I demand my consulting fees

Tim Craig at the Washington Post tracked down $10,000 in taxpayer money sent from Councilmember Marion Barry's office his alleged "stalkee," Donna Watts-Brighthaupt. Mike DeBonis at the CityPaper finds another $10K. Thit $20k is made up of various consulting fees, including $5k in computer consulting. It should be noted that all of these payments were made after the two became a couple.

Craig tracks down the official conflict of interest policies for the DC Government, and this appears to fall into a ridiculous grey area:

According to the District's conflict of interest laws, no public official should use an "official position or public office to obtain private financial gain for the public official or any member of their household, or any business with which the public official or any member of their household is associated."

Members of the household are defined in the statute as spouses, parents, brothers and sisters and children, as well as their spouses. The law does not appear to address girlfriends.

"The issue becomes whether [Barry's] relationship would fall into any of those categories," said Cecily E. Collier-Montgomery, director of the Office of Campaign Finance. She declined to comment further because her office could be asked to investigate Barry's hiring of Watts-Brighthaupt.

Well, regardless of technicalities, it stinks. But that's obvious. Not to mention that while the policy doesn't mention girlfriends, it does mention spouses. That made me think about how, Marion "Gay marriage will start a civil war" Barry is still married. Yeah, they've been separated for seven years now, but haven't gotten a divorce. Stay classy, your honor.

Shit, he's so good at manipulating people that not only does he get elected Mayor after going to prison, and then gets elected to the DC Council... he gets people to give him organs. Yeah, remember that whole ordeal? About how he was too ill to pay his taxes?

From another excellent WaPo article:

"He was raised by three women, and so he truly understands women and he speaks to your need," said Kim Dickens, who donated a kidney to Barry last year. "And if there is no need, he will create the need for you to be with him. He knows how to get into your life."

Damn. Now I'm waiting for the "Ripped From the Headlines" episode of Law and Order: SVU based on this whole saga.

In other news, I'm still waiting on my consulting fees to be paid. As people from the Wilson Building read this blog, I feel I've provided them with quite a bit of consulting. Heck, if you hire me at the rates Barry paid his girlfriend, I'll tell you what not to do before you do it, which beats reading about it in the newspaper and on blogs. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Hell, at this rate, maybe I should just run for the DC Council myself. I'd say most of the DC "blogosphere" is generally more qualified and would make better representatives than the current crop we've got in there. The bar has been set so infinitely low.