After issuing subpoenas and receiving testimony during a series of high-profile round tables in which Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and private business owners were accused of “possible criminal wrongdoing,” D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas last week named Robert P. Trout special counsel for an investigation that began five months ago.
That’s when the council learned the Department of Parks and Recreation’s $86 million in capital budget appropriations were transferred to the D.C. Housing Authority, which used some of those funds to award, through competitive bidding, a project management contract to Banneker Ventures/Regan Associates. But, the DHA didn’t receive prior approval from the legislature for that contract, as required by law. That failure, and the fact that Fenty friend Omar Karim is Banneker’s president, triggered the council investigation.
