, the success of more than 50,000 students are riding on your ability to fix the public schools. What are you going to do to ensure you look good? You bring in the professional spinners. That's what Rhee did this week when she hired New Future Communications to a three-month contract to overhaul the school system's communications office. As with the system at large, reforming the communications office will be no easy feat. In past years, that department has developed a reputation as a sluggish, defensive bunker where requests for information go to die. Shortly after Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) downgraded the Board of Education and took control of the system in June, he dispatched an aide, Mafara Hobson, to assist Rhee. But now Rhee has added a more sophisticated layer of expertise to http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/08/spinning_the_schools.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/08/spinning_the_schools.html Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:56:44 -0400 Mayor Fenty has vowed to hold the line when it comes to the growth of government. He has pledged not to raise taxes and to eliminate waste and inefficiency. In short, he wants to do more with less. Except when it comes to personal digital assistants, that is. Don't look now but Fenty has taken to sporting three BlackBerry devices on his belt. Fenty has long been known for his devotion to the "berry", as his staff has nicknamed the device. He was often spotted thumbing messages to aides and constituents during D.C. Council meeetings as the Ward 4 rep, and those quick responses are credited with helping him win the mayor's office. During the campaign, Fenty added a second BlackBerry to handle all campaign functions, while keeping his council device for city business. He made a commercial featuring him on the device, and the board of trade gave http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/fenty_blackberrys_gone_wild.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/fenty_blackberrys_gone_wild.html Fri, 02 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0400 Let's hope Mayor Fenty, who has openly copped to borrowing ideas from other mayors, doesn't copy this one from his buddy Gavin Newsom. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/worst_practices.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/worst_practices.html Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:13:04 -0400 We wondered how much attention the folks at The Politico, the new Capitol Hill publication, would give our own local D.C. government officials and were happy to see Mayor Fenty featured today. Amy Doolittle, our former competitor when she was at the Washington Times, writes of the days when Fenty was a "breakdancing wannabe" and even has a youthful picture of Fenty from the days when he was a bit more, um, hirsute. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/when_the_mayor_had_hair.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/when_the_mayor_had_hair.html Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:44:03 -0400 Mayor Adrian Fenty's people recently handed me a copy of the city's new D.C. Bicycle Map hot off the presses. Developed by the city's Dept. of Transportation, the map details in red ink the bike lanes on city streets, off-street trail biking and sidewalks. There's also a message from the mayor, which reads in part: "I ride my bike to stay in shape and complete in triathlons." The most striking feature, though, is a picture of Fenty on his bike. Fenty is wearing a skin tight yellow muscle shirt and black spandex shorts, a white bike helmet and sleek wrap-around sunglasses. The caption says the picture is from the 2006 Nation's Triathlon. Fenty's bona fides as a marathoner and triathlete are well-established. I regularly hear from people about how fast Fenty is (he runs sub-8-minute miles in training and even faster in races). WTOP reporter Mark Segraves has run http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/the_cycling_mayor.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/02/the_cycling_mayor.html Thu, 01 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0400 Sharona Morgan, a D.C. Council employee for 15 years, said she was taken aback this month when the her government check was withdrawn from her checking account. Morgan, director of constituent services for council member Carol Schwartz (R-At-Large) for almost 12 years, submitted her resignation on Dec. 29 and left the job the same day. She started as director of constituent services for David A. Catania (I-At Large) on Jan. 22. According to a letter from a Chevy Chase Bank official, Morgan's $1,916.15 payroll check was deposited directly into her account on Jan. 12, 2007. Four days later the payment was reversed. Morgan said the council's personnel office had told her that she was paid for an extra week that she did not work, and would be immediately reissued a check for the time she worked during that pay period. Morgan said she was not given a letter explaining the http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/council_payroll_problems.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/council_payroll_problems.html Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0400 Breaking news from the John Wilson Building this morning: Council Chairman Vince Gray has added a seventh public hearing on Mayor Fenty's school takeover legislation. It will be Feb. 20 at 1 p.m., and open to the general public. Today, school system officials and education experts are testifying in the second hearing, a week after Fenty led off the opening hearing by defending his 48-page plan. Before today's hearing began, Gray announced that 80 people already have signed up for the Feb. 7 hearing open to the public; he said no more may testify that day and added the seventh hearing. In addition to these hearings, students and dropouts may testify Feb. 10; the council will hear testimony about Fenty's proposal to create a new school construction authority on Feb. 13; and Fenty will testify again Feb. 27. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/dc_council_adds_education_hear.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/dc_council_adds_education_hear.html Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:24:30 -0400 The D.C. Board of Education had prepared for weeks to make today's big announcement: Its long-awaited plan to accelerate school reform--and fend off a school system takeover by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. Reporters were informed last week that the board would hold an emergency meeting at 10 this morning at McKinley Technology High School in Northeast, where the plan would be unveiled. But late last night, reporters got another urgent bulletin--this one from the Fenty team, which announced that the mayor would be holding his own news conference with police chief nominee Cathy Lanier to talk about the rash of murders over the weekend. The "availability" would be today at, wouldn't you know it, 10 a.m! Across town in Southeast. What was a reporter to do? For most newsrooms, the Fenty duties were farmed out to the crime reporters, while the school board meeting were covered by the education reporters. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/mediasavvy_fenty_trumps_school.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/mediasavvy_fenty_trumps_school.html Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:01:42 -0400 D'Wanna Lee, acting executive secretary for the D.C. Board of Education, has joined the staff of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). Lee, who has worked for the school board since July 2005 mainly as a policy analyst, began Monday as a special assistant to former school board member Victor A. Reinoso, Fenty's deputy mayor for education. Fenty, who is seeking control of the school system, already has numerous school activist and education policy experts on his staff: Jackie Pinkney-Hackett, a school activist who lost her bid to unseat school board member William Lockridge (District 4), is working on Reinoso's staff as director of the Office of Parent and Community Involvement; Bonnie J. Cain, a school activist, is special assistant to Reinoso; Abigail Smith, of EdAction, which fielded school board candidates, is special assistant to Reinoso. Also Tameria Lewis, previously a staffer for the council's education committee, now works for http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/fentys_education_team.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/fentys_education_team.html Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:59:48 -0400 Dignitaries galore showed up for the Jan. 3 swearing-in of Mayor Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent Gray. There was outgoing mayor Anthony Williams, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.). The noticeable absence: Outgoing council chairman Linda Cropp. People looking for the 15-year council veteran among the sea of more than 1,000 people at the Washington Convention Center had no luck. So why wasn't she there? "I wasn't invited," Cropp, who lost to Fenty in the mayor's race, said in a brief interview last week at a farewell event for outgoing council members at the Embassy Suites hotel. Cropp, Fenty (who was leaving his Ward 4 council seat), Vincent B. Orange Sr. (Ward 5) and Kathy Patterson (Ward 3) were feted. Sharon Ambrose (Ward 6) also was honored, although she did not attend. The event was called, "Honoring http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/where_was_cropp_1.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/where_was_cropp_1.html Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0400 First CBS Evening News did a piece on D.C. police chief nominee Cathy Lanier a few weeks back. Now, the national broadcast is calling again: This notice just in from council member David Catania's camp about his recent legislation: Washington, D.C. - Councilmember David Catania (At-Large) will be featured in a nationally televised story for his efforts to combat cervical cancer. The interview will air on the CBS Evening News this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (WUSA-9) in the Washington, D.C. area. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/catania_draws_national_press.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/catania_draws_national_press.html Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:44:44 -0400 As Mayor Adrian Fenty testified before the council about details of his school governance restructuring proposal Thursday, he couldn't help refering repeatedly to Miami schools chief Rudolph F. "Rudy" Crew. It's no secret Fenty has long been an admirer of Crew, who had been the District's top choice for school superintendent in 2004 before pulling out of the running to take the Miami job. Fenty first visited Crew in Miami last Memorial Day weekend, asking Crew why he didn't take the D.C. job and seeking his advice to help inform his own school improvement platform. Crew, who reportedly turned down the D.C. superintendent job in part because he did not like the city's multi-headed school governance system, told Fenty that no superintendent could succeed until the Board of Education was sidelined. Although Fenty never proposed a mayoral takeover of the D.C. system during the campaign, he admits now to quietly http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/is_fenty_courting_new_schools.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/is_fenty_courting_new_schools.html Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0400 During Adrian M. Fenty's two-year campaign for mayor, one of his top behind-the-scenes operators was John Falcicchio, a 27-year-old fundraiser who helped twist enough arms that the Fenty team took in $3.8.million, a mayoral record. Now, Falcicchio has been dispatched to help raise money for Fenty's hand-picked candidate to replace him as the council's Ward 4 representative: Muriel Bowser. Bowser will officially kick off her campaign with a fundraiser tonight at the home of William Lightfoot, the former D.C. Council member who also helped Fenty's campaign and served as co-chairman of his transition and inauguration. A special election is slated for late spring to fill the open seats in Wards 4 and 7, which was vacated when Vincent C. Gray (D) was elected council chairman. Falcicchio is a tireless worker who could be found at Fenty's campaign headquarters well into the night. Fenty once referred to him as the "Karl http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/johnny_business.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/johnny_business.html Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0400 Dorothy A. Brizill (pictured in center), the city government's long-time gadfly, and Peter Nickles, the newly-appointed general counsel to the mayor, are trading jabs over the definition of "respect and candor" when it comes to questions from the public and the press. In a one-paragraph letter to Brizill that released to some members of the media before she received it, Nickles said that it had "come to my attention" that Brizill was not showing a "sense of respect" in her dealings with the administration of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, and particularly, with his communications staff. "We appreciate your active interest in the Fenty Administration," Nickles wrote on stationery from the Executive Office of the Mayor. "I respectfully request that you observe the same rules of respect and candor that we observe here," Nickles wrote. Brizill, who has been a blogger, activist and critic during the three previous mayoral administrations, said http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/fighting_words.html?nav=rss_blog http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/fighting_words.html Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0400