The overwhelming consensus so far at today’s D.C. Council hearing on the recent theft of what looks to be $30 million-plus from the District’s tax coffers? The scandal has damaged the reputation of the city government, and the council members are pissed.
While most statements have clung to the nasty tidbits of information we already know (the enormity of the crime, that an auditor’s warnings may have been ignored) and palliative cliches, council members provided a few depressing and harrowing new viewpoints. Muriel Bowser (Ward 4) stated that the incident led one of her constituents to conclude that this will probably cause D.C. to lose steam in the push for representation in Congress. Jim Graham (Ward 1) pointed out that there are businesses in the city – specifically restaurants on U Street – that can’t pay their rising real estate tax costs, while D.C. governmental officials are running around spending millions on Bentleys and tacky Neiman Marcus scarves.
Photo by Eye Captain
