By Jonetta Rose Barras Examiner Columnist D.C. Council staffers this week participated in ethics training, Chairman Vincent C. Gray boasted. Yet, don’t declare this an era of superior integrity.
Gray also announced the long-awaited report on the investigation of contracting by council members wouldn’t be available until early next year. That probe started after revelations that Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry Jr. awarded a sole-source contract to a paramour. To get the issue out of the news, the council started an “independent” probe, which has been conducted by famed lawyer Robert Bennett behind closed doors. The report was due in September. Now, who knows when it’ll be released?
Interestingly, in September, the council adopted an ethics code. Gray pledged to outline, before year’s end, sanctions for violators. That also won’t come this year.
The council pussyfoots when holding itself accountable. But, it savages Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and recklessly impugns the reputations of private citizens. During recent roundtables convened to “investigate” contracting arrangements among the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, the D.C. Housing Authority, and the Department of Parks and Recreation, legislators accused government managers and business owners outright and by innuendo of steering contracts and possibly engaging in corrupt practices.
Indisputably, the executive violated District budget reprogramming rules when it shifted funds from DPR to the deputy mayor and then to DHA. The Fenty administration circumvented procurement rules. And, the DHA failed to present contracts of $1 million or more to the council as required by law. The council correctly challenged these actions. And, its vote this week to reject the project management contract awarded by DHA to Banneker Ventures LLC/Regan Associates is understandable. But the legislature could have taken the same action before those roundtables and without sullying contractors.
Despite an exhausting effort, the legislature appeared unable to establish that Regan or Banneker conspired with the executive or DHA to violate District laws. Barry acknowledged Tuesday that some members had thought the contracts were wired, benefiting so-called friends of Fenty. But legislators weren’t able to prove that. Before that mumbled confession, the assaults on the two businesses had been brutal.
Thomas Regan said he has been in business for 40 years and never received a subpoena or had his integrity questioned. The mortal sin of Banneker’s president, Omar Karim, appears to be that he belongs, like thousands of others, to the same fraternity as the mayor. If friendship is the new barometer, does this mean William C. Smith & Co. will no longer receive contracts? Principal Chris Smith is so close Gray, the company did work on the chairman’s home.
Aggressive oversight of the executive is critical. The council might also turn some of that indignation inward, examining the ethics of its own members. But, more important, in its zealous gotcha game with Fenty, the legislature shouldn’t carelessly taint private citizens — unless there’s actual evidence of wrongdoing. In other words, council members should become more intimate with restraint.
Jonetta Rose Barras, host of WPFW’s “D.C. Politics with Jonetta,” can be reached at [email protected].
