In Politics, Time Is Everything

By David Nakamura and Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 1, 2007

The D.C. Board of Education had prepared for weeks to make the big announcement of its long-awaited plan to accelerate school reform -- and fend off a system takeover by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).

The board told reporters last week it would have an emergency meeting at 10 a.m. Monday at McKinley Technology High School in Northeast, where the plan would be unveiled.

Late Sunday, reporters got another urgent bulletin -- from the Fenty team, which announced that the mayor would be having a news conference with acting Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier to talk about the rash of killings over the weekend.

The "availability" would be Monday at, wouldn't you know it, 10 a.m.! Across town, in Southeast.

Although both events were well-attended by the media, only Fenty's drew live TV coverage. The Post's Web site posted a clip of Fenty's event but not the school board's.

Carrie Brooks, Fenty's spokeswoman, said the timing was simply a coincidence. She brushed off suggestions that the media-savvy Fenty was using his event to steal the thunder from school board President Robert C. Bobb.

Fenty did not know about Bobb's news conference until Bobb briefed him on the school board's plans about 9:20 a.m. Monday, Brooks said. By then, it was too late for the mayor to call off his production, which included an FBI official and others.

Some reporters found that explanation a bit hollow, considering the media and school activists knew about the board's plans by the middle of last week, thanks to numerous e-mails from the panel.

Seems the communication between the various branches of D.C. government could use some of the streamlining Fenty and Bobb have been talking about.

Show Her the Money

D.C. Council employees were abuzz this week about the treatment of their longtime colleague Sharona Morgan, whose government paycheck was rescinded from her checking account shortly after she resigned as director of constituent services for council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) and went to work for another council member.

Morgan, who had worked for Schwartz 12 years, said the council's personnel office told her that her biweekly salary of $1,916.15, which had been deposited into her checking account automatically last month, would be withdrawn because she was paid for a week that she did not work. She said she also was told that another check would be issued immediately for the week she worked during that pay period.

Two weeks later, though, Morgan still hasn't been paid, and she is frustrated and suspicious.

"I don't know how this happened," said Morgan, now director of constituent services for council member David A. Catania (I-At Large). "I've never had any problems in the past, even through furloughs, I've always received my money."

Morgan said that she has worked for two former council members, Wilhelmina Rolark and Bill Lightfoot, and that the government never deducted money from her account when she changed jobs.

Morgan submitted her resignation Dec. 29 and left her job with Schwartz that day. She started as director of constituent services for Catania on Jan. 22.

According to a letter from a Chevy Chase Bank official, Morgan's payroll check was deposited directly into her account Jan. 12, and the payment was reversed four days later.

Johnetta Bond, director of the Office of Pay and Retirement Services, said that the city can reverse a payment if a mistake is made, but that the employee must be notified ahead of time.

"Normally the agency will notify us so that payment can be replaced immediately," Bond said.

A city official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because this is a personnel issue, said Morgan will be paid during the next payroll cycle. Schwartz's office declined to comment.

Morgan, who is not a member of a union, said the delay is an unfair penalty for quitting a job. She said she contacted the D.C. Department of Employment Services Wage-Hour Office but was told it doesn't handle complaints from District government employees, who must go to their union or the council's personnel and payroll offices.

"I'm upset because I didn't get paid for a week I worked for," Morgan said. "They offset my bank account and caused trauma. I feel it was unnecessary."

Crunch Time for Fundraisers

Candidates for the open Ward 4 D.C. Council seat held a flurry of fundraisers this week in anticipation of Wednesday's campaign finance report filing, which is seen as a key indication of the viability of the 21 announced contenders.

Riggs Park advisory neighborhood commissioner Muriel Bowser is expected to post big numbers, given Fenty's endorsement at her campaign kickoff. Rival Michael A. Brown also had some boldface names as hosts for a Tuesday night event.

The fundraiser was at the Georgetown home of Oakley and Sydney Brooks, the parents of two-time council candidate Sam Brooks, who worked for a time as the Ward 2 coordinator for Fenty's mayoral campaign before launching a failed bid for the Ward 3 council seat last fall. Sam Brooks was also listed on the invitation as a host.

"It's really simple," Sydney Brooks said. "I really like Michael Brown, and I think he should be on the council."

Brooks said she and her husband were friends of Brown's father.

The fourth host was Zdenka Gast, who owns a construction company in western New York. In April 1996, Gast was traveling in Croatia with a U.S. delegation headed by Brown's father, then-Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown, when the plane carrying Brown crashed, killing all aboard. Gast had decided to fly that part of the trip in another plane, according to news reports.

Michael Brown said Gast owns a home in Georgetown and has been a longtime friend. In previous election cycles, Gast contributed to Republicans, including Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) and President Bush.

"I'm competing against a candidate that has a mayor's financial backing," said Brown, referring to Bowser.

Brown, who ran against Fenty for mayor, said that Fenty's involvement in the race has raised the stakes on raising money and forced him to fundraise outside the ward.

Brown said he will have a fundraiser in Bethesda tonight and has plans for events in New York, Miami and Los Angeles in coming weeks.

Staff writer Elissa Silverman contributed to this report.