D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier will likely get to keep her job and a former city fire department official who left the District’s employ less than a year ago amid questions over his retirement package will likely return as fire chief in Mayor-elect Vince Gray’s administration. Gray announced his selections Thursday. He’s also nominating outgoing U.S. House of Representatives general counsel Irvin Nathan to take over the Attorney General’s Office from Peter Nickles.
The three officials will need to get the D.C. Council’s approval. They’re likely to get it, too, said at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson whose committee oversees public safety agencies and the Attorney General’s Office.
Of the three, Ken Ellerbe is likely to get the most scrutiny.
| Another Gray pick |
| ?– Gray also said Thursday that Paul Quander was his selection to lead the law enforcement team as the deputy mayor for public safety. He will leave his post as the executive director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, a Congress-created independent agency that coordinates federal and local public safety agencies’ efforts in the District. Quander doesn’t need the D.C. Council’s approval to get the new job. |
In August 2009, the 27-year D.C. fire department veteran left his job as a deputy fire chief to become the fire chief for the Sarasota County Fire Department in Florida. In January 2010, The Washington Times reported that the then-49-year-old Ellerbe had been put on leave without pay by the District while he worked in Florida so he could collect a higher pension from the city when he reached his 50th birthday. The report scuttled the deal, Ellerbe said Thursday, and he officially left his city job.
But “those issues have been looked at,” Mendelson said following Gray’s announcement. There will be a public hearing on each nomination.
Then there’s Nathan, whose quiet demeanor stands in stark contrast to the outspoken nature of Peter Nickles.
“I’ll be different,” Nathan told The Washington Examiner. “I’ll be attorney general only, not counsel to the mayor. I see the residents as my clients and I will cooperate with the [D.C.] Council.”
Before becoming the House’s general counsel in 2007, Nathan spent 13 years at the law firm Arnold and Porter defending white-collar criminals.
Lanier will carry her ongoing battle with the police union into a new administration.
“I think the best thing to do is treat each other with respect,” Lanier said about ending her fight with police union chief Kris Baumann.
But Lanier has historically done little to ease the tensions. While her pay has gone up, sworn officers pay has remained stagnant.
“The message is that there’s plenty of money for top officials, but not for the people on the front line,” Baumann said. “Crime is going up and the circumstances may only lead to more attrition.”
