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Officials Narrowly Keep Schools Measure Off Ballot
Evans tried unsuccessfully to table the bill, saying he was upset that a reporter had taped the council's discussion during yesterday's breakfast meeting "without our knowledge." He was referring to Amy Doolittle of the Washington Times, who ran her tape recorder while she was at the meeting.
In March, Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) opened the breakfast meetings to the media. They had been closed since they began about 15 years ago. The move occurred at the same time that Orange and Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) began drafting the bill.
Yesterday, council members talked at length about the bill, but the discussion came down to a one-on-one debate between Schwartz and Orange.
Schwartz said she had eight amendments. "This bill needs enormous amounts of work . . . We'll be here until tomorrow," she said, referring to the time it might take to debate her amendments.
"If you got eight amendments, bring 'em on. If it's all night, it's all right," Orange said as audience members erupted in applause.
But at the recommendation of council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), the council sent the bill back to committee. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), who is running against Patterson for chairman in their party's primary, cast the deciding vote.
A man in the audience walked out of the room, yelling: "Shame on you! Shame on you!"
In other business, the council voted 10 to 3 to give initial approval to Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey to receive an additional $16,000 annually toward his pension, which bumps him from $44,000 a year to $60,000.
Mendelson, who heads the council judiciary committee, said the council had a "moral obligation or good faith obligation" to grant Ramsey the increased pension package because of a promise made by the federally imposed Control Board in place when he was hired in 1998.
The city was supposed to give him a pension package that would be similar to one he would have received if he had not left his 30-year career with the Chicago police department, according to a committee report.
Catania said he did not understand why the council was renegotiating a written contract that did not include an increase in Ramsey's pension. Catania, Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) and Patterson were the dissenters.
