We know that Mayor Adrian Fenty is a man of many talents and abilities. He can run, he can swim, he can bike. Every time Fenty’s name pops up in a news article written by an out-of-town reporter, we read once again of his prowess as a triathlete.
He’s a protective parent, raising three young kids.
He cuts a fine figure in black tie and tux.
The dude can snip ribbons faster than Edward Scissorhands could sculpt a boxwood.
Who knew he could run a laundry, too?
Like any good laundry, Fenty’s operation is based on speed and service. If you want a project done fast, Adrian is your man.
We’re not talking shirts and pants here. Fenty puts capital projects through a spin cycle so his government can renovate and build recreation facilities in months rather than years.
I am not suggesting that our mayor circulates money in the criminal sense. It’s not as if he is in the business of cleaning cash in the same way mobsters might launder drug profits by investing them in gambling casinos. The mayor is not breaking any laws.
But his practice of passing millions of dollars for parks projects through the D.C. Housing Authority does share one similarity to other forms of cleansing currency: In both cases, the launderers are trying to avoid an independent review of the money trail. Mobsters might be cleaning cash to avoid the FBI; Fenty seems to want to bypass city council review.
News broke last week that Fenty has passed parks and recreation projects worth $82.6 million through the Housing Authority. The authority is not part of the D.C. government; it is a quasi-independent agency. Fenty worships speed, in athletics and in governing. By funneling funds through the Housing Authority, he bypassed the sluggish procurement process and the time-consuming council review.
In Fenty’s laundry, it’s money in, bricks and mortar out.
Mayors have always complained that the city’s procurement rules and city council review have gobbled up construction projects. Rather than fix the system, they tried to go around it.
Fenty first used the reliable Allen Lew, the city’s schools modernization boss. Lew gets stuff done — and well. Fenty asked him to renovate 12 recreation facilities, including the Wilson Pool. He did them, then the council said the projects had to go through the parks department.
Instead, Fenty bypassed parks, sidestepped procurement, faked the council — and passed them through the Housing Authority.
What’s the problem here? Why not allow our fast-moving chief executive to use any means toward his ends of building facilities so our kids can play rather than get into trouble? Haven’t we suffered enough under a government that couldn’t fix a toilet?
Two reasons come to mind: Other quasi-independent agencies — such as the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Lew’s outfit — follow the citywide rule and pass projects worth more than $1 million before the city council. And without council review, Fenty might be awarding million-dollar contracts to his buddies. District residents deserve a system that does not permit money laundering in a more classic sense.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
