Deborah Simmons

SIMMONS: Moten taps strategist for D.C. Council bid

Republican Ronald C. Moten is pumping up the volume on his race for the Ward 7 D.C. Council seat.

August 6, 2012

SIMMONS: Hill should go slow on commuter tax for D.C.

This presidential election year brings more of the usual chatter about D.C. rights, and Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, has added a new twist by raising the specter of a D.C. commuter tax. Let's not tempt the devil or ignore the details.

August 5, 2012

SIMMONS: How to make our schools a lot better

At a time when school districts like the District's are considering closing dozens of schools and making sure the cap is tightened on the red-ink bottle, Americans who participated in a report released Thursday by the Fordham Institute have a few curt messages.

August 2, 2012

SIMMONS: School reform impossible without a plan

Students who attend traditional D.C. Public Schools are still struggling academically, but they may have turned a corner, if recently released data can be believed.

August 1, 2012

SIMMONS: Mayor better be on the job for jobs

Mayor Gray still has head above the scandalous waters of a public corruption probe, but time will soon tell whether the jobs programs he has in place will actually deliver what people want: a J-O-B.

July 29, 2012

SIMMONS: Take a break, Mr. Mayor, while there’s time

Here's the scoop: Our esteemed and embattled mayor is running so fast to and fro that any day now he's going to meet himself around the corner.

July 25, 2012

SIMMONS: Donor ban on corporations no solution

If you believe in free speech as it relates to campaign funding and have any measure of a stake in what happens in the nation's capital, Monday is the day to speak now or risk having your mouth duct-taped.

July 22, 2012

SIMMONS: No rush to judgment on Gray

Robert S. Bennett, attorney for Mayor Vincent C. Gray, released a fairly interesting statement Thursday morning regarding his embattled client. Lay off, he said — though not in those words.

July 19, 2012

SIMMONS: A Gray rally protesting ‘persecution’

For all intents and purposes, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray has zipped his lips amid the federal investigation that uncovered the machinations of a shadow campaign that led to his victory in the 2010 Democratic primary. But his supporters are making plenty of noise.

July 18, 2012

SIMMONS: Ending complacency on HIV means embracing abstinence

Just days before the nation's capital hosts the XIX International AIDS Conference, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced a major ad campaign to combat what it characterizes as "the two major obstacles to HIV prevention — stigma associated with the infection and complacency about the epidemic."

July 17, 2012

SIMMONS: High jinks with D.C.’s low-number plates

D.C. officials rarely discuss them in public, yet they are in plain sight of most plain folk who motor around the city.

July 4, 2012

SIMMONS: Return on investment in D.C. schools: D-

In case you missed the really big news about per-pupil funding and the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS), allow me to announce that the Obama administration has let the proverbial fat cat out of the bag: The U.S. Census Bureau reported June 21 that DCPS leads the nation in per-pupil spending, to the tune of $18,667 per student, per year.

July 1, 2012

SIMMONS: How Mendelson handles schools to test leadership

Thanks to my colleague Tom Howell Jr. and News Channel 8's Bruce DePuyt, D.C. stakeholders have a pretty good idea of the priorities new D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson plans to focus on following summer recess.

June 27, 2012

SIMMONS: Trolley folly for Ward 5 stakeholders

Score one for Costco, but there's push back from Ward 5 on the District's streetcar project.

June 24, 2012

SIMMONS: Exacting cost for Costco’s arrival in D.C.

Will Costco change its corporate community-benefits model to appease its new neighbors in Northeast Washington?

June 20, 2012

SIMMONS: Harry Thomas’ last hours before prison

In an exclusive interview just hours before Harry Thomas Jr. was scheduled to board a flight to Alabama to begin serving a 38-month sentence for stealing government funds meant for D.C. youths, the former lawmaker said he spent the last few days of freedom "getting things in order for his family."

June 19, 2012

SIMMONS: Good move: City keeps its bean counter

Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, Natwar M. Gandhi is free at last. Mayor Vincent C. Gray finally severed the tether to Mr. Gandhi, the District's chief financial officer, on Friday, when he reappointed the self-proclaimed "realistically conservative" finance chief to another five-year term - and well he should have.

June 17, 2012

SIMMONS: Romney on schools: Now we’re talking

Leave it to Mitt Romney, the nonconservative conservative, to begin nudging Republicans and libertarians toward closing an ideological divide by proposing to grant federal vouchers to disabled and poor children and suggesting that school districts open their doors to children who don't reside in certain ZIP codes.

June 13, 2012

SIMMONS: Post-Brown council must revisit school governance

In the days leading up to Kwame R. Brown's resignation and guilty pleas in a most embarrassing set of criminal circumstances, the former D.C. Council chairman loosened his grip on economic development and housing, turned over jobs and workforce development to a newcomer and added the city's real estate portfolio to Adrian M. Fenty supporter Muriel Bowser.

June 10, 2012

SIMMONS: D.C.’s incentive for teachers to live in city is a good idea

Amid a flurry of legislative activity on Tuesday, approval of a $9.4 billion spending plan for the District's 2013 fiscal year was an encouraging piece of tax legislation.

June 7, 2012