When the D.C. Council agreed in July to sell public facilities on the West End to Georgetown developer EastBanc, critics cried foul.
Not only was the sole-source agreement passed via emergency legislation and preceded by virtually no public comment, opponents argued, but D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer’s husband, Joseph Sternlieb, was an EastBanc vice president directly involved in negotiations with Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration.
Singer’s office claimed there were sufficient protocols in place to separate her from anything related to EastBanc-related, a virtual “firewall.”
“The bottom line is she has nothing to do with EastBanc,” AG spokeswoman Melissa Merz said of Singer. “End of story.”
Critics still don’t buy it.
“These firewalls, I think that they’re a sham,” said Robin Diener, executive director of Ralph Nader’s D.C. Library Renaissance Project. “It’s simply not as good a protection as what we had, which is no appearance of conflict. It’s a half measure.”
Singer recused herself from all matters concerning EastBanc and she has filed the required conflict disclosure forms, her office said.
A “gatekeeper” was also designated to “screen incoming calls and correspondence to ensure that she is not informed of, or involved with, any matters that might concern EastBanc,” Thorn Pozen, special counsel to the AG, said in an e-mail. Singer, he said, will have no access to documents stored in the AG’s electronic database and another senior manager is handling all EastBanc matters.
Under its deal with EastBanc, the District agreed to turn over the West End library and a fire station to the developer, which would rebuild both as part of a mixed-use project near 24th and L streets Northwest.
In response to a public outcry and a change in circumstance — EastBanc is no longer in line to purchase an apartment building considered integral to its project — the council next week is expected to rescind the deal. Council Member Kwame Brown, chair of the economic development committee, acknowledged Monday there were “many unanswered questions.”
