What Does Firing Say About Fenty?

Still, some at City Hall noted that other Fenty staffers have taken leaves of absence or quit rather than meet the demanding expectations of their boss. William Singer, 25, who handles legislative affairs for Fenty, took a two-month leave in 2004 before returning. Now he is one of Fenty's most trusted aides.

Rumors circulated through City Hall on Monday evening as the news spread about Evans's departure. Evans, a former Haverford College basketball player who is tall and lean, can come across as confident, bordering on cocky. One of the leading rumors was that he mouthed off to Fenty and refused to apologize. Other rumors were worse.

Sources close to the situation said that Evans, a former chief of staff for council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), had showed increasing signs of burnout from the demanding pace and that Fenty knew it. If that was the case, Fenty's allies said, why wait to make the change?

"Adrian is extremely smart, savvy," Lynch said. "He has sent a message he's in charge. Performance with him is everything. He'll make those decisions, and when he runs the government, that's the kind of leader he'll be -- in charge."

K Street Backs Fenty

Fenty, once the bane of the business world, is now the candidate of K Street.

The Democratic mayoral candidate funded his victorious primary election with lots of small contributions from his Ward 4 constituents, which helped cultivate his image as a politician more beholden to neighborhood concerns than downtown interests. The city's biggest business groups enthusiastically endorsed his chief rival, council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), and their members wrote large checks to her campaign.

On primary night, the heads of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Washington Board of Trade were among the first to congratulate Fenty at his victory party, and the money followed their lead. More than half of Fenty's contributors in the latest campaign finance filing gave $500 or more.

Fenty's recent contributors include many members of the city's business elite such as lobbyists, developers and construction executives.

The change of heart occurred even before the votes were tallied Sept. 12. Liquor store owners, who had been wary of Fenty because of his push to prohibit single-sales of beer, contributed a heap of cash Sept. 8 to the well-known teetotaler.

There were many other converts. Southeastern University President Charlene Drew Jarvis , the former Ward 4 council member whom Fenty defeated in 2000, contributed $500 on Oct. 5. So did former financial control board chairman and Brookings Institution scholar Alice M. Rivlin , who endorsed long-shot mayoral candidate Marie C. Johns in the primary.

Union Endorsements

For weeks, the 15 candidates running for the D.C. Board of Education have been clamoring for the endorsement of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, which represents about 45,000 teachers, principals, custodians, bus drivers and other workers in the schools.

The suspense likely will end today, with the expected endorsement of former city administrator Robert C. Bobb for president; school activist Marc Borbely for the District 3 seat; and incumbent William Lockridge for District 4.