Prepare yourself for a two-punch column. First, I gotta get something off my chest.
In listening to Thursday’s confirmation hearing for Kaya Henderson to become school chancellor, we had to hear Marion Barry mumble on for hours, it seemed, on the deplorable shape of D.C. public schools. At one point he said: “This system is a broken system. It’s not anyone’s fault.”
I beg to differ. Marion Barry is the Godfather of our “broken system.”
In 1971 Barry ran for his first elective office: a seat on the D.C. school board. He rode around the city in a Camaro with the banner “United To Save The Children.” He won and became president of the board, but it was just the first rung in a ladder that he would climb to the city council and four terms, 16 years, as mayor. Now he represents Ward 8, the poorest part of the city with the worst schools. Barry has been no help. None. I doubt he’s walked into Anacostia or Ballou High schools.
For most of the past 40 years, Barry has been in office and in position to fix the “broken system.” For 40 years, under his direct watch, it has been in decline. Looking for fault, Mr. Barry? Find a mirror.
Whew.
Now let’s take up the city council stiffing the police in the 2012 budget. By dropping the cops from priority status, Chairman Kwame Brown and the majority of the council this week have put the nation’s capital on course to become less safe, dare I say dangerous, for average citizens.
No one disputes the arithmetic showing the number of sworn officers is in a steady decline. Because of tight budgets, the police department has quit hiring. Meanwhile, attrition from retirement and cops lured away to better jobs costs the force 15 to 20 officers a month. Mayor Vince Gray’s budget would provide for 120 new police, starting later this year. Even so, Chief Cathy Lanier predicts a smaller force that will be less effective at keeping the peace.
Lanier testified Thursday morning before the Judiciary Committee that looming budget shortfalls will force her to cut special units, such as prostitution squads.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson offered an amendment at Tuesday’s final reading to put police back as a priority. “I wanted to put it squarely before the members,” he said. “I hoped it would embarrass them into supporting it.” Three members joined him: Jim Graham, Harry Thomas Jr. and Muriel Bowser. Says Mendelson: “I was blown away.”
What blew the council away from supporting the cops? Health care.
Kwame Brown told me he had no choice but to give Gray the $32 million he needed to fund a managed care health program. The request came out of the blue. No one understands the need, not even Chief Financial Officer Nat Gandhi. I hear Gray’s buddy, Jeffrey Thompson, who runs Chartered Health, convinced the mayor he needed more city cash, and Gray slipped it through Brown and the council.
We’re headed back to Barry’s town: struggling schools and free-ranging street walkers.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
