A Hope for 2009: Overcoming D.C.'s State of Denial

Which brings us to oversight.

The DYRS is under the legislative supervision of council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6).

On Dec. 1, Wells offered a stout defense of DYRS in a Post op-ed piece, citing reforms under the leadership of Director Vincent Schiraldi. Wells declared that Schiraldi's program "has earned an Innovations in American Government award from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government."

DYRS won no such award. The agency was among eight program finalists.

Wells also criticized the performance of the D.C. Superior Court and its Court Social Services Division, which is also responsible for youth offenders. The court is not under the council's jurisdiction. Wells suggested that the court had a much higher recidivism rate than DYRS.

Judges were not amused.

I met recently with Superior Court Chief Judge Lee Satterfield and Family Court Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring. Satterfield followed up the meeting with an e-mail in which he said it was "unfortunate that Mr. Wells, an elected official, . . . chose to use court data inaccurately in an attempt to criticize the court's supervision of juvenile offenders."

"Mr. Wells concocted his own mathematical formula," wrote Satterfield, "without contacting the court for accuracy and came up with a purported recidivism rate designed to show the progress of DYRS . . . and to ignore the court's role in such progress."

Satterfield said "Wells should be reminded" that "when you point the finger at another by using data inaccurately, the public loses confidence" in efforts to address a major public concern.

Besides, I humbly add, shilling for an agency that one oversees is, for a legislator, both unprofessional and unbecoming.

Phone calls and e-mails yesterday to Wells's office and home for comment went unanswered.

The coming year has got to be better.

kingc@washpost.com