Me thinks thou hast drunk one too many sips from the Kool-Ade pitcher of free market libertarians. To suggest that a jurisdiction with a 150M budget surplus is in urgent need of wrestling with stifling policies hampering economic growth and development could be construed as an overstatement. A simple walk out the front door might suggest to you that no matter how daunting the obstacles some blessed business owners have somehow run the gauntlet.

Perhaps a trip out of town, anywhere but Baltimore please, would suggest as well that the District’s business community is not languishing but thriving.

I will not argue that tax, regulatory, and licensing policies could not benefit from some “scouring” and recommendations for reform. I will argue, however, that the Gray administration is not to be trusted to do it honestly or well. Given Gray’s willful blindness to the shenanigans and maneuverings on his behalf by the likes of Jeffrey Thompson and his record of retrograde appointments and policy blunders I think until we have a change in captain it is best for this ship to stay the course. Why, if Gray is so business friendly, did he de-fund the Washington DC Economic Partnership which had a track record and a body of knowledge supporting exactly the kinds of reasoned applications that you recommend?

Every action has an opposite and equal reaction which is why in matters pertaining to the public’s affairs it is essential that the public’s best interests be handled by mostly honest brokers. It would seem that from the coterie of self interested parties and she cats with whips with whom this Mayor surrounds himself, and his refusal to acknowledge and separate himself from them, Vince Gray does not qualify.

I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I have had agonizing over the fact that Virginia resident, Jamie Leeds, was slowed in her efforts to expand her patio. However, in keeping with my “honest broker” scenario the idea that we should jump into any regulatory reform of the liquor licensing policies guided by, your choice of words, Nanny Jim Graham is frightening to any sane person. Hurricane Katrina was a sunny day compared to the cloud Graham is deservedly under. Until Graham resigns, is recalled, or arrested it is only prudent to table any reorganization of policies that, however imperfect, are functioning and in place. Bear in mind it has taken Whitman Walker over a decade to crawl out from under the detritus of Graham’s tenure there. Graham’s long, corrupt history would suggest there is not a industry lobbyist, crooked businessperson, bagman, or sycophantic flatterer who would find him unwelcoming of their largesse. I think for the time being we would be well advised to remember that slow and steady wins the race.