Who knew Attorney General Peter Nickles was so well-schooled in classic literature?
His letter sent yesterday to the D.C. Council was meant to belittle and defang the lawmakers’ attempt to block a settlement payment to one of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s buddies. He began with a literary allusion:
“Sir Francis Bacon ended his essay ‘Of Seditions and Troubles’ with the now well-known words of caution that ‘the remedy [may be] worse than the disease.'”
Nickles then ties the phrase to the council’s bill that seeks to restrain the executive from cutting settlement deals — in particular the one with Fenty’s friends, which he calls the settlement agreement.
“To the extent that the legislation represents a remedy at all,” Nickles wrote, “which I would certainly dispute, it is a bitter pill dosed to combat an imaginary disease.”
What provoked all these highfalutin’ metaphors?
Nickles had two reasons to write. First, he wanted to explain in detail why the council bill violates certain laws, and the Constitution. He makes a good case, too. But he had another motive:
“My second purpose, then, is to debunk any notion that the Settlement Agreement represents some backroom deal and that, in reaching it, I acted as a political hatchet man.”
That, of course, has the ring of Richard Nixon’s line: “I am not a crook.” But I digress.
The Fenty administration’s $82 million contract with Banneker Associates to build and manage construction of recreation centers and parks contributed to Fenty’s downfall. Banneker is run by Fenty’s friend, Omar Karim; Sinclair Skinner, another running buddy, benefited from the deals.
“The whole thing from the beginning to end is corrupt,” Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh said in an August hearing.
Cheh, though a lawyer by training, is dead wrong. Sorry — no corruption here. Shoddy contracting perhaps. Failure to consult the council. But no kickbacks, no bribes, no underhanded deals. Facts are Banneker was never slated to get the entire $82 million. It profited from being a manager, to the tune of a few million, at most. That’s called capitalism.
When the council, in a fit of pique, stopped the contracts, Banneker said the city owed it money for work it had done. The firm asked for $2.25 million. Nickles got them down to $550,000, which seems fair.
The council’s most recent fit of pique seeks to stop the city from forking over the $550,000. If that happens, Banneker will sue and get more, Nickles says. The bill is pending.
And so is the council’s vaunted “investigation” of the Banneker deals. Last May the lawmakers got big-time lawyer Robert Trout to dig into the alleged “corruption” in the Banneker deals. Trout’s probe was expected to last two months.
“It is now almost November,” Nickles writes, “and there is no end in sight.”
In fact, Nickles says Trout has botched the investigation. To bend Bacon’s famous phrase, Trout may not even have a remedy, and there may be no disease.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
