Editorials and Opinions

Georgetowner • April 1, 2014

March—the month of perpetual snow and cold, the month of the Ukraine and Crimea, and the month of Flight 370 and the testimony of Uncle Earl, and the death of that lawyer on “The Good Wife”—was a cruel month. Let’s hope April doesn’t get to live up to its own reputation as “the cruelest month of the year.”

It could.

April 1 is election day. That’s how cruel things are, and that’s no April Fools’ joke.

There has never been quite such an election campaign as the somewhat abbreviated, and out-of-season District of Columbia Democratic Primary campaign. In terms of the repercussions, it may not be over when it’s over, not even when the fat lady sings.

Consider this:
Almost from the first month of Vincent Gray’s tenure as mayor, after dethroning incumbent Adrian Fenty, his 2010 campaign has been under investigation by the Federal District Attorney’s office. We already know the story. There’s no need to reprise the gory details. But suffice it to say that five Gray associates or friends have pleaded guilty, and people were wondering when the other shoe(s) would drop. With Gray running for re-election, but with very little time left in the campaign, the Jeffrey Thompson or Uncle Earl shoe dropped, in a plea bargain which alleged that the mayor knew about “the shadow campaign.” Now people were talking about the possibility of the mayor being indicted, although he has already said, in a defiant preamble to the State of the District address, that he would not resign even if he were to be indicted.

That’s left opponents scrambling to take advantage. But what can you say? Perhaps: “Please, Mr. Mayor, resign for the good of the city,” as some of his rivals did. That’s not happening, although tomorrow is another day. That leaves us with some people, including columnists on the Washington Post and supporters of the candidacy of Ward 4 Council member Muriel Bowser, suggesting that some of the other candidates—Tommy Wells and Jack Evans, for instance—should consider dropping out.

This suggestion—we’ve heard it a forum, seen it in a Post column—is absurd. It’s done in this ‘Let’s prevent a Gray victory and rally around Bowser” mode. It’s not that we’d like to see a Gray victory. Why should candidates like Evans and Wells, as well as Vincent Orange and Andy Shallal, for that matter, fold up their tents after spending so much energy, passion, and raising funds, and presenting themselves to the public for electoral judgement? Should they suddenly say, “Here, Ms. Bowser, it’s all yours”? There’s nothing very democratic about that. The process calls for concession after the election, not before it.

Speaking of the Washington Post, it endorsed Bowser, relatively early in the game for more impact, and that’s a newspaper’s right and obligation. It can also, as the Current Newspapers did, withdraw an endorsement, which they did to Gray after Thompson’s plea deal. But the Post not only endorsed Bowser but has offered up a steady diet of stories and reportage that seemed often like additional endorsements, seriously unskeptical, like the lengthy piece on the front page of the other day’s Post. The truth of the matter would appear to be that folks haven’t gotten very excited about any of the alternatives to Gray, although one poll indicated they’d sure like to find one.

The early election also reprised an old issue in a changing Washington: the issue of one-party rule, which is often seen as detrimental to the general good when applied in countries and jurisdictions other than ours. The Democratic primary has generally been considered to decide the election since the winner has consistently won the general election. We don’t have a two-party system in D.C., even when there’s a good or viable Republican around, such as the iconoclastic Carol Schwartz or Patrick Mara. In D.C., where there’s a non-Democratic seat guaranteed on the council, you do what Michael Brown did—you become an Independent, even though he trails donkey dust behind him. (That’s not the case for Independent for at-large-council member David Catania, who was a Republican and who will be a formidable foe for whoever survives April 1.)

Now for Mr. Gray and Mr. Barry. It’s sad to see that Gray, who has made it a point to run on a platform of “One City” in several of his campaigns, including the 2010 campaign, chose to embrace the endorsement of Ward 8 council member Marion Barry so enthusiastically. If there is anyone who habitually has the gift for scratching the city’s racial itch and dividing it along racial lines, it’s Barry, who had the misfortune of being convicted on drug charges. This time, in praising Gray as a fighter, he also managed to opine, “I think it’s up to white people to be more open-minded, because blacks are more open-minded than they are. Simple as that.” That isn’t simple. It’s something else. No doubt the endorsement will help Mr. Gray, but it also hurts.

Georgetowner • March 20, 2014

At The Georgetowner, we’ve seen, watched and known Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans for a long time – about the same length of time he has served the ward, which includes Georgetown, as its representative.

That would be 22 years, ever since he won a hotly contested special election to replace John Wilson, who went on to become chairman of the District Council. We’ve seen him in good times and in bad (he was one of the steadying Council members when it went through the throes of having the city run by a control board) and in good times again.

The most recent good times are evidenced everywhere today in a city that’s growing in population by leaps and bounds, with a budget surplus and a redeveloped and resurgent downtown. We’ve also seen him experience personal joys and triumphs, and a devastating tragedy: the loss of his first wife, Noel, the mother of his three children. And we’ve watched him suffer the disappointment of losing his first mayoral bid.

Now, Evans is running again, in a Democratic primary that has been haunted by a kind of instability and unreality. The investigative cloud over Mayor Vincent Gray’s previous campaign four years ago has injected an atmosphere of unpredictability and nerves into the campaign.

Gray, of course, is running for re-election and remains a low-key leader of the pack in the polls to date, though he’s hovering around 30 percent. Just how much the federal investigation has affected the campaign can be seen in the recent big news that businessman Jeffrey Thompson agreed to a plea bargain with prosecutors, saying that Gray knew of the pre-arranged shadow campaign. This news is still rocking the campaigns looking to win the Democratic primary on April 1. If true, as it unfolds it will have a powerful impact on the Democratic primary and on the general election in November.

However that may shake out, at The Georgetowner our choice is Jack Evans. Here are the reasons. They have nothing to do with the fact that Evans and his family live in Georgetown and that he’s a familiar and important presence in our village.
Without equivocation, we endorse Evans because he’s the one person who is uniquely and – we firmly believe – pragmatically qualified to preside over and run the District of Columbia government. Those 22 years of experience make him the longest-sitting member of the Council. His imprint is on almost all of the major changes that have occurred in the physical and economic rise of our city. He was a leading supporter of the convention center and bringing baseball to Washington and, it’s fair to say, had a hand in most of the development that has occurred in the city.

Evans knows – by dint of working on the Council, on its committees (especially as chair of the finance committee) and with the business community – what this city is all about in all of its aspects. He is not merely and only (as one of his rivals in the campaign has suggested) a councilman from Georgetown. While leading and representing a ward that’s one of the District’s largest and most diverse, he has a record of reaching out to all of the many communities in a city that’s changing rapidly in its racial, ethnic and overall population.

Ward 4 Council member Muriel Bowser has been impressive at times during the campaign. Yet for all her goals and plans, she’s remarkably short on detail and – in her seven years on the Council – light on concrete achievement except for an ethics bill. In many ways, we don’t feel that the city has had a chance to get to know her.
We think the mayor has done serious damage to himself and his reputation. In spite of the fact that he may have maintained the city’s momentum and financial soundness (with the help of councilmen like Evans), it is the kind of damage that is hard to repair in terms of trust, as polls have shown.

We do know Jack Evans, and not just because he has a lengthy track record. We’ve seen him become a mature leader over the years. Evans is the only candidate who has the experience to move forward and address the issues that prosperity can bring, including its impact on long-time residents. There isn’t anybody running who knows the city and how it works better. ?

Georgetowner • February 27, 2014

The news – on the net, in the morning paper, on television – always gives you pause.

I just walked down to the corner on my way to get coffee, and even that gave me pause. We have an Exxon station on Calvert Street there, which is usually a pretty good barometer of just how far oil companies will push the envelope on prices.
For months, the station’s price for regular stayed steady at $4.05 per gallon, which was still about 30 cents or so higher than everywhere else in the region. Still, that little sign didn’t move a half cent until last week. That’s when it jumped to something like $4.25. Yesterday it went up an- other ten cents. Seriously?

The jump reflects a sudden surge and spike in gas prices nationwide, with the average pushing toward $3.70 or $3.80 by yesterday. Some media types are reporting prices above five bucks in California, which is a good bellwether state for bad news these days.
All sorts of reasons have been given for this surge, which usually doesn’t start until the summer travel bug bites everyone. Now gasoline prices are biting everyone. Experts—who knows who they are—say it’s the Chinese buying up all the oil, after first hacking into all our corporate websites. They say it’s refinery repair costs, Russia, the turmoil in the Middle East, that it’s, I don’t know, Lindsay Lohan or Charlie Sheen and the decline of the Western World. These things would appear to be signals of trouble in the oil industry, and I’d go along with that, except for one thing. Whatever quarterly earnings reports come out on Exxon, Shell, BP and the rest, they’re going to come in under the heading of “record prof- its reported.” Just like they have before. If those profits come from the record prices at the pump, then something’s rotten in Denmark. Given that the U.S. economy is still sluggish, jobs are tough to find, grocery prices are going up, and you know what’s coming up March 1, shouldn’t our venerable oil folks take a little break from those record profits—at the expense of people who can’t afford to give them—and do something patriotic like keep the prices where they are (or were they were last week)? Just saying.

Speaking of sequestering, it’s enough to make you spit.

The media dutifully reported that 31 percent of American folks polled blamed the president, and 49 percent blamed the Republican congress. Wasn’t sequestering—proposed by the president and approved by the same congress – supposed to avoid this?
Now, both sides are blaming and predicting catastrophe—lost government and defense jobs, a weakened U.S. defense and military, furloughs, hits to public safety, a crippling of a slowly improving economy. No one will be able to afford the next incarnation of iPad or Chilean sea bass at Whole Foods or a ride on the Metro. If all this— the sky already fell in Siberia last week—is going to happen, shouldn’t both the administration and congress get their heads out of their hands and sit down and do something beyond kicking it down the road a few months.

To Mr. Boehner, Tea Party die hards and champions of the filibuster: the election is over. There will be no recall. Get your butts together and work.

To our president: the election is over, you won. Enough with the victory laps. They treated you bad the last time, which is not enough reason to rub it in.

Most people don’t even know what sequester means, but you all do. Do something about it, like, yesterday. Show that you’re a leader who can get things done, even when you’re dealing with demons, both yours and theirs. ?

Georgetowner •

The law that governments most commonly pass is the Law of Unintended Consequences.

The legislation to help small businesses reduce costs and insure more people, the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, may do the opposite.

First, a little history on employer-provided healthcare.

During World War II, labor markets were tight and demand for good employees was fierce. When federal law imposed wage and price controls that prohibited employers from raising wages to attract workers, employers increased benefits such as healthcare.

In 1945, President Truman proposed a national healthcare system open to everyone on an optional basis. It failed in the face of fierce opposition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and various medical associations, which called it “socialism.” Labor unions campaigned for employer-provided healthcare. In 1954, Congress passed section 105 of the tax code, which allows employers to provide employee healthcare without the employees having to pay tax on the value received. (Today, that law is the most expensive tax “loophole,” costing the government more than $175 billion per year.)

By 1958, three quarters of Americans had employer-provided health coverage. (Today, the figure is less than half.)

In 1961, the IRS approved Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangements, or HRAs, that allowed employers to reimburse employees – with a receipt – for healthcare expenses without the employees owing tax on the reimbursement. Obviously few, if any, employers have unlimited reimbursement plans.

For whatever reason, group plans cost more per person than individual plans. For example, a group plan for a company with 10 to 25 employees with an average age of 35 costs about $800 per month per employee. Individual plans average about $300 per month. As a result, many small companies use HRAs to reimburse employees for their individual plans.

Beginning this year, Obamacare eliminated policy limits, so that a person with cancer no longer had to worry about running out of insurance.

But guess what? HRAs have limits, so reimbursement plans are now taxable for employees. Though HRAs are mainly used by small businesses, Target recently announced it was going to use HRAs to reimburse thousands of its employees up to $500 per month so they can buy their own insurance. (This also cuts Target’s cost in half, since group insurance costs $1,000 per month.) Because $500 is not an unlimited amount, those employees will owe tax on their reimbursements.

Clearly, Obamacare was trying to protect that cancer patient by requiring unlimited benefits, but did it intend for employees of small businesses to be hit with higher taxes? Does Obamacare intend to push small businesses into buying group policies at double the cost of individual plans? That’s not imaginable, though cynics and Obamacare-haters will say: Of course.

How many small companies use reimbursement plans? The executive director of a small Habitat for Humanity affiliate that uses a reimbursement plan says, “Lots of trees in those woods.” Its employees will collectively owe an additional $8,000. My company’s employees will owe an additional $25,000. Both the Habitat affiliate and my company will also reimburse the employees’ additional tax, but that only increases our costs.

In its effort to reduce costs and help small businesses, Obamacare increased taxes on the employees of small businesses. That is the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Georgetowner •

The holidays—you know, Christmas, plus others, plus agnostics and the church of shopping and unheard of sales and Santa Claus—swirl around us this time of year along with the occasional snow flurry. The holiday machine revs up like an SUV with all the horses and extras. In this city, we cannot escape the news: Syria, Iran, Ukraine snuck in there, but so far has not yet broken through the evening news. At last, Miley Cyrus’s wrecking ball seems to have stopped wrecking things.
This city is, however, odd as it gets still. The passing of Nelson Mandela managed to put the world into a kind of celebratory mourning as a great man disappeared from the scene, leaving South Africans to fret. Refreshingly, Pope Francis became Time Magazine’s Man of the Year.

With 2013 coming to an end, it’s time to assess and shop as well, and it was commonly agreed that President Barack Obama had the worst year of all, if you don’t count relatives of the young leader in North Korea. There’s the NSA scandal, Obamacare, Syria, Iran, the government shutdown. The rollout of Obama put Obama in a position where, according to one poll, he’s as popular as the Republican-controlled House, which is to say hardly at all.

Vincent Gray—our current mayor—ended the guessing game and decided to run for re-election, even though that old investigatory cloud hangs over him like a pimple. He may yet have second thoughts about—people actually yelled at him loudly at a recent candidate forum on education. As long as the mayor says he didn’t do anything—not exactly a rousing call to action—he’s going to get treatment like that. It’s less than four months to the April 1 primary election. And now at-large councilman and independent David Catania says he’s exploring a possible candidacy—and why shouldn’t he?
These were all interesting things, as are the Golden Globe nominations, the new high-tech gadgets, and even those commercials in which ticked-off squirrels attack a fine American man.

But were we talking about any of that stuff, at length, in our town? God forbid—and maybe he should—but local news folks, be they sportscasters or not, were talking Redskins. Will Coach Shanahan quit? Why is he benching RGIII? Why won’t Dan Snyder budge on the name game regarding the Redskins? Yadda yadda yadda, your da-da team has won three games, and people must toss and turn all night over this and wake up screaming.

Put an end to it. Folks, whoever you are still paying top dollar to see a deadskin game, have the decency to put a brown paper bag over your head.

After all, it is time for all of us to brighten up and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Georgetowner • December 6, 2013

Although the race for the Democratic Party nomination for Mayor of the District of Columbia seems to have been going on for some time now, with several high-profile candidates from the District Council and one from the restaurant field running hard, there was always something incomplete about the whole thing, as if something or someone were missing.

That would be incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray, over whom hung and still hangs an investigative cloud by the Feds about his 2010 campaign, said cloud apparently preventing him from committing to make a re-election run. Nevertheless, here, there and lately, Gray dropped hints like breadcrumbs for squirrely political reporters—and met very, very privately with a few neighborhood leaders around the city, seeking their advice.

Well, things are a lot clearer today.

Mayor Vincent Gray has decided to run for re-election. In doing so has changed the game so much that one can truly say: let the games begin.

Gray made the announcement in a Dec. 2 letter, which basically said he had a pretty good record to run on, ignored his potential legal problems, asked everyone to join in and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. News4 reporter Tom Sherwood, a long-time, sage observer of D.C. politics, going back to the Barry years, broke the news.

Cornered by the press at last, Gray continued to refuse to deal with the ongoing federal investigation into his 2010 campaign. The investigations involve, among other things, an alleged shadow campaign by financier Jeffrey Thompson which reportedly raise more than $500,000 in unreported funds. Several Gray aides from that campaign have been indicted or have pleaded guilty to felony charges. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen has said the investigation is continuing.

Asked again about the investigation and the impact it had and might have, Gray said, “We’re trying to look ahead. … I didn’t do anything.”

Tommy Wells, who is the District Councilmember for Ward 6 and running for mayor, obviously thinks he did. In a strongly worded statement, Wells said, “Vince Gray was elected under false pretenses and doesn’t deserve a second chance because he ran a corrupt campaign. I’ve known Vince Gray for years, and I’m disappointed he let me down and everyone in D.C. down.”

Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, also running for mayor and the first candidate to announce a mayoral run, addressed the issue of the investigation and the mayor, although in less stringent terms. “Gray will have to end his silence and answer the many legal questions about his 2010 campaign,” she said.

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans is running for the second time to become mayor in his long political career. At this writing, he has made no official statement on Gray’s status. Likewise, neither has at-large councilmember Vincent Orange, also making his second mayoral run.

For sure, Gray’s entry into the race casts a different light on the campaign. He has to collect enough signatures to qualify but that should not be a problem. He remains—cloud or no cloud—a formidable candidate with a successful record of accomplishment to run on. But ethics in this city remain a critical issue, and the gap between rich and poor has widened considerably during his tenure. Economic, class, cultural and racial divides remain in a fast-changing city, the demographics of which are changing dramatically.

It’s quite possible that some candidates—restaurateur Andy Shallal and perhaps councilman Orange—entered the race on the premise that Gray was not going to run. Now, that situation has changed and dramatically so.

Still, Gray is hardly a shoo-in simply because he is mayor. Whatever accomplishments he can tout, he remains a mayor subject to the possibility of further revelations about his 2010 campaign. The silence he has kept about that campaign is troubling, over and above the “I’m silent on the advice of my attorney” reason. And that campaign will become a topic in every candidate forum that Gray attends. Now, it’s truly a question not only of the truth about the campaign but one of politics. And for his opponents that topic is now squarely on the table.

On the flip side, education and the schools seem to be improving. The city is prosperous and is being celebrated by many as becoming a “world-class” city. Crime is down, and Walmart is coming. Cranes dot the city’s skyline. Gray can take a good deal of credit for that.

But “I didn’t do anything” doesn’t make for much of a campaign slogan. The Democratic primary election is April 1, which is also April Fools’ Day. Absolutely stay tuned.

Gary Tischler •

We used to think of the “The Holidays” as encompassing perhaps what we could call the advent period, those days leading up to the celebration of Christmas and running into New Years and the extension of the college football season and bowl games.
These days, in this town, in our town, it seemed to me that holidays have become cyclical—the media outburst—we contributed to it—on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK seemed to fold itself into the holidays, if not the holiday spirit, because of its commemorative and ceremonial aspects.

You started thinking in those days about the coming holidays, about birthdays, about time and reunions and remembering, which is as much a part of “The Holidays” as turkeys, family get togethers, punch and finding a gift-wrapped car in your driveway, snow on the ground, sleighs and thousands of frequent flyers in the air, and the faint odor of ongoing local, state, country and world affairs bearing both hope and the scent and sense of unreality.

Maybe it was my birthday falls in December, maybe it was the nuttiness about the—excuse the expression—breakout of the affordable care act, but I wasn’t so interested in the news. Instead, I found myself touched every now and then by a simple and heartfelt fact—I have been a part of Georgetown through the Georgetowner for longer than I care to admit, as well as admitting that I care. This was brought home to me when I attended a CAG meeting at the City Tavern as old as Gerogetown itself, where Steve Kurtzman and the graceful Barbara Downs told tales of of Georgetown and of being former CAG presidents, along with Chris Murray, who gave the village an electric, edgy touch with his Govinda Gallery and rock and roll connections, as well as Pie Friendly, sharp-minded and full of memory.

I was reminded again being at the Georgetown Seniors Center for Thanksgiving lunch as festive as any I can recall, an occasion full of songs.

On Thanksgiving, we watched the Macy’s Parade, and the National Dog Show, but not football. We celebrated the day with friends, and we went to the Downtown Christmas Market. I used my Barnes and Nobles Gift Card to buy Doris Kearns’ latest gift to the history of America, a tome on Teddy Roosevelt, Taft and the crusading muckrakers of the turn of the century.
Things happened: Former Treasury secretary Tim Geitner was seen giving a dollar to a homeless man in Georgetown, according to the Washington Post. Someone robbed the buckets from a Salvation Army office. Pope Francis told the world that he was not happy with the gap between wealthy and poor, with rampant consumerism, sounding more and more like he was preaching parts of the Sermon on the Mount.

We went to see “The King and I” in Olney. I saw a grown old man cry at the end of this terrific production which overcame the memory of Yul Brynner and stands up in its own right.

And so it goes. Or, as the King of Siam would say, right on both counts, “It is a puzzlement,” and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The holidays remain still bright and beckoning.

David Post • November 20, 2013

Mark Twain said, “There are lies, damn
lies, and statistics.”
Numbers matter. They tell a story.

Eighteen percent.
Eighteen percent is the amount of national
income spent on healthcare. Almost one of
every five dollars.

With more than 10,000 people reaching age
65 each day and healthcare costs increasing, that
number will reach 20 percent within a few years.

Thirteen percent.
Thirteen percent is the amount of the nation’s
total income we, as a nation, pay in income tax.

$50,000 and $15,000.

$50,000 is the average annual household
income in the country. $15,000 is the annual
cost of health insurance for the average household.
45 percent and declining. 25 percent and
growing.

45 percent is the percentage of the population
that is covered by employer provided health
care, even though employer-provided healthcare
is the basis of our national system.

Several years ago, the majority of the population
was covered by employer provided healthcare.

No more.

Not only is employer-provided healthcare
declining, but an increasing amount – now 25
percent – of the cost of employer’s cost is now
paid by the employee.

$1 trillion and 26 percent.

Government spending on healthcare, including
Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid for the
poor, and the military and VA, exceeds $1 trillion
and 26 percent of all government spending.
Within ten years, these costs are projected to
double.

$600 billion and 2.9 percent

Medicare costs $600 billion. The 2.9 percent
Medicare payroll tax brings in $225 billion.

Adding the $75 billion in Medicare premiums
charged to seniors and deducted from their social
security checks, only half the cost is covered.

The taxpayer covers the rest.

$400 billion and 11 percent.

Medicaid and military-based health costs
over $400 billion, more than 11 percent of government
spending, all of which is paid by the
taxpayer.

Fifty years ago, only 2 percent of government
was on healthcare. Today, it’s 26 percent
and growing. Fifty years ago, less than 5 percent
of the economy was healthcare; today it’s 18
percent.

50 million or 16 percent.

50 million people, or 16 percent of the population,
have no health insurance, but receive care
simply by going to a hospital. Taxpayers and
insured people pay more to cover those costs.

Medicare is an example of how insurance
is supposed to work. Everyone pays the 2.9
percent Medicare tax on wages. (The Medicare
tax does not apply to other income.) Everyone,
including the young and healthy, pays over their
lifetime so that all seniors have healthcare.

National healthcare costs can be covered
in one of three ways: The government could
tax and cover everyone like most countries
do. Everyone could be required to have insurance,
the premise behind Obamacare (and
Romneycare). The uninsured and poor could be
denied healthcare.

45 and zero.

Congressional Republicans have voted 45
times to repeal Obamacare.

None. Zero. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Despite objecting to Obamacare, Republicans
have offered no alternative.

The national healthcare system does not
work and is consuming the economy. Employerprovided
healthcare costs are shifting increasingly
to employees with the taxpayer picking up
increasingly more costs.

Mark Twain was funny, but wrong.

Healthcare statistics are not a lie.

Healthcare costs are consuming more and
more of everyone’s wallet.