I used to work for an organization with “connections” to then-Council Member Adrian Fenty, currently the newly elected mayor of the District of Columbia. This high-profile op-ed almost got me in trouble at the day job, and this direct response from Fenty (who didn’t know me from Adam) made them even more nervous.
My libertarian pal Casey Lartigue responded to Fenty’s letter here.
While at that day job, I was itching to write about local politics but couldn’t. Since leaving, the itch went away. Now it’s back. I’ve decided to blog more city government and what I don’t like about it.
For instance, after reading this Washington Post story, “D.C. Schools Considering Unusual Deal With Nonprofit,” I was shocked to learn that neither the Post nor any other major newspaper seemed concerned that EdBuild, a non-profit formed and operated by elected officials, is on the verge of landing a fat, no-bid government contract ostensibly to improve academic performance in schools and modernize facilities, for which is has very little experience, although more qualified companies were rejected. There is a $2.3 billion pot at stake. EdBuild’s founders served in Mayor Williams’s administration, and Fenty just hired one to serve in his. The connections are deep, yet no one is raising ethical or conflict of interest objections.
So I did a bit of investigating of my own and wrote “The EdBuild-D.C. government connection.”
If you have information on insider dealings and political connections between the D.C. government and EdBuild or other organizations, e-mail me in confidence: barbersview [at] yahoo [dot] com.
More to come…
{ 4 trackbacks }
{ 6 comments }
Xcellent piece. Glad to see DC has grown so much more ’sophisticated’ since the grand days of ole [i]Marion./i]
I read all of the relevant articles that have been written so far. All I can say is you seem to be the only person interested in investigating. So if you disappear in the middle of the night we’ll know what happened.
Go get ‘em, La Shawn!!!
Loved the WaPo back & forth. Re Fenty, you and Casey nailed him as prime example of “do as I say, not as I do liberalism”.
I wish the whole notion of DC getting any kind of direct representation gets put to rest once and for all — A big fat NO!! DC is a district, not a state, therefore subject to congressional oversight/management. PERIOD!!
Thanks, Andy.
Heather- You know, I’m not a big conspiracy theorist (I’m a diehard conspiracy theorist when it comes to JFK’s murder, but I’ll save that for another post), but the deal between EdBuild and the city goverment is blatantly suspicious, and nobody seems to care. Strange…
No way the dhimmi’s will pass up the chance to get another permanent seat in congress.
I believe it is true that no one is forced to live inside D.C. and that the District has always had district status. So, anyone choosing to live here already knows that. Complaining after the fact is sour grapes and really poor form.
Comments on this entry are closed.