Jonetta Rose Barras
New opportunities for mischief in D.C.
January 1, 2009
For days now, the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been running around in your head — figuratively speaking. Couplets fall from your lips and you repeat, like a mantra, “Keep hope alive.”
Is something seriously wrong with you? Everyone else is suffering Obamania while you’ve developed Jackson-itis.
Your neighbors lament the wholesale expansion of the era of corporate welfare while average citizens hit the unemployment line in droves — no bailout for them. You say, “Keep hope alive.”
Nonprofit social service advocates send e-mails about deep cuts coming to the District's budget. You reply, “Keep hope alive.”
You still don’t fully understand what Jackson meant when he spoke those words. But they sounded good and effectively misdirected most discussions. Is that your goal?
You know massive unemployment — in the District it’s already 8 percent — investment losses, and steep declines in home values can’t be resolved with jingles. They demand innovation and hard work, coupled with sound judgment, good management and smart politics.
You think President-elect Barack Obama’s White House and Congress may be angling for the sound, the good and the smart. But what's going on in the D.C. Council is puzzling.
The committee structures and member assignments proposed by Chairman Vincent C. Gray for Council Period 18, which begins tomorrow, are destined to create mischief.
He continues to connect Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration with the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. Gray could be forgiven during the last session for such a mish-mash; he was a new chairman.
But surely, after two years, Gray knows the answer to this question: Which one of these does not belong with the others: motor vehicles, public works, transportation, taxicab commission, alcoholic beverage, aqueduct and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority?
And, what is the correlation between housing and workforce development? Are all the people looking for housing or seeking to develop property also jobless? Even in this environment, every family dealing with a foreclosure isn’t necessarily unemployed. How did the Department of Employment Services get jammed inside the Committee on Housing and Workforce Development chaired by Ward 8’s Marion Barry?
Have mercy! You’re getting a terrible heartburn.
The housing and workforce development committee includes Phil Mendelson, Harry Thomas Jr., Jim Graham, Michael Brown and Barry. You anticipate they will engage in nauseating levels of pandering to labor unions. Three of the members — Mendelson, Thomas, and Graham — are likely to seek reelection; there is a continuing myth that a candidate can’t win without union support.
The list of members on the Committee for Economic Development guarantees even more needless delays this council period than during the last in voting on important projects. Ward 7’s Yvette Alexander likely will encourage Barry and committee Chairman Kwame Brown's minority participation fixation.
But, hey, you’re engaging in Thursday morning quarterbacking. The chairman is doing his best. The committee configurations may not result in any shenanigans.
“Keep hope alive,” you whisper to yourself.
Is something seriously wrong with you? Everyone else is suffering Obamania while you’ve developed Jackson-itis.
Your neighbors lament the wholesale expansion of the era of corporate welfare while average citizens hit the unemployment line in droves — no bailout for them. You say, “Keep hope alive.”
Nonprofit social service advocates send e-mails about deep cuts coming to the District's budget. You reply, “Keep hope alive.”
You still don’t fully understand what Jackson meant when he spoke those words. But they sounded good and effectively misdirected most discussions. Is that your goal?
You know massive unemployment — in the District it’s already 8 percent — investment losses, and steep declines in home values can’t be resolved with jingles. They demand innovation and hard work, coupled with sound judgment, good management and smart politics.
You think President-elect Barack Obama’s White House and Congress may be angling for the sound, the good and the smart. But what's going on in the D.C. Council is puzzling.
The committee structures and member assignments proposed by Chairman Vincent C. Gray for Council Period 18, which begins tomorrow, are destined to create mischief.
He continues to connect Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration with the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. Gray could be forgiven during the last session for such a mish-mash; he was a new chairman.
But surely, after two years, Gray knows the answer to this question: Which one of these does not belong with the others: motor vehicles, public works, transportation, taxicab commission, alcoholic beverage, aqueduct and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority?
And, what is the correlation between housing and workforce development? Are all the people looking for housing or seeking to develop property also jobless? Even in this environment, every family dealing with a foreclosure isn’t necessarily unemployed. How did the Department of Employment Services get jammed inside the Committee on Housing and Workforce Development chaired by Ward 8’s Marion Barry?
Have mercy! You’re getting a terrible heartburn.
The housing and workforce development committee includes Phil Mendelson, Harry Thomas Jr., Jim Graham, Michael Brown and Barry. You anticipate they will engage in nauseating levels of pandering to labor unions. Three of the members — Mendelson, Thomas, and Graham — are likely to seek reelection; there is a continuing myth that a candidate can’t win without union support.
The list of members on the Committee for Economic Development guarantees even more needless delays this council period than during the last in voting on important projects. Ward 7’s Yvette Alexander likely will encourage Barry and committee Chairman Kwame Brown's minority participation fixation.
But, hey, you’re engaging in Thursday morning quarterbacking. The chairman is doing his best. The committee configurations may not result in any shenanigans.
“Keep hope alive,” you whisper to yourself.
Follow The Examiner
