Photo by Sommer Mathis D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty opened his re-election campaign headquarters over the weekend, and this morning he was out with his team on the sidewalks of Logan Circle, doing that patented Fenty campaign thing: shaking hands, picking up babies and asking D.C. residents for their votes. Fenty’s first, hugely successful campaign for mayor in 2006 became famous for the sheer number of doors he knocked on and individual people he personally…

Jesús Aguirre. Image courtesy EOM. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty today introduced his latest choice to head the Department of Parks and Recreation, Jesús Aguirre. Like his controversial predecessor, outgoing interim-cum-acting director Ximena Hartsock, Aguirre comes from DCPS, where he’s been Director of Operations under Michelle Rhee. In a rare move, Hartsock was denied confirmation by the D.C. Council, whose members cited, among other things, her inexperience in matters related to sports and recreation. In…

D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) As the political fracas continues over the $82 million in parks and rec contracts that D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty quietly funneled through the D.C. Housing Authority (much of it handed to contractors with cozy ties to the mayor), members of the D.C. Council are demanding accountability. None more so than Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large). Or not. No, he is. Really. We think. Since…

Peter Nickles So D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles gave Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh (D) some flowers today (City Desk even has a photo of said flowers). He did this in an attempt to apologize for telling a Washington Post reporter he thought Cheh, who recently criticized the Fenty administration for trying to keep Ximena Hartsock in her job at DPR for a while longer, was “stupid” and “an angry woman,” remarks that…

Photo by M.V. Jantzen Let’s just say that the Fenty administration and the D.C. Council aren’t planning any friendly get togethers any time soon. Tensions between the two city government branches had already intensified after news broke late last week that millions of dollars of recreation contracts have been funneled improperly through the semi-autonomous D.C. Housing Authority, allowing bids to be awarded non-competitively to firms owned by friends of Mayor Adrian Fenty, without Council…

Whatever you may think of the tenor of Friday’s parks and recreation committee hearing, it looks like it won’t end up mattering: the D.C. Council has just voted 7-5 to deny confirmation to acting Department of Parks and Recreation director Ximena Hartsock. Voting against Hartsock were Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5), Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), Kwame Brown (D-At large), Phil Mendelson (D-At large), Michael A. Brown (I-At large), and Chairman…

Marion Barry may be sick in the hospital today, but he and fellow D.C. Council member Harry “Tommy” Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) were taken to task today by the Washington Post’s editorial board for making racist and sexist comments Friday night at a parks and recreation committee hearing on the confirmation of acting Department of Parks and Recreation director Ximena Hartsock. Hartsock’s appointment by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has admittedly been a contentious one,…

Word hit the street this morning that Mayor Adrian Fenty had fired D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation director Clark Ray yesterday, and he’s already named a replacement. City Desk has the scene at today’s presser announcing former D.C. public schools principal Ximena Hartsock as Ray’s replacement. Hartsock had been running afterschool and summer school programs for Michelle Rhee/DCPS. Earlier this morning, D.C. Wire reported that at least a few people are befuddled as to…