A series of courtroom setbacks, a rash of high-level defections and the growing influence of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s legal counsel over the District’s legal affairs have some city officials asking, whatever happened to D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer?
Singer, 41, is responsible for a 660-person, $87 million agency that is supposed to defend the city from litigation, enforce its child-support laws, argue for wards of the court and protect consumers.
But Fenty’s counsel, Peter Nickles, has become the face of the city’s legal team. He has taken over at least two major class-action lawsuits and the controversial $79 million subsidy for the takeover of Greater Southeast Hospital. When the city defended its decision to send a $2.2 million bill to a mental patient who gouged his own eyes out while under the city’s care, Nickles crafted the arguments.
“Linda Singer has been confirmed by the Council. Peter Nickles has not,” said District Council Member Phil Mendelson, D-at large, chair of the Judiciary Committee.
Fenty is scheduled to hold a review of the attorney general’s office today. Neither Fenty’s nor Singer’s spokeswomen responded to requests for comment.
Before joining the city, Singer was executive director of a Appleseed, a nonprofit group with 70 staff members and a $7.5 million budget. She had never argued in a D.C. courtroom.
“It is a challenging job even for the most experienced lawyers in town,” said Walter Smith, a former deputy D.C. attorney general and current executive director of D.C. Appleseed. “But Linda brings intelligence, resourcefulness — and the support of the mayor.”
Mendelson said he’s worried “about continuing rumors of disarray” under Singer. Since Singer took over, several top level officials, including spokeswoman Traci L. Hughes, Deputy Attorney General David Rubinstein and Chief Recruitment Officer Pamela Satterfield, have left.
Singer’s office has also taken a beating in court. This summer, the city was twice held in contempt over its youth-detention policies. Last week, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman accused Singer’s staff of “stunning ignorance” and said they hadn’t bothered to read a brief they filed in a special education lawsuit.
Nickles told The Examiner Tuesday he was merely “coordinating” legal efforts for the city.
But he acknowledged he gave Fenty a copy of Friedman’s order last week and told the mayor: “It’s not good.”
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