'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
With online gambling off the table for now, D.C. officials are grappling with how to rectify the questionable local business certification of a firm that controls a 51 percent share of the $38 million D.C. Lottery contract.
Within weeks of an inspector general's report that criticized a bid by the D.C. Lottery to launch a first-in-the-nation online gambling program, the deal was dead.
The D.C. Council took a major step Tuesday toward reconfiguring the city's $38 million lottery contract when it voted to repeal an online gambling law once urged by its supporters as a pivotal revenue source for the city.
A D.C. Council committee finally showed its cards in the tortured bid for Internet poker and other games through the city's lottery system — and it's game over.
A trio of D.C. Council members signaled their intent Wednesday to re-examine the $38 million D.C. Lottery contract and a plan to launch the nation's first online poker system, an idea promoted by council member Michael A. Brown, at-large independent, and approved without public discussion in a supplemental budget bill in December.
Two former D.C. Cabinet officials are dismayed that their joint request for an investigation by the Inspector General's Office of the D.C. Lottery contract has gone nowhere.
An arbitrator has overturned for the fifth time the refiring of a reinstated Metropolitan Police Department officer, lending support to persistent accusations by rank-and-file officers that Chief Cathy L. Lanier has systematically abused their due process rights and undermined MPD's disciplinary system.
D.C. Lottery officials are gearing up for unprecedented gambling over the Internet through "demonstration games" that will allow players to get their feet wet before wagering real dollars.
In the course of five days last week, the District's mayor was called a "crook" at a public hearing, the council chairman's campaign committee was accused of widespread reporting violations, one council member disclosed he had been offered bribes, and another council member was accused of using his charity as a slush fund.
A strip club that a community group says was illegally relocated and is creating an appetite for prostitution in Northeast Washington is co-owned by a major Democratic Party donor and local developer who contributed to a controversial charity run by D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr., who represents the area.
D.C. Lottery Executive Director Buddy Roogow showed his optimism in July when he sent an e-mail to DC09, the joint venture that operates the lottery: "The project is going to go well. Get ready to set records."
A former deputy chief who left the city under unusual circumstances was named to lead the District's fire department on Thursday, the same day Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray announced he would retain Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier.
Congress sent a message Wednesday to D.C. officials who this week approved plans for the city lottery to offer online poker: Not so fast.
It's a time-honored tradition of local government: a somewhat aloof director of a troubled city agency resigns, declaring success in bringing about needed reforms, and eventually a straight-talking replacement comes along and pledges transparency in completing the unfinished job.
Curious whom D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray met with as he pondered and then embarked on a run for mayor?
But after a further review, D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said too many people had access to the information to pursue any leak probe or legal action.
"If the process is tainted, you vote against it," he said, referring to Mr. Gray's most recent attempt to distance himself from the outcome. "Why have competitive bidding if you can subvert the process?"
