An M.C. Dean van directly outside the D.C. Council. M.C. Dean, which has received $130 million in D.C. government contracts since 1999, pays Councilmember David Catania $120,000 a year.
LISTEN TO DAVID SCHWARTZMAN HERE:
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At large D.C. Councilmember David Catania has been described by the Washington Post as: a “D.C. politician [who] doesn’t pull punches“, a member of “an active group of progressive D.C. Council members“, “one of the most influential… men in city government,” a “tenacious and effective legislator,” “whom many people describe as brilliant.” But what goes largely unmentioned is that Catania, who is a reliable vote for big business and developers, has enriched himself while on the D.C. Council.
In addition to his Council salary of more than $125,000, Office of Campaign Finance records show that Catania earns an additional $120,000 a year as general counsel to a company that does a huge amount of business with the District. Since at least 2006 Catania has earned more than $100,000 a year as general counsel for
David Schwartzman raising the issue of the need for a more just tax structure at Plymouth Congressional United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C. (9/26/10)
OpenBand LLC, a subsidiary of M.C. Dean. (It’s unclear how much Catania earned from M.C. Dean in 2005: On his “Honoraria and Outside Income Disclosure Statement” for fiscal year 2005, Catania failed to report his gross outside income and instead reported having earned “$10,000 per month” as General Counsel for OpenBand, LLC. For fiscal year 2006, Catania reported earning $101,538 from OpenBand LLC and $13,750 from Akin & Gump. Since 2007, Office of Campaign Finance reports show that Catania has earned $120,000 a year from OpenBand, LLC.)
Who/what is M.C. Dean? The Washington Post noted: “The company holds the contract to maintain and repair city traffic signals — one of the most lucrative contracts in city government. Last year’s contract was worth $9.3 million to the company… Since 1999, according to city billing records, M.C. Dean has done more than $130 million in business with the District.” Unmentioned in the Post’s article was that “one of the most influential… men in city government” is on M.C. Dean’s payroll to the tune of $120,000 a year.
District voters may be forgiven for having the impression that the elections are over. Since the September 14 primaries – which saw D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray upset Mayor Adrian Fenty – there has been little media coverage of D.C.’s upcoming November 2nd general election. In a recent article, the Washington Post said that Catania is “running against token opposition” and “is expected to be reelected in November.”
David Schwartzman does not consider himself to be “token opposition.” The long-time champion of issues of economic justice in the District of Columbia is running on the Statehood Green Party ticket against Catania for one of the two non-Democratic seats on the D.C. Council.
Schwartzman said, “Once I occupy my office in the Wilson Building, it won’t be a resource center for big developers to make deals. It will be a center for organizing the interests of the majority of people in D.C., not the tiny minority whose income is booming because of these economic policies that our mayor and Council have been passing in recent years.”