The D.C. Council on Tuesday smacked down Mayor Adrian Fenty’s effort to fill a crucial labor relations board with personal friends and political allies.
The council voted 9-4 to reject Fenty’s nominees for the Public Employee Relations Board and to allow the board’s sole remaining member to make decisions in labor relations cases.
The board handles hundreds of disputes between the city’s labor unions and the mayor’s office. Its rules require a quorum of at least three members. Since last summer, the board has lacked a quorum and the backlog of cases has grown exponentially.
The vote was a rebuke to the mayor after months of escalating tensions between the executive and legislative branches. All four of Fenty’s nominees had personal ties to the mayor or his political operation.
The nominees were all rejected earlier this month by the government operations committee but the mayor dug in, hoping that the full council would support him.
“We are at the point where action needs to be taken by this body,” said Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who opposed the mayor Tuesday.
Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, led the opposition to the mayor’s candidates.
“I’m disappointed that it has come to this sad place,” she told The Examiner. “We could have easily resolved this matter by getting qualified nominees months and months and months ago.”
At-large Councilman Kwame Brown said the council tried to give Fenty extra time to come up with better candidates, but ultimately decided that the matter was pressing.
“A lot of middle-class families can’t afford to wait for their cases to be heard,” he said.
Within an hour of losing the vote, Fenty canceled his weekly Thursday breakfast with the council.
Mayoral spokeswoman Mafara Hobson didn’t respond to requests for comment.
