Well that was fast.

After placing a second hold on legislation granting Mayor Adrian Fenty direct control over the District’s public schools, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) this afternoon agreed to lift her hold and let the proposal move forward in the Senate. According to the Post, Landrieu did so after being assured that School Board President Robert Bobb (pictured right), who had asked for the hold, and Fenty had agreed to sit down and iron out some final differences over the school takeover.

Of course, Bobb won’t be getting out of this one easily. In the mere hours that the news was circulating, the former city administrator was roundly criticized for encouraging a stall tactic that District officials have always hated. In his online chat today at the Post, WTOP Political Analyst Mark Plotkin took Bobb to task for the move, writing:

I fault Robert Bobb, the President of the DC School Board, for jumping over the elected leadership (he’s elected too) and going to Landrieu and asking her to put a hold on the legislation. Bobb who is crassly ambitious and new to the city is not, obviously, in touch with our home rule government. It was a cheap stunt by Bobb and I hope there is some political damage which sticks to him for this ploy.

Bobb’s been here for four years, so we’re not sure we’d feel comfortable calling him “new to the city” still, but his role notwithstanding, this recent episode again reminds us that more than ever, we need voting rights and governmental autonomy.