The danger of having elected officials like Graham and Barry is not just that they exhibit and engage in inappropriate behavior, it’s that they don’t understand why we have a problem with it. When did the ability to self-regulate cease being a requirement for holding a position of public trust? Is it any wonder that the “defense du jour” for elected officials has become “I’ve done nothing Illegal.”

If I half suspected that anyone read Rosenstein’s babble or had any respect for his opinion I might question as why The Blade would publish this collection of half truths. Rosenstein seems to have been living in a bubble or perhaps in Baltimore.

The Gray administration has been almost continually mired in scandal since its earliest days. It deserves little, if any, credit for the momentum that is carrying economic progress in the District forward. Mostly, this is boilerplate lifted from the Post and spun to flatter Gray. Considering the halfway placement of R’stein’s head for the past 3 years this is not surprising. It is also not journalism or unbiased commentary.

To credit success built on the hard work of others, frankly predating the William’s administration, a certain deal Dave Clarke struck with Abe Pollin back in the District’s darkest days comes to mind, but in no small part a result of Mayor Williams efforts to Vince Gray is simply laughable. Interestingly, R’steins former show pony Adrian Fenty, is missing entirely. A time line would suggest that the one person whose efforts over arch the city’s renaissance might be Jack Evans, but Vince Gray, not by the longest shot.

More importantly, for The Blade to allow R’stein to act the shill for Jim Graham is appalling. To suggest that the Post’s, long overdue, call for Graham’s resignation is based solely on the report of the Board of Ethics and Accountability would be laughable if there was not so much tragedy, malfeasance, and loss attendant to Graham’s overall history in our community. Jim Graham commandeered our community’s response to the AIDS epidemic to make it a vehicle for his own enrichment and glorification, bulldozing over the work and best interests of a host of others. By the time Graham was finally ousted from Whitman Walker he had brought it to its knees.

I don’t know where Peter Rosenstein or The Blade editorial staff has been for the last 25 years but Jim Graham is known in this community and has been for some long time. An attempt to dismiss Graham’s career of corruption as “horse trading” is, to all those who his megalomania has caused to suffer needlessly, insulting.

There are many bright, honest, committed members of the LGBT community engaging in our civic life here in Washington from ANCs to Boards and Commissions. To allow them to continue to be besmirched by the backsplash from the scandals rightly surrounding Jim Graham, defended by the likes of Peter Rosenstein in unacceptable. For The Blade to support this whether through ignorance of our history or indifference to Washington’s well being is unacceptable as well.

Think of The Post’s laudable call for Jim Graham’s resignation not as an indictment but as a summation. Know this too, that when Graham is finally brought to account there will be dancing in the graves.

“It is sad that Peter would write such a mealy-mouthed and unpersuasive piece”. I guess you have never read 95% of his stuff. This was another planted Graham story much like the “scapegoating” opinion piece in the Post.

Thank the universe for Mark Lee, even though I often disagree. He at least breathes some fresh, authentic air into the process.