Good morning, Washington. Supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Obama are riding high off their caucus victories in Iowa last night, but locally, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to suffer some bumps in the road after one year in office. Just weeks after the resignation of Attorney General Linda Singer, Fenty’s former deputy chief of staff, Neil Richardson, has also resigned. Richardson, who was a key Fenty aide during his mayoral campaign, had been moved out of Fenty’s “bullpen” in October and placed in an office called Serve DC, where he was tasked with creating a volunteer program to help the school system. Yesterday Richardson decided that the demotion, which came, according to the Post, after Richardson complained to the mayor that he was not listening enough to the public on key decisions, wasn’t worth sticking around for, and tendered his resignation. WTOP has excerpts from Richardson’s resignation letter, which reiterates complaints heard from others about Fenty’s dictatorial governing style.

Dellinger Will Argue Supreme Court Case: Days after Acting Attorney General Peter Nickles fired Alan Morrison, removing him as the lead attorney on the District’s handgun case in the Supreme Court, the Fenty administration has announced his replacement: former acting U.S. solicitor general Walter Dellinger will argue the case before the high court. Dellinger, a highly regarded litigator with O’Melveny & Myers, had been working under Morrison with the team of lawyers who prepared the city’s Supreme Court brief. D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson is still demanding that Nickles explain why he fired Morrison in the first place.

Lawsuit Filed Against City, Officer for Nightclub Incident: The Post reports on a federal lawsuit filed yesterday which alleges that an off-duty D.C. police officer, Talika Moore, spat on a nightclub bouncer while drunk, and that some police officer called to the scene refused to file a complaint against a fellow officer.

Briefly Noted: Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting on Indian Head Highway in Oxon Hill … Fairfax County police are the scene of a shooting outside a hotel in Alexandria … Union Station retailers decry taxes.

This Day in DCist: In 2007 we took a closer look at the Homeopathy Monument, and in 2005 we wondered where exactly Route 29 actually is.

Photo by andertho