Comments on: Jim Graham’s Chief of Staff Arrested on Bribery Charges

By: Pennywise

Pennywise — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:03:09 +0000

A white gay male with possible criminal dealings? He might be crowned King of DC.

And note this is another bust by the feds, just like with Harriet Walters, and not by our AG. How deep do we think corruption goes in this government? My guess is pretty deep.

By: Chris Chambers

Chris Chambers — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:00:06 +0000

There had to be some indication of a little more enthusiasm for the cab drivers from the C of S on Graham’s part. I agree his service record is complicated–he’s not a scumbag, he has kept watch over his ward pretty well.

BUT…the metro board this definitely a stinker on his part, and a lot of the local stuff’s checkered. The question is, who would take his place?

As for city takeover by feds? Come on–cut the mental retardation. Maybe the first time around after Barry’s comeback it was justified. It is utterly stupid now, and any suggestion’s a little head up rear, naive or racist.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:31:46 +0000

He makes bad personnel choices, but Councilman Jim Graham is a devoted public servant.

He will be re-elected easily once again as every time there’s no viable alternative.

By: Neener

Neener — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:54:15 +0000

JG does not have real mayoral aspirations.

By: KJM

KJM — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:55:32 +0000

Let’s at least hope this kills the taxicab medallion thing. Google ‘transitional gains trap,’ to see why it won’t even benefit the cabbies. I certainly wouldn’t mind if Graham went down, too; but it’s too soon to tell how that part will play out.

By: jcm

jcm — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:10:19 +0000

@ontarioroader Good thinking. Clearly the appropriate response is to take away our limited self rule, and make us be ruled again by the federal government, where everything is always above aboard and no one ever accepts bribes.

By: ogden

ogden — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:01:54 +0000

I don’t believe JG knows every detail about what his chief of staff does. But I also don’t believe it is a coincidence that he introduced the very same legislation merely days after the Chief of Staff takes a bribe in exchange for it.

This, on top of the summer intern incident, will definitely be on my mind next fall when JG is up for re-election. He has a year to either sway me or prove my current suspicions are correct.

By: Ragged Dog

Ragged Dog — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:38:57 +0000

Does it really matter if he knew this was going on? There probably will never be a smoking gun, so you have to ask yourself, ” If I was in his position, could I have done a better job with my staff and a better job with the city over the past 10 years?” If so, the only thing to do is vote him out next go around.

If all you do is constituent services, you’re not really doing anything for the city. You’re just taking up space.

Any bureaucracy will degenerate to the least amount of work necessary if you don’t keep on top of it’s leaders. DC has a big hole to climb out of and JG is just letting time pass without doing anything to fix the problems.

By: The Rat King of Adams Morgan

The Rat King of Adams Morgan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:35:19 +0000

Right, I fully expect my fellow W1 residents to sweep a fundamentalist christian republican into power at the next election.

By: Scuttlebutt

Scuttlebutt — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:29:11 +0000

Council Member Graham almost certainly had to know that this stuff was going on. It happened right under his nose, for Pete’s sake. Now as to whether he’s implicated or charged with anything is another matter altogether.