Fenty Stays Close to Home for Top Aides

Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty is racking up frequent-flier miles as he prepares to take office, jetting off to New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco to meet with mayors and other big city officials.

But when it comes to naming his top-level deputies, Fenty continues to go for home-grown products.

His latest appointments -- Stephanie Scott for secretary of the District and JoAnne Ginsberg for director of policy and legislative affairs -- have long been active in D.C. affairs and worked closely with Fenty for years.

Scott served as Fenty's D.C. Council chief of staff in 2003, then moved to the same role in his successful 2004 Ward 4 council reelection campaign. After that election, Scott took a less active role so she could spend more time with her two young children, limiting herself to advising Fenty and editing his Ward 4 newsletter.

Ginsberg was chief of staff for council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) from 1995 through 2001. She met Fenty in the late 1990s when he served as counsel to the council's Committee on Education. Ginsberg later served as an education analyst for Patterson and then for council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).

Since July 2005, Ginsberg has been a member of the Board of Education, appointed by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).

Scott and Ginsberg join Fenty's other locally bred incoming Cabinet members: City Administrator Dan Tangherlini (former head of the city's transportation office); Chief of Staff Tene Dolphin (Fenty for Mayor campaign staffer); Deputy Mayors Neil O. Albert (former deputy to Williams) and Victor Reinoso (school board member); General Counsel Peter Nickles (D.C.-based attorney, Fenty family friend); Attorney General Linda Singer (head of D.C.-based Appleseed); and spokeswoman Carrie Brooks (Fenty's high school friend).

Fenty's nominee to become police chief, Cathy L. Lanier, has spent 16 years on the D.C. force, and Fenty has promised to reappoint Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi to another five-year term.

Fenty said he is committed to bringing the best and brightest onto his team, and so far that has meant culling the local ranks. But he has hinted that he may look elsewhere for other positions, such as a new chief of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Stay tuned.

Schwartz's Hideout

The call came 2:30 p.m. Nov. 30: Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) was hiding out in the ladies room, according to several John A. Wilson Building staffers who saw her.

D.C.'s lone Republican officeholder had reason to be overly cautious about her whereabouts. The women's restroom was right down the hall from a hearing room where two supporters of building a downtown central library -- Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) -- were waiting for a third colleague to create a quorum so that the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation could meet.