D.C. Wire - News and notes on District politics.

Posted at 03:28 PM ET, 04/29/2011

Kwame Brown to be deposed

By Tim Craig

D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown will be deposed Monday as part of the Office of Campaign Finance investigation into how he used and accounted for money he raised in his 2008 reelection campaign.

By Tim Craig | 03:28 PM ET, 04/29/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 08:39 AM ET, 04/29/2011

Key witnesses missing at council hearing on hiring

By Nikita Stewart

A D.C. Council committee will hold a third hearing on the hiring practices of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration on Friday. However, fired city employee Sulaimon Brown, Gray campaign consultant Howard Brooks and Lorraine Green, chairman of the transition and campaign, are not expected to attend.

By Nikita Stewart | 08:39 AM ET, 04/29/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:42 PM ET, 04/27/2011

Orange was kept waiting on a phone call

By Tim Craig

For most of the day after he was elected to the D.C. Council, Democrat Vincent B. Orange was still waiting for a congratulatory call from Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown.

By Tim Craig | 01:42 PM ET, 04/27/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:18 AM ET, 04/27/2011

D.C. police to begin ticketing for littering

By Nikita Stewart

You drop it, you could pay for it with a $75 fine in the District.

By Nikita Stewart | 11:18 AM ET, 04/27/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 10:52 PM ET, 04/26/2011

Vincent Orange has narrow lead, based on early results

By Tim Craig

The former council member and Democrat claimed victory, and runner-up Republican Patrick Mara has conceded the race for the at-large council seat.

By Tim Craig | 10:52 PM ET, 04/26/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 08:37 PM ET, 04/26/2011

Polls are now closed for D.C. special election

By Tim Craig

By Tim Craig | 08:37 PM ET, 04/26/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:41 PM ET, 04/25/2011

D.C. Council quiet on at-large race

By Tim Craig

Though several members of the council have endorsed Sekou Biddle in today’s special election, they haven’t been very vocal about it.

By Tim Craig | 03:41 PM ET, 04/25/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 PM ET, 04/24/2011

Controversial flier targeting Ward 8 residents says Vincent Orange ‘walks like us, talks like us’

By Tim Craig

Controversial flier plays up Orange’s ties to Southeast

By Tim Craig | 04:00 PM ET, 04/24/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:07 AM ET, 04/20/2011

Gray announces big expansion of Capital BikeShare

By Tim Craig

D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray opened a new Capital Bikeshare station Wednesday near the John A. Wilson and Ronald Reagan buildings, and said more stations are on the way.

By Tim Craig | 11:07 AM ET, 04/20/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 10:22 AM ET, 04/20/2011

Gray to host town halls on budget

By Nikita Stewart

By Nikita Stewart | 10:22 AM ET, 04/20/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:20 AM ET, 04/19/2011

Orange has the cash in last days of D.C. council race

By Tim Craig

Former council member Vincent B. Orange has amassed a massive cash advantage over his opponents in the race to fill an at-large seat on the D.C. council.

By Tim Craig | 11:20 AM ET, 04/19/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:45 PM ET, 04/18/2011

Kwame Brown attorney refusing to talk

By Tim Craig

Attorneys for Brown won’t comment.

By Tim Craig | 02:45 PM ET, 04/18/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:41 PM ET, 04/15/2011

Three arrested as crowd protests District’s treatment on Capitol Hill

By Ben Pershing

Roughly 60 protesters organized by the activist group DC Vote are staging a protest on Second Street NE outside the Hart Senate Office Building

By Ben Pershing | 02:41 PM ET, 04/15/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:05 PM ET, 04/12/2011

Why did Eleanor Holmes Norton skip Monday’s budget deal protest?

By Ben Pershing

As District Mayor Vincent Gray and several members of the city council were being led away in handcuffs Monday night by U.S. Capitol Police, one local leader was notably absent.

By Ben Pershing | 12:05 PM ET, 04/12/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 10:03 AM ET, 04/12/2011

Gray: ‘It seems the District of Columbia was thrown under the bus’ in federal budget negotiations

By Washington Post Editors

In an interview on CNN following his release from jail, Mayor Vincent C. Gray says city was used as a pawn in the negotiations that averted a federal government shutdown.

By Washington Post Editors | 10:03 AM ET, 04/12/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 06:30 PM ET, 04/11/2011

With arrest of Gray, Brown, who’s in charge?

By

City Administrator Allen Y. Lew, that’s who, according to an order by the mayor effective Feb. 9

By | 06:30 PM ET, 04/11/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 06:20 PM ET, 04/11/2011

Gray, D.C. Council members arrested in protest

By Ben Pershing

Mayor Vincent Gray (D) and several members of the D.C. Council were arrested by U.S. Capitol police after blocking Constitution Avenue NE next to the Hart Senate Office Building in protest of the congressional budget deal, which includes controversial District riders

By Ben Pershing | 06:20 PM ET, 04/11/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:16 PM ET, 04/11/2011

Marshall Brown dismissed from Biddle campaign after Post comments

By

The father of D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown has been sacked as an adviser to a D.C. Council campaign after racially charged comments were published in a Washington Post article

By | 05:16 PM ET, 04/11/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:38 PM ET, 04/11/2011

Sources: Spending deal spares Metro funds

By Ben Pershing

The spending agreement reached Friday night by President Obama and congressional negotiators fully funds the federal government’s $150 million share of the Metro budget, sparing the transportation system from potentially painful cuts.

By Ben Pershing | 04:38 PM ET, 04/11/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:30 AM ET, 04/09/2011

Budget deal includes D.C. abortion rider, money for school vouchers

By Ben Pershing

The spending deal agreed to Friday night to avert a government shutdown includes a provision banning the District from spending its own funds to provide abortions to low-income women as well as funding to continue a controversial school voucher program.

By Ben Pershing | 01:30 AM ET, 04/09/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:39 PM ET, 04/07/2011

Washington Teachers’ Union backs Orange in at-large race

By Tim Craig

The union, which represents 4,000 local educators, threw its support behind former council member Vincent B. Orange in the special election for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council

By Tim Craig | 04:39 PM ET, 04/07/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:50 PM ET, 04/07/2011

FOP endorses Mara in D.C. council race

By

The Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents 3,500 District police officers and detectives announced Thursday it is supporting Republican Patrick Mara in D.C. council election.

By | 03:50 PM ET, 04/07/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:21 PM ET, 04/07/2011

Sulaimon Brown will not testify before D.C. Council panel

By Nikita Stewart

Sulaimon Brown said he is not going to testify Thursday at the D.C. Council hearing on hiring practices of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration

By Nikita Stewart | 03:21 PM ET, 04/07/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:40 PM ET, 04/07/2011

Norton will keep whole staff on duty during shutdown

By Ben Pershing

As federal employees try to figure out whether they’ll be deemed “essential” in a government shutdown, aides to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) now know for certain — they’ll be working.

By Ben Pershing | 01:40 PM ET, 04/07/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:41 AM ET, 04/07/2011

Gray campaign consultant Howard Brooks a no-show at council hearing

By Nikita Stewart

Howard Brooks, a campaign consultant to Mayor Vincent C. Gray, was a no-show at a D.C. Council committee hearing on hiring practices Thursday

By Nikita Stewart | 11:41 AM ET, 04/07/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 09:04 AM ET, 04/07/2011

D.C. mayor’s hiring controversy: More testimony today

By Washington Post editors

D.C. Council holds another hearing today into the controversy over hiring practices by the administration of Vincent C. Gray.

By Washington Post editors | 09:04 AM ET, 04/07/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:13 AM ET, 04/07/2011

Many D.C. agencies would close under federal shutdown, mayor says

By Mike DeBonis

Should a federal government shutdown begin Friday, D.C. residents would be unable to register vehicles, renew driver’s licenses, have trash picked up, apply for building permits, register a business or check out a library book, under a plan announced Wednesday by Mayor Vincent Gray

By Mike DeBonis | 12:13 AM ET, 04/07/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:26 PM ET, 04/05/2011

Nalle students send SOS to Gray, Brown about school’s poor condition; So far, no response

By Washington Post Editors

A few months ago, some Nalle students wrote about the school’s conditions in letters to Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D). They were never answered.

By Washington Post Editors | 12:26 PM ET, 04/05/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 10:52 AM ET, 04/05/2011

GOP’s latest stopgap bill includes D.C. abortion rider, $42 million in District cuts

By Ben Pershing

House Republicans introduced a new stopgap measure Monday night to keep the government running for another week that would cut $42 million from the District budget and bar the city from spending its own money to provide abortions to low-income women

By Ben Pershing | 10:52 AM ET, 04/05/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:33 PM ET, 04/04/2011

Biddle gets lift from SEIU

By Tim Craig

The Service Employees International Union is starting to spend the $65,000 it plans to use over the next three weeks to help interim council member Sekou Biddle (D) win a full term on the D.C. Council

By Tim Craig | 12:33 PM ET, 04/04/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:05 PM ET, 04/04/2011

Bryan Weaver gets ‘dirty’ in at-large race

By Tim Craig

Ward 1 activist Bryan Weaver, a Democratic candidate in the April 26 special election for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council, unveiled what appears to be the first video advertisement of the campaign Monday

By Tim Craig | 12:05 PM ET, 04/04/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:35 PM ET, 04/01/2011

Wells gets behind Biddle in at-large D.C. council race

By Tim Craig

D.C. Council member Tommy Wells endorsed Sekou Biddle in the at-large council race

By Tim Craig | 04:35 PM ET, 04/01/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:08 PM ET, 04/01/2011

Gray proposes raising income taxes on wealthy households to close budget gap

By Nikita Stewart

Mayor Vincent C. Gray, faced with a $322 million budget gap in fiscal 2012, is proposing more than $127 million in fee and tax increases and is slashing more than $113 million in health and human services programs

By Nikita Stewart | 01:08 PM ET, 04/01/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 03/31/2011

Catania endorses Sekou Biddle in D.C. Council race

By Tim Craig

Council member David Catania endorses Sekou Biddle

By Tim Craig | 12:30 PM ET, 03/31/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

D.C. Wire: April, 2011