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Attorney General Quits; Clash With Fenty Aide Cited
Top Lawyer Felt Sidelined
By David Nakamura and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, December 18, 2007; Page B01
D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer resigned yesterday as the city's top lawyer, a result of increasing frustration that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has relied more on his general counsel to make key legal decisions for the city, according to associates of Singer.
Named by Fenty (D) in January, Singer, 41, became the first Cabinet-level appointee to leave the mayor's office. Her departure comes as the city pursues several major legal cases, including a high-stakes appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's decision to strike down the District's longtime ban on handguns. That case, which will mark the first time that the high court will decide a Second Amendment issue in 70 years, is expected to be argued in March.
In her resignation letter, Singer struck an upbeat tone and did not allude to her frustrations.
"I believe that I have raised the quality of the work of the Office of the Attorney General and the enthusiasm and performance of its many dedicated, gifted lawyers and staff," Singer wrote. "I am confident that I am leaving the office in far better shape than I found it."
Singer's resignation opens a window into the inner workings of the Fenty administration. Singer declined to comment, but her associates described mounting tension between Singer and Peter Nickles, Fenty's general counsel.
Singer, a graduate of Harvard Law School, joined the administration after serving for 13 years as the executive director of DC Appleseed, a nonprofit social service organization. She had been considered an unorthodox selection because she had not practiced law while at Appleseed and did not have a D.C. Bar license. She got a license shortly after being named attorney general.
Nickles, 69, is a longtime friend and running buddy of the mayor's father, Phil Fenty. Nickles spent years as a high-powered corporate litigator at Covington & Burling and had done pro bono work on behalf of D.C. jail inmates and St. Elizabeths patients, including major lawsuits against the city government, before joining Fenty's staff.
Nickles has led the Fenty administration's response to several high-profile social service cases, the city's bailout of financially strapped Greater Southeast Community Hospital and the embezzlement scandal at the Office of Tax and Revenue. Singer and her staff have argued that those and other key issues should be handled by her office.
Yesterday, Fenty named Nickles to replace Singer as acting attorney general after Singer's official departure Jan. 5. Deputy General Counsel Andrew T. "Chip" Richardson will replace Nickles until a new attorney general is selected, Fenty said.
Fenty, who said Singer informed him of her decision in a meeting yesterday morning, declined to discuss the specifics of their conversation. When asked about Nickles's broad role in his administration, Fenty said: "You never want to limit any employees. You never want to say any employees shouldn't get involved in as many issues as humanly possible."
Under the city's legal structure, the attorney general represents the District's interests, deciding which lawsuits to pursue and leading the legal strategy on cases. The general counsel is expected to deal with legal matters that directly affect the Executive Office of the Mayor. The wall between the offices is designed to ensure that legal decisions for the District are not influenced by politics.
Furthermore, the attorney general, though appointed by the mayor, is subject to confirmation by the D.C. Council; the general counsel is not.
Although Singer was not slated to present the city's defense of the handgun ban to the Supreme Court, her office had hired the special counsel who will and was helping to oversee the planning.
The tension between Singer and Fenty's office came to a head last week, according to government sources, after Singer issued a friend-of-the-court brief in an effort by several states to get the Environmental Protection Agency to limit aircraft emissions. When Singer's staff informed the mayor, Fenty's aides were angered that he had not been consulted and instructed Singer's staff to run decisions by him first, the sources said.
Mayoral aides said yesterday that the mayor believes the attorney general position is not fully independent because the District's top lawyer is a political appointee. In most states, the attorney general is elected.
John Payton, who previously served as the District's corporation counsel, the precursor to the attorney general position, said Singer was right to demand independence.
"There ought to be independence, because it changes what you get as the end result," said Payton, who is a friend of Singer's.
"Linda Singer's resignation comes as a complete surprise and does not bode well for the office," D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), head of the Committee on Public Safety, said in a statement. "The abrupt resignation creates renewed instability and concerns me greatly."
From the start, Singer and Nickles clashed. At times, Nickles was so active that some in the city's legal community wondered whether he was overstepping his statutory authority. For example, in two lawsuits concerning the public schools' failure to provide adequate programs for special education students, Nickles appeared in court numerous times as if he were the attorney general.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman, who presided over those hearings, asked Nickles in one status conference why he was doing all the talking when he wasn't recognized as a lawyer in the case. In subsequent hearings, Nickles attended but did not speak. Later, he formally registered as the lawyer in the case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121700730.html?hpid=topnews
Bye-bye Linda. While it would have been nice to have Your Incompetence argue Heller v. DC, the Fenty crony replacing you is probably just as bad of an attorney as your are
Top Lawyer Felt Sidelined
By David Nakamura and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, December 18, 2007; Page B01
D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer resigned yesterday as the city's top lawyer, a result of increasing frustration that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has relied more on his general counsel to make key legal decisions for the city, according to associates of Singer.
Named by Fenty (D) in January, Singer, 41, became the first Cabinet-level appointee to leave the mayor's office. Her departure comes as the city pursues several major legal cases, including a high-stakes appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's decision to strike down the District's longtime ban on handguns. That case, which will mark the first time that the high court will decide a Second Amendment issue in 70 years, is expected to be argued in March.
In her resignation letter, Singer struck an upbeat tone and did not allude to her frustrations.
"I believe that I have raised the quality of the work of the Office of the Attorney General and the enthusiasm and performance of its many dedicated, gifted lawyers and staff," Singer wrote. "I am confident that I am leaving the office in far better shape than I found it."
Singer's resignation opens a window into the inner workings of the Fenty administration. Singer declined to comment, but her associates described mounting tension between Singer and Peter Nickles, Fenty's general counsel.
Singer, a graduate of Harvard Law School, joined the administration after serving for 13 years as the executive director of DC Appleseed, a nonprofit social service organization. She had been considered an unorthodox selection because she had not practiced law while at Appleseed and did not have a D.C. Bar license. She got a license shortly after being named attorney general.
Nickles, 69, is a longtime friend and running buddy of the mayor's father, Phil Fenty. Nickles spent years as a high-powered corporate litigator at Covington & Burling and had done pro bono work on behalf of D.C. jail inmates and St. Elizabeths patients, including major lawsuits against the city government, before joining Fenty's staff.
Nickles has led the Fenty administration's response to several high-profile social service cases, the city's bailout of financially strapped Greater Southeast Community Hospital and the embezzlement scandal at the Office of Tax and Revenue. Singer and her staff have argued that those and other key issues should be handled by her office.
Yesterday, Fenty named Nickles to replace Singer as acting attorney general after Singer's official departure Jan. 5. Deputy General Counsel Andrew T. "Chip" Richardson will replace Nickles until a new attorney general is selected, Fenty said.
Fenty, who said Singer informed him of her decision in a meeting yesterday morning, declined to discuss the specifics of their conversation. When asked about Nickles's broad role in his administration, Fenty said: "You never want to limit any employees. You never want to say any employees shouldn't get involved in as many issues as humanly possible."
Under the city's legal structure, the attorney general represents the District's interests, deciding which lawsuits to pursue and leading the legal strategy on cases. The general counsel is expected to deal with legal matters that directly affect the Executive Office of the Mayor. The wall between the offices is designed to ensure that legal decisions for the District are not influenced by politics.
Furthermore, the attorney general, though appointed by the mayor, is subject to confirmation by the D.C. Council; the general counsel is not.
Although Singer was not slated to present the city's defense of the handgun ban to the Supreme Court, her office had hired the special counsel who will and was helping to oversee the planning.
The tension between Singer and Fenty's office came to a head last week, according to government sources, after Singer issued a friend-of-the-court brief in an effort by several states to get the Environmental Protection Agency to limit aircraft emissions. When Singer's staff informed the mayor, Fenty's aides were angered that he had not been consulted and instructed Singer's staff to run decisions by him first, the sources said.
Mayoral aides said yesterday that the mayor believes the attorney general position is not fully independent because the District's top lawyer is a political appointee. In most states, the attorney general is elected.
John Payton, who previously served as the District's corporation counsel, the precursor to the attorney general position, said Singer was right to demand independence.
"There ought to be independence, because it changes what you get as the end result," said Payton, who is a friend of Singer's.
"Linda Singer's resignation comes as a complete surprise and does not bode well for the office," D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), head of the Committee on Public Safety, said in a statement. "The abrupt resignation creates renewed instability and concerns me greatly."
From the start, Singer and Nickles clashed. At times, Nickles was so active that some in the city's legal community wondered whether he was overstepping his statutory authority. For example, in two lawsuits concerning the public schools' failure to provide adequate programs for special education students, Nickles appeared in court numerous times as if he were the attorney general.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman, who presided over those hearings, asked Nickles in one status conference why he was doing all the talking when he wasn't recognized as a lawyer in the case. In subsequent hearings, Nickles attended but did not speak. Later, he formally registered as the lawyer in the case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121700730.html?hpid=topnews
Bye-bye Linda. While it would have been nice to have Your Incompetence argue Heller v. DC, the Fenty crony replacing you is probably just as bad of an attorney as your are
