Good morning, Washington. It’s Tuesday and yet, strangely, Eliot Spitzer is still governor of New York. Word on the street/internet is that Spitzer is using his resignation as a bargaining chip to ensure that he won’t be prosecuted. Classy! Well, as one city with a history of executive hotel room shenanigans to another: hang in there, New York.

Rhee Slow To Turn Over Names: School Chancellor Michelle Rhee made headlines last week for firing nearly 100 D.C. school employees. Now the Post reports that she’s attracted the ire of the city council for refusing to disclose the affected employees’ names. In particular, Vincent Gray and Marion Barry expressed irritation at the Fenty administration’s hesitancy to share the names; Gray says he will take more formal action to get them.

Md. Lobbying Profiled: The Post turns its eyes to the state of the lobbying industry in Maryland and finds that efforts at reform have failed to completely stamp out the trading of campaign contributions for influence. Surprise! The piece details the continued entwinement of lobbyists and legislators — although with total contributions capped at a fairly low $10k per four years, it’s not clear just how many favors the typically small contributions are purchasing.

Power Restored: If you (eventually) woke up to a flashing 12:00 on your strangely silent alarm clock, a manhole fire is to blame. WTOP reports that 5,400 district customers lost power last night in Adams Morgan, Woodley Park and Columbia Heights. As of 6 a.m. service had been restored to nearly all customers.

Briefly Noted: Missing 8 year-old is okay… Maryland man pleads guilty to sex trafficking charges… For-profit debt counseling may be coming to Md… Sentence reduced for Navy doctor who secretly taped midshipman… Md. texting-while-driving ban fails again…

This Day In DCist: One year ago it was a Sunday, but that didn’t stop Ryan Avent from writing about the gun ban.

Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user soleil1016