Members of the District of Columbia Council made the right call when they refused to confirm Ximena Hartsock as head of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. She proved her own incompetence when she appeared before them Monday and tried to make the case that DPR was just a bit player in a contracting scandal involving City Hall. Hartsock called the department she wanted to run a “mediocre agency” caught in a scheme to funnel money to the quasi-independent D.C. Housing Authority.

That was done so that Mayor Adrian Fenty’s fraternity brother could get a $4.2 million contract without competitive bidding or council review. As DPR’s interim director, it was Hartsock’s job to stand up to Fenty and refuse to allow her department to be used to bypass the law. Hartsock also allowed Fenty to mislead city residents by promising to build 18 park projects worth more than $86 million, even though she should have known that there was no money to pay for them.