Soto's Baseball Problem
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's nomination of Ben Soto, one of his best friends, to become a member of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission's board of directors has run into a little snag.
Turns out that Soto, who owns the law firm and title company, Paramount Title & Escrow LLC, invested money in a limited liability company to help B. Doyle Mitchell Jr., the chief executive of Industrial Bank N.A., become one of the minority owners in the Washington Nationals baseball team last year.
Council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), who chairs the economic development committee, sponsored Fenty's nomination this week. He said Soto does not have a financial interest in the Nationals but "would recuse himself" from any votes on the Nats to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
That offer raised the eyebrows of council members Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6).
Barry said that he may still support Soto's nomination, but that he needs more answers about his relationship with the ballclub. Wells said Soto would be removing himself from the "biggest portion" of the sports commission's duties.
"We would hope that the sports commission would be about more than baseball," Brown said.
Soto said in an interview that he would concentrate on the commission's other efforts aside from baseball -- such as developing youth sports.
"At least, you'll have one board member who can focus on things that have been neglected -- community outreach and events -- in a big way," he said.
Stay tuned for the vote on his appointment on March 6.
New Names for Taxi Panel
Speaking of appointments, Fenty wants to add a few bold-faced names to the D.C. Taxicab Commission, the agency that has deliberated for years over whether to ditch the city's complex zone system for metered fares.
He forwarded the names of Dale Leibach, Joseph Sternlieb and George Fenderson to the D.C. Council for consideration late last week.
Leibach is a public affairs consultant and the husband of former Ward 3 council member Kathy Patterson, who gave up her seat in the fall in a losing bid to become chairman of the D.C. Council.
