A top-ranking District of Columbia official’s decision to lobby for a company that he founded is emblematic of a city administration that is out of its depths, a D.C. watchdog said.
Neil Albert, the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, told The Examiner last week that he spoke up for EdBuild, a company that he founded, which was vying for a $57 million city contract, in a meeting with District Council Chair Vincent Gray earlier this month.
D.C. employee rules forbid any city officials from lobbying for their former employers or companies “in any manner” for at least one year after they take a D.C. government job.
Albert said initially that his discussions broke no city rules, but on Friday a spokeswoman representing Mayor Adrian Fenty told The Examiner Albert would seek a formal ruling from city ethics officials on whether he stepped over the line.
Whatever the outcome of the ethics ruling, Albert’s decision unsettled some longtime observers of the District government.
Dorothy Brizill, the government watchdog and co-editor of D.C. Watch, an online newsletter that monitors the city government, said Albert’s decision is part and parcel of a mayoral administration well beyond its depth.
“My biggest concern about the Fenty administration is that neither the mayor nor his aides have a deep rolodex,” Brizill told The Examiner in a phone interview.
Because of this, Brizill said, they are too reliant on old friends to help the city out its morass.
“On the day that Fenty announced his school takeover plan,” Brizill said, “the room was filled with developers or want-to-be developers.”
Albert founded EdBuild in 2005, when he was briefly out of city government. The D.C. board of education voted to give the nonprofit group a $57 million contract last week.
Fenty has promised to bring a new responsiveness and accountability to city services. But Brizill thinks Fenty is “still in campaign mode” and fawning on the developers and business interests who helped him win the mayoral race.
“When you’re a candidate, you’re always chasing the dollars,” Brizill said. “That’s a very, very dangerous position to be in with this $2 billion school modernization plan.”
Neither Albert nor Fenty’s spokeswoman returned calls seeking comment.
D.C. employee regulations:
» 1803.1: For one (1) year after the date of initial employment with the District government, an employee required to make a disclosure under this section will be screened from, and shall not participate in any manner, in the District government’s decision to enter into, extend, modify, or renew a contract or consultancy engagement with the employee’s former employer (hereafter, “procurement action”)
» 1803.1 (a) An employee shall avoid action, whether or not specifically prohibited by this chapter, which might result in or create the appearance of the following: (1) Using public office for private gain; (2) Giving preferential treatment to any person; (3) Impeding government efficiency or economy; (4) Losing complete independence or impartiality; (5) Making a government decision outside official channels; or (6) Affecting adversely the confidence of the public in the integrity of government
Source: D.C. Employee Code of Conduct
