If you thought DC politics sucked, just wait until you see Sunday's Post

Anonymous
9:45, you weren't one of Fenty's fraternity brothers were you?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sorry, I voted for Fenty.

Me too. I was amazed that Gray has the support he did and that he won. I wish Fenty had recognized the iMportance of the human side of leading this city.


I think Gabe Klein nailed the "respecting the human side of the city" dynamic with this tweet:

"I hope people understand now that Adrian Fenty's perceived "arrogance" by DC's old guard because he didn't "play ball" was ethics in action"

Fenty wouldn't play ball, so the Old Skool grifters of this town mobilized the poor and uneducated on one hand, and the (frankly) credulous on the other against him. Now we've got four years of ineffectual governance AND corruption to look forward to. Best of both worlds!

Yeah but how did Sinclair Skinner make so much money off of government contracts he wasn't qualified for?
I'm very unhappy about what is happening with Gray but I want to give him a chance to change course. Fenty would never admit that his fraternity brothers were getting favors and as far as I could see he never did anything to change a troubling situation. Gray is at least upset and promising to change the situation while Fenty just ignored the criticism. Let's see what Gray does next.
Anonymous
Yeah but how did Sinclair Skinner make so much money off of government contracts he wasn't qualified for?


Anyone want to take a stab at how much Skinner made off of those contracts. And let's not be lazy and rely on constructions like "Skinner got $40 million in contracts!!"

In the case of the DPR contracts, he was accused of sub-contracting site survey work with a $37k mark-up. If you think that, as graft and corruption goes, that even breaks the Top 500, I've got a bridge to sell you. Scratch that: I've got a Sharon Prat-Dixon -Era DHS head to sell you.

Heh.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sorry, I voted for Fenty.

Me too. I was amazed that Gray has the support he did and that he won. I wish Fenty had recognized the iMportance of the human side of leading this city.


I think Gabe Klein nailed the "respecting the human side of the city" dynamic with this tweet:

"I hope people understand now that Adrian Fenty's perceived "arrogance" by DC's old guard because he didn't "play ball" was ethics in action"

Fenty wouldn't play ball, so the Old Skool grifters of this town mobilized the poor and uneducated on one hand, and the (frankly) credulous on the other against him. Now we've got four years of ineffectual governance AND corruption to look forward to. Best of both worlds!

Yeah but how did Sinclair Skinner make so much money off of government contracts he wasn't qualified for?
I'm very unhappy about what is happening with Gray but I want to give him a chance to change course. Fenty would never admit that his fraternity brothers were getting favors and as far as I could see he never did anything to change a troubling situation. Gray is at least upset and promising to change the situation while Fenty just ignored the criticism. Let's see what Gray does next.






He is upset because he got caught, just like Brown.
jsteele
Site Admin Online
Anonymous wrote:
Yeah but how did Sinclair Skinner make so much money off of government contracts he wasn't qualified for?


Anyone want to take a stab at how much Skinner made off of those contracts. And let's not be lazy and rely on constructions like "Skinner got $40 million in contracts!!"


I don't have time to do the research now to get the numbers. But, I can tell you this. Prior to the contracts, he was an unsuccessful businessman. His dry cleaning business failed. Yet, after the contracts he was able to purchase a house in Crestwood and buy a Porsche. I believe it is safe to say that his take was more than $37k.

According to this article

http://www.hillrag.com/40-45_RAG_0410.pdf

Skinner made more than $37k on a single survey:

"LEAD, however, charged the District $46,800 for Currie’s survey at Park View. This was a greater than 500 percent increase over their cost, netting them a $38,800 profit for pressing a key to e-mail the digital documents to Banneker’s architects."

And there is this:

"In all, a review of LEAD and Banneker invoices shows that Skinner’s firm received a minimum of $358,500 from Currie’s work for which he was paid between $60,000 and $70,000."

Anonymous
Yeah but how did Sinclair Skinner make so much money off of government contracts he wasn't qualified for?
I'm very unhappy about what is happening with Gray but I want to give him a chance to change course. Fenty would never admit that his fraternity brothers were getting favors and as far as I could see he never did anything to change a troubling situation. Gray is at least upset and promising to change the situation while Fenty just ignored the criticism. Let's see what Gray does next.


There's no question that corruption/no-bid contracts were rampant in the Fenty administration, and Gray has a LONG way to go to reach that level. However, to say, Gray is at least upset" is just silly. He had a hand in creating this situation (at a minimum)- he didn;t have a sudden epiphany that this kind of shady dealing is wrong. He's upset that he got caught, at the bad publicity, and that his image as a squeaky-clean bureaucrat has been tarnished.

Happiest person about all this, byt he way? The distinguished Chairman Brown. No one much cares about the (two!) fully loaded SUVs right now. And this is the guy who's supposed to "investigate" Gray? That's rich.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Yeah but how did Sinclair Skinner make so much money off of government contracts he wasn't qualified for?
I'm very unhappy about what is happening with Gray but I want to give him a chance to change course. Fenty would never admit that his fraternity brothers were getting favors and as far as I could see he never did anything to change a troubling situation. Gray is at least upset and promising to change the situation while Fenty just ignored the criticism. Let's see what Gray does next.


There's no question that corruption/no-bid contracts were rampant in the Fenty administration, and Gray has a LONG way to go to reach that level. However, to say, Gray is at least upset" is just silly. He had a hand in creating this situation (at a minimum)- he didn;t have a sudden epiphany that this kind of shady dealing is wrong. He's upset that he got caught, at the bad publicity, and that his image as a squeaky-clean bureaucrat has been tarnished.

Happiest person about all this, byt he way? The distinguished Chairman Brown. No one much cares about the (two!) fully loaded SUVs right now. And this is the guy who's supposed to "investigate" Gray? That's rich.

I'm the pp you're responding to. Yes, that's a good point and for me it's the question that hasn't been answered yet. The problem is that during the election the pro-Fenty people dragged out the specter of Marion Barry in order to oppose Gray, which was highly unconvincing. If the pro-Fenty folks knew something about Gray's problems with hiring cronies at the time, why didn't y'all address that at that time? There was no evidence presented that Gray had a problem with this, just hyperbolic allegations that Marion Barry-style management was about to return. You want to get people on your side -- give them specifics about the actual candidate, not hysterical speculation about the non-candidate.
Anonymous
I'm the pp you're responding to. Yes, that's a good point and for me it's the question that hasn't been answered yet. The problem is that during the election the pro-Fenty people dragged out the specter of Marion Barry in order to oppose Gray, which was highly unconvincing. If the pro-Fenty folks knew something about Gray's problems with hiring cronies at the time, why didn't y'all address that at that time? There was no evidence presented that Gray had a problem with this, just hyperbolic allegations that Marion Barry-style management was about to return. You want to get people on your side -- give them specifics about the actual candidate, not hysterical speculation about the non-candidate.


By the same token, the pro-Gray people argued that Gray was not susceptible to the corruption in the Fenty administration - the bloodless bureaucrat who only cared about efficiency. We'd get all the benefits of Fenty without the baggage and nepotism. How's that working out so far? And as for the "hyperbolic allegations that Marion Barry-style management was about to return" - it doesn't seem that they were so hyoperbolic, now does it? Is your point really, "it's the supporters of Fenty that really are at fault here - they warned us that this would happen, but they didn't make a strong enough case. They should have convinced me!"

As I said, the jury is still out on Gray - Henderson certainly seems like a positive step - but he's off to an inauspicious start.

FWIW, if these allegations are true, I think it's just as bad, or worse, than what Fenty did, even though the dollar amounts are far less. Corruption in the service of greed is bad; corruption that intentionally tampers with the electoral process is far more insidious and harmful to our governign structure.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
I'm the pp you're responding to. Yes, that's a good point and for me it's the question that hasn't been answered yet. The problem is that during the election the pro-Fenty people dragged out the specter of Marion Barry in order to oppose Gray, which was highly unconvincing. If the pro-Fenty folks knew something about Gray's problems with hiring cronies at the time, why didn't y'all address that at that time? There was no evidence presented that Gray had a problem with this, just hyperbolic allegations that Marion Barry-style management was about to return. You want to get people on your side -- give them specifics about the actual candidate, not hysterical speculation about the non-candidate.


By the same token, the pro-Gray people argued that Gray was not susceptible to the corruption in the Fenty administration - the bloodless bureaucrat who only cared about efficiency. We'd get all the benefits of Fenty without the baggage and nepotism. How's that working out so far? And as for the "hyperbolic allegations that Marion Barry-style management was about to return" - it doesn't seem that they were so hyoperbolic, now does it? Is your point really, "it's the supporters of Fenty that really are at fault here - they warned us that this would happen, but they didn't make a strong enough case. They should have convinced me!"

As I said, the jury is still out on Gray - Henderson certainly seems like a positive step - but he's off to an inauspicious start.

FWIW, if these allegations are true, I think it's just as bad, or worse, than what Fenty did, even though the dollar amounts are far less. Corruption in the service of greed is bad; corruption that intentionally tampers with the electoral process is far more insidious and harmful to our governign structure.


Well said.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Is your point really, "it's the supporters of Fenty that really are at fault here - they warned us that this would happen, but they didn't make a strong enough case. They should have convinced me!"


Generally speaking, you learn political cynicism via long experience. No one can instill it in you. It was obvious to anyone with a jaded eye for politics that a young Fenty who had a record as a fairly effective mayor was preferable to an elderly gentleman whose sole previous executive experience was as the failed DHS appointee during the Pratt-Dixon administration.

In my experience, when dealing with city politics, "Hey, maybe this other guy will be better!" is right up there with doubling-down on 19 in blackjack. 19 may not be the perfect hand, but going for broke's generally not a smart bet.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is your point really, "it's the supporters of Fenty that really are at fault here - they warned us that this would happen, but they didn't make a strong enough case. They should have convinced me!"


Generally speaking, you learn political cynicism via long experience. No one can instill it in you. It was obvious to anyone with a jaded eye for politics that a young Fenty who had a record as a fairly effective mayor was preferable to an elderly gentleman whose sole previous executive experience was as the failed DHS appointee during the Pratt-Dixon administration.

In my experience, when dealing with city politics, "Hey, maybe this other guy will be better!" is right up there with doubling-down on 19 in blackjack. 19 may not be the perfect hand, but going for broke's generally not a smart bet.





Yes to everything above.
takoma
Member Offline
Fenty had his good points and his bad points, so does Gray. We do ourselves and our City a disservice by attacking one as though he were the Devil and defending the other as though he were God.

Gray is in, so let's watch for and discuss his mistakes and his successes, and not turn politics into a one-dimensional cartoon. Hiring Brown was a dumb move. It won't be the last, but let's hope Gray will not double down and repeat the same mistake over and over.
Anonymous
takoma wrote:Fenty had his good points and his bad points, so does Gray. We do ourselves and our City a disservice by attacking one as though he were the Devil and defending the other as though he were God.

Gray is in, so let's watch for and discuss his mistakes and his successes, and not turn politics into a one-dimensional cartoon. Hiring Brown was a dumb move. It won't be the last, but let's hope Gray will not double down and repeat the same mistake over and over.


Nah. Let's just collect all these petty grievances and--on the off-chance that he proves to be an effective mayor--we can throw him out on his ear, betting that, just maybe, the *next* mayor will be even better!
Anonymous
I'm a raging right-winger, but even I can see that there is only one solution to this mess, only one man who can lead our fair city out of the endless abyss of cronyism and frat bro back-scratching in which it is currently mired. That's right: MR. STEELE FOR MAYOR!!!

Who's with me?

jsteele
Site Admin Online
Anonymous wrote:I'm a raging right-winger, but even I can see that there is only one solution to this mess, only one man who can lead our fair city out of the endless abyss of cronyism and frat bro back-scratching in which it is currently mired. That's right: MR. STEELE FOR MAYOR!!!

Who's with me?



In the immortal words of William Tecumseh Sherman, "If nominated I will not run; if elected I will not serve". But, you are right about one thing. Nobody would ever want to be my crony, so cronyism would be out.
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