Debra Daniels is telling me about being pushed out of the government by Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration — not once, but three times. I think maybe she’s recalling some episode in Chicago, where machine politics, marked by patronage, heavy muscling and a tinge of corruption, are standard fare. But she assures me she’s talking about the District.
Despite the bruising she’s received, she won’t stay down. Last week, she and other former city employees met with D.C. Councilmen Harry Thomas, Michael Brown and Kwame Brown, hoping to persuade them to eliminate or modify personnel laws dealing with the Management Supervisory System.
“The way the law is structured now, it leaves a window for maliciousness, vindictiveness, political gain and cronyism,” Daniels says.
“We are working towards possible introduction [of legislation],” Thomas says.
When MSS was created, it was to inject more accountability into the bureaucracy. It allowed managers to voluntarily sign up for the program, securing higher salaries while trading certain rights, including permitting termination without cause and without appeal. The program was available only to those supervising three or more workers.
Fenty is violating the spirit and letter of the law, Daniels and others say. Some employees were forced to accept MSS designation though they weren’t initially supervising the requisite number of workers. Some with critical skills who were not as well connected with the current mayor were terminated (despite superior performance evaluations), while those less essential to the city but with greater connections to the mayor were retained. Still others say they were victims of retaliation.
Daniels initially was terminated from her post as communications director at the Department of Human Services for budgetary reasons. When she found another job in the District’s technology office, she called Carrie Kohns, the mayor’s then-communications director, to notify her. Daniels says that suddenly, and without explanation, she was fired. The same thing happened when she found a post at the fire department.
“They are not just firing people; they are targeting people to keep them from getting a job,” Daniels says.
“Unfortunately she’s suing us. So, I can’t speak about it at all,” says Kohns, now Fenty’s chief of staff.
Daniels and others want the council to immediately halt all MSS terminations. They also want to permanently eliminate dismissals “without cause.” Further, they want a full examination of firings that have occurred thus far during Fenty’s tenure, including a review of the reasons for such actions and the residence and the age of victims. (They claim age discrimination and assert employees living in the District have been affected disproportionately.)
I’m a fan of “at will” employment. The mayor needs appropriate tools to rid the bureaucracy of incompetent employees or those who aren’t working on behalf of District residents. But, given recent actions by the executive and allegations of abuse of the system, the council should step in. Immediately halting all “without cause” MSS terminations and amending the law to give employees appeal rights seem a prudent course, until it can determine what’s really happening.
Jonetta Rose Barras, host of WPFW-FM’s “DC Politics with Jonetta,” can be reached at [email protected].
