Gray: Fenty still awarding 'unlawful' city contracts
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
November 16, 2009
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray is accusing the Fenty administration of awarding dozens of "unlawful" contracts for government services under the "inexplicable" order of the city's attorney general.
"I am deeply concerned about the growing controversy involving contracting that does not comply with the law of the District of Columbia," Gray wrote in a terse letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty delivered Thursday. "It is time for you to personally step in and send all unlawful contracts to the Council, so we can consider on a case-by-case basis whether to retroactively ratify each contract."
The scrap over Fenty's contracting has exploded to comprise much more than the $85 million in parks and recreation deals that were funneled through D.C. Housing Authority -- eventually to contractors with ties to the mayor -- without council review.
Gray is now accusing Fenty and Attorney General Peter Nickles of ignoring "the clear mandate of the law" and long-standing practice by also refusing to send option year contracts in excess of $1 million to the council. Those not approved by the legislative branch are "illegal and void," Gray wrote.
The total number of options exercised in the last year could total 100 and "easily" be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, one council source said. But D.C. legislators aren't talking repercussions, yet, though court is certainly an option, The Examiner has learned.
The administration's decision on option contracts was made late last year after Councilman Marion Barry slapped "disapproval resolutions" on four health benefit deals, Nickles said Friday. Barry's resolutions extended the council's review time to 45 days and threatened the continued health care of 21,000-plus government employees, Nickles said.
The AG wrote Gray on Dec. 31 explaining that the health care options were exercised "on the basis of the Council's approval of the four original underlying" deals. He said nothing in that letter of it becoming a regular practice.
In a Jan. 7 memorandum, Nickles directed city contracting officers to stop submitting contract options to the council. That memo was not sent to the legislative branch.
The attorney general said Friday that he was "completely stunned" by Gray's most recent letter.
"It's my position that the options can be exercised," Nickles told The Examiner. "My letter says it straight and clear."
So why is the council chairman condemning the action?
"It's a political year," Nickles said.
Gray is considering a run for mayor in 2010.
