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Government of the District of
Columbia Office of the Attorney General 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 409, Washington, D.C. 20004, (202) 724-1301, Fax (202) 741-0580 July 9, 2010 The Honorable Phil Mendelson The Honorable Harry Thomas, Jr. The Honorable Mary M. Cheh The Honorable Michael A. Brown Council of the District of Columbia Re: Joint Public Oversight Roundtable: Settlement Agreement with Banneker Ventures, LLC Dear Chairpersons K. Brown, M. Brown, Cheh, Mendelson, and Thomas: This responds to your July 8, 2010 letter, in which you request that I appear today at the joing public oversight roundtable of your respective committees to answer questions about the settlement agreement with Bennker Ventures, LLC. As you anticipated in your letter, I am currently out of town. I will not, therefore, be appearing at the roundtable. Furthermore, because I negotiated the agreement — and without involvement by the Executive Office of the Mayor — I will not be sending “the individual responsible for negotiating the agreement and signing the agreement” on my behalf. That said, I will note here a number of points about the settlement itself. First the fact that a settlement was even being negotiated was no secret. Indeed, in a June 8 letter to Mr. Trout, I advised him that negotiations were then “ongoing” and that I would apprise him when any agreement was reached. I did just that on July 7, when I sent him a copy of the executed agreement. Second, while any possible fraud or illegality underlying Contract No. 2009-05 was not my focus during the negotiations, I saw no evidence of it. Had I done so, the negotiations would have ended immediately. Furthermore, if, through the Council's investigation or otherwise, it is determined that there was some form of wrongdoing, the settlement will not prevent appropriate action to redress it. Lastly, but more importantly, the settlement is fair and, as such, is in the best interests of the District of Columbia. For example, the proceeds will be used to pay the outstanding claims of third-party service providers whose work contributed to the overall success of the various DPR projects. Satisfying those claims will avoid the possibility of future litigation against the District. Collectively speaking, the documents related to the settlement are the best evidence of its value. Mr. Trout has requested copies of the documents, and, in a letter to him yesterday, I agreed to produce them as soon as possible, despite bona fide considerations of confidentiality. I suggest, then, in the interests of having a more constructive dialogue about the settlement agreement, that you postpone the roundtable until after Mr. Trout has had the opportunity to review the documents. Sincerely, Peter J. Nickles cc: The Honorable Vincent Gray |
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