DPR Hearings Continue, Kind Of

With relations between Mayor Adrian Fenty and the D.C. Council as strained as they are, you'd think the city's chief executive might do what he could to make things just a little bit better. But if a hearing today before the council on the ongoing Department of Parks and Recreation contracting scandal serves as any indication, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Two key administration officials failed to show at the council's hearing today – the third so far – on the $82 million in parks and rec contracts that were funneled through the D.C. Housing Authority without council approval. The no-shows, as D.C. Wire notes, make this two weeks in a row that administration officials have failed to appear, leading to subpoenas being issued. Just last week, Interim Director of the Department of Parks and Rec Ximena Hartsock was the absentee witness; today Hartsock finally testified, but David Jannarone and Jacquelyn Glover, both of whom work with Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Planning Valerie Santos, failed to appear.

Santos, who did testify today, was asked twice by Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) to find out where Jannarone and Glover where. Santos claimed that Glover was not returning calls and that Jannarone had the day off. When pressed about the timing of Jannarone's vacation, Santos admitted that she couldn't exactly remember signing the paperwork allowing him the time away from work.

And so the hearings shall continue.