After Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) angered the D.C. Council by proposing legislation in late October that would require background checks for senior government officials, councilmembers moved today on their own version of the legislation that would prevent many of the hiring scandals that have plagued Mayor Vince Gray this year. more ›

When the District is short on cash, its leaders tend to places freezes on hiring and travel. Mayor Vince Gray just did the same. more ›

Responding to the threat of a proposal from Congress to dictate how the city should vet its hires, the D.C. Council is moving forward quickly on legislation related to D.C. government hiring practices. more ›

Yesterday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced the proposal of legislation that would dictate D.C. government hiring practices. But it appears as if a little outreach from D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown has convinced Issa to reverse course. more ›

The last we heard from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), he was talking about expanded budget autonomy. Today, he's apparently headed in the opposite direction, introducing legislation that would dictate D.C. government hiring practices. more ›

It didn't take long for government watchdog Dorothy Brizill to strike. Only minutes after Mayor Vincent Gray announced three new nominees to serve on the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics this morning, Brizill threw one of the nominees' qualifications into question by noting that he had not lived in the District for the amount of time required by law. more ›

Tomorrow morning, Mayor Vince Gray will be the featured speaker at a summit organized by the D.C. Department of Human Resources, discussing "the pivotal role that HR professionals and practitioners play in the city's efforts to recruit and hire qualified District residents." more ›

When the D.C. Council committee investigating the Sulaimon Brown scandal rolled out its final report a few weeks back, D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) was careful to note that because of an unfulfilled subpoena for documents from Brown, the whole affair could be dragged back into public view at any time. more ›

In March, Mayor Vince Gray ordered background checks for all of his appointees, a consequence of the hiring-related scandals that dogged him during his first months in office. But the recent hiring hiccup with new Deputy Chief of Staff Andi Pringle seems to indicate that the background checks aren't as thorough as expected. more ›

A report written by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh regarding the hiring practices of the Vince Gray administration appeared to downplay the Mayor's direct responsibility for the actions of his underlings. But don't tell that to Gray, who said in a statement released this morning that he "take[s] full responsibility" for said mistakes. more ›

Nepotism. Cronyism. Excessive salaries and bonuses. Perjury. These are all acts that a D.C. Council committee has found were committed by the Gray administration earlier this year, which are outlined in a 47-page report (with hundreds of pages of accompanying documentation) detailing how former failed mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown got himself a $110,000-a-year government job despite scant qualifications for it. more ›

Sulaimon Brown, the elusive individual who has so far done quite the job ducking the D.C. Council's attempts to subpoena and compel him to testify about the hiring practices of the Gray administration, will appear in D.C. Superior Court this afternoon. more ›

Both Sulaimon Brown and Cherita Whiting, who the Council spent serious time and effort subpoenaing to appear at a hearing on the hiring practices of the Gray administration, didn't show up as expected at the Wilson Building today. more ›

Somewhat lost in the Sulaimonmania has been the hiring of Cherita Whiting, who got a plum job in the Department of Parks and Recreation before resigning in April because she failed to disclose a 2001 felony conviction. But the Washington Times' Jeffrey Anderson has remained on the case! more ›

Sulaimon Brown apparently made an appearance inside the Wilson Building this afternoon, told reporters that he wasn't going to testify, then left as staffers for Councilmember Mary Cheh scattered to try and serve him with a subpoena. So, yeah, that happened. more ›

Today's lengthy Council hearing on hirings made by the Gray administration is still going, as I type. But this morning, Brandon Webb was the first to take the microphone -- and that's when things got sloppy. more ›

"I was not in the business of giving out jobs." That's the sentiment that Mayor Vince Gray tried to get across during a hastily-called press conference at the Wilson Building this afternoon concerning recent allegations made by former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown that the Gray administration paid him and promised him employment in exchange for support during the campaign. more ›

First, it was Cherita Whiting. Then, Sulaimon Brown. Now, it's Talib Karim. What these three have in common is that they're all supporters of Mayor Vince Gray who landed good jobs in his administration -- and they all have questionable personal histories. But should those questionable histories -- which include a stint in jail, a restraining order for stalking, and a domestic dispute -- play a role in how we judge their qualifications for the positions they hold? more ›

Thanks to the magic of FOIA, WAMU's Patrick Madden was able to dig up some political dirt on the Gray campaign -- Madden discovered that two children of the Mayor's closest advisors have landed jobs inside the D.C. government. Campaign Chair Lorraine Green's daughter and Chief of Staff Gerri Mason Hall's son were hired to work as a senior communications manager in the Mayor's office and a writer in the Department of Parks and Recreation, respectively. There's reportedly nothing illegal about the hires, and Gray's camp says that the pair "were interviewed and selected because of what they can offer." Whither hiring freeze? more ›

Jack Requa will take over as Assistant General Manager of Bus Services for WMATA, the transit agency announced today. The hiring marks the first position to be filled from the December management shake up that saw several top managers resign. Requa, 63, replaces Milo Victoria as the top Metrobus official at WMATA. He's one of the most experienced officials at Metro, having previously served as Acting General Manager for several months in late 2006 before John Catoe was hired, as well as Chief Operating Officer of Metrobus and Assistant General Manager of Operations Services. WTOP recently reported that Requa turned down again serving as Acting General Manager once Catoe leaves in April. more ›