Opinion: Sherwood's Summer Solstice Report

Sometimes our friend the sun can be a bit much.

Today, Wednesday, is the longest day of sunlight for the year as the days begin to get shorter.

Over the weekend, your Notebook suffered some sunburn as we sat in the stands on Sunday vainly waiting for the Nats to beat the Yankees and avoid a sweep. The home team hits didn’t come often enough, and the Yankees strutted away with three wins.

Memo to self: Next time, put sunscreen on your arms and face, not just the back of your neck and ears.

• Heated rumor.

There was yet another hot political rumor floating around in recent days, this one that Mayor Vincent Gray was about to resign at any moment.

Instead, the mayor on Monday served his civic duty by doing jury duty in D.C. Superior Court. And on Saturday, he is due to make his first trip to China on a trade mission. So much for resigning and -- while we’re at it -- so much for all the other wild rumors floating about.

Memo to rumormongers: Check the mayor’s schedule before the next whisper.

• On the velvet ropes?

Somebody -- no one took responsibility -- must have had too much sun before showing up at the D.C. Council offices last week.

At-large member Phil Mendelson was there to be chosen chairman of the council, replacing Kwame Brown. Someone had rounded up some velvet ropes and draped them on both sides of the door leading to the council chambers.

They looked like something you’d see at the entrance of a cheesy nightclub.

If they were intended for the low-key Mendelson, he never got to grandly walk behind them. Just as he was coming out to take reporters’ questions, WUSA9’s Bruce Johnson kicked one of them out of the way. Your Notebook slid the other one aside.

Mendelson didn’t notice, and we knew they weren’t his style. We’ll see if they’re still there for the next council session.

Memo to whoever put them up: Don’t waste your time. Get rid of them.

• Orange crushed.

At-large Council member Vincent Orange got hot under the collar last week as his colleagues rejected his bid for chairman and then again for the council’s second-in-command pro tempore job.

Orange engaged in so much histrionics -- there’s no other term -- that the staff of WAMU 88.5 FM’s Politics Hour mixed up a video for host Kojo Nnamdi and his listeners. The credit goes to staffers Michael Martinez and Brendan Sweeney. It’s funny. Find it here.

Orange also clearly was indicating that he intended to run against Mendelson in the Nov. 6 election to fill out Kwame Brown’s term through Jan. 2, 2015. Mendelson on Monday picked up petitions to run his own campaign for the remainder of the term, but Orange appeared to be backing out.

We guess we can’t credit the video … but maybe it played a little role? A lot of people wondered why Orange lost his cool.

Memo to potential candidates: Don’t lose your cool.

• Lawyer up.

We know, we know that people think there are too many lawyers in town. But the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law helps train some of the best community-oriented lawyers.

Now you can help the law school.

Dean Shelley Broderick is inviting sponsors and one-time givers to assist the school. Check out the appeal here.

“We’re getting ready for another hot summer,” she wrote in a recent fundraising appeal. But she was talking about lots of activity -- not the temperature. The school is in the midst of renovating its teaching spaces and preparing to welcome its latest class.

“The new batch of law students will be racially, ethnically and age-diverse,” she writes. “Some will be from elite universities and others will be the first in their family to graduate from college, much less attend graduate or professional school.”

Memo to well-heeled lawyers and others: Take a look at this unique law school, which is growing in impact and respect.

• The bottom line.

Mayor Gray has nominated Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi to another term as the city’s top money man. The nomination irritated quite a few of Gandhi’s critics, but government insiders say Gandhi -- on the job since 2000 -- has a strong reputation on Wall Street and with its bond rating agencies.

Besides, with Mayor Gray under federal investigation for his own campaign finance issues, it was no time to replace Gandhi and create another firestorm to address. Gandhi’s an independent chief financial officer, and that makes his job all the more important. We’ll see how the council treats the reappointment.

Contact Us