Who Was That Council Member?

The site's creator, Taylor Chesnik , complied to avoid a lawsuit. But he said he has appealed for help to the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Chesnik, 27, a computer specialist who works for a defense contractor, created the site in hopes of persuading Fenty to fire Skinner, the campaign's director of field operations. Chesnik said Skinner, who is black, has injected race into several community issues near Chesnik's Ward 1 home and has opposed a liquor license for a new restaurant, Temperance Hall, because its owners are white.

"If you lived in my neighborhood, there's nothing there, and we've been waiting years for things to come. Finally this business comes in, pouring millions of dollars into a building abandoned for 20 years, and he's fighting it for stupid reasons," Chesnik said. "To him, it was a black-white issue. Whereas the community doesn't care what color the owners are."

Fenty campaign manager Alec Evans did not comment directly on Chesnik's allegations, but did say "there's no place in the city for divisiveness." He added that Skinner will keep his job.

Tillery's Bakeoff

So just how much is a cake baked by Deputy Mayor Herbert R. Tillery worth?

The answer is $300. That's how much mayoral candidate Marie C. Johns (D) bid during an auction last week for the nonprofit group Mentors Inc.

The bidding started at about $50, but Johns kept waving her fan until she was the top bidder.

What Johns didn't know was that Tillery has not baked a cake in 25 years.

And even then it wasn't from scratch, but from cake mix out of a box, if his memory serves him well. Tillery did not even know what it means to make a cake from scratch.

"When you get the ingredients on the box, isn't that scratch?" Tillery asked. "I can follow directions. I don't even know where to start when you say scratch."

Tillery said the whole idea of auctioning off a cake baked by him was born as he walked into the ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel with the auctioneer, Ronald Evans , to attend the banquet

Tillery wasn't exactly wearing his baker's apron or his deputy mayor's hat. He was at the dinner as the president of Mentors Inc., a program that strives to connect disadvantaged students in the city's public schools with professional business leaders. The auction proceeds are used to sponsor college scholarships and pay for the program's staff.

When Evans suggested the cake as part of the auction, Tillery said, "I'm game." But Johns is hoping for something more than a Duncan Hines delight.

"Well, I hope I get a homemade cake out of him for that money," Johns said, adding, "It's for a good cause."

Staff writer Yolanda Woodlee also contributed to this report.