Council Delays Vote on Reinoso
Education Official's Leadership an Issue

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray said he will postpone today's confirmation vote on the deputy mayor for education, who refused last month to say whether he wrote a plagiarized report about the public school system.

Gray (D) said he and other council members continue to question the plagiarism incident and the leadership skills of Victor Reinoso, a former school board member who has been acting as deputy mayor since January.

Reinoso's confirmation is not on the agenda for today's meeting, the last legislative session before the council recesses for the summer. The agenda includes other nominations, including those of acting schools chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and Allen Y. Lew, who would head a new school construction department.

"We want to feel comfortable" with Reinoso, Gray said.

Gray said he plans to put the confirmation vote on the September agenda. The council could use the next few months to assess Reinoso's performance, he said. With the opening of school in August, "it's a critical two months," he said. "When it comes September, I want there to be enthusiastic support" for Reinoso.

Reinoso can continue as deputy mayor without today's vote. He would be automatically appointed a deputy mayor with passive approval if the council does not vote by Nov. 22.

Passive approval, however, would essentially be a vote of no confidence for one of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's key administrators.

Mafara Hobson, the mayor's spokeswoman, said Fenty (D) wants the council to vote on Reinoso's nomination. "While we fully respect the council's role in the advice and consent process, we think all nominees, including Victor Reinoso, are entitled to an up-or-down vote."

Gray and Fenty have clashed on the school takeover. Although Fenty touted the takeover of the city's troubled public school system as a partnership with the council, Gray and other council members have chided him for leaving them out of important decisions.

Fenty introduced Rhee as his nominee to Gray at 11:30 the night before he announced her nomination. He also did not give the council a copy of her contract until after her confirmation hearing.

But Gray said their recent conflict has nothing to do with the postponement of the Reinoso vote.

He said he has concerns about Reinoso's ability to lead the public education system. At a hearing yesterday on Reinoso's strategy for the school system's transition, Reinoso struggled to answer simple questions, often answering, "I don't know."

For example, he did not know when summer school ends (Aug. 1).

Gray said Reinoso's lack of knowledge gives him pause.

In an interview, Reinoso said he would be disappointed if he were not placed on the agenda because he wants to be confirmed with Rhee and Lew as a "team."

"I obviously respect the council. I'm hopeful that I will be on the final agenda," he said.

Some council members, including Gray, said they need more information about Reinoso's involvement in a 31-page education report that was copied verbatim in parts from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school system's strategic plan.

At his confirmation hearing last month, Reinoso would not say if he wrote the report, adding that the general counsel had advised him not to comment.

Council member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7) said she was not satisfied with Reinoso's answers. At yesterday's hearing, she asked about the mission of Reinoso's office.

"I want this to be a D.C. mission, not a Mecklenburg mission," she said.