ABCDE Partly sunny 85/60 • Tomorrow Thunderstorms 82/56 • details, B8
D.C.’s other thriving industry:
Lawsuits City paid $50 million from 2007 to 2009 to settle range of complaints out of court
BY PAUL SCHWARTZMAN A sixth-grader switches schools be-
cause she becomes overwhelmed by chronic allergies after her principal turns the cafeteria into a spay-and-neu- ter clinic for hundreds of cats. Transfer- ring is only part of her cure:Hermother files a $100,000 lawsuit against the D.C. government and wins a $7,500 settle- ment. A visitor from Arizona trips and falls
on a torn patch of Connecticut Avenue NW sidewalk. He needs surgery to repair his shoulder and a lawyer to sue the D.C. government for allowing the walkway to languish as a pedestrian hazard. The city settles the case for $60,000. Every year, people file suits alleging a
litany of misdeeds by the D.C. govern- ment, including age discrimination, false arrest, improperly maintaining walkways, errantly tossing trash cans and driving over pedestrians. Although some cases make it to trial,
dozens and dozens of disputes are settled before they reach a courtroom, resulting in payouts of as little as $5,500 to the family of an H.D. Woodson High School student purportedly struck by a coach and as much as $650,000 to a St. Elizabeths Hospital psychiatric patient who gouged his eyes out after the staff failed to follow a doctor’s warnings to monitor him. The patient’s guardian, JaniceMotley,
used part of the funds to buy Frank Harris a radio so he could listen to Orioles games and a clock that announc- es the time. “There’s just not a lot you can do for him,”Motley said. From 2007 to 2009, the District paid
more than $50 million in legal settle- ments, according to a database of city records obtained by The Washington Post. In that period,Montgomery Coun- ty—which has 972,000 residents vs. the District’s 599,000—paid $8.5million in settlements. But the District functions as a combi-
nation of a city and state and serves as the nation’s capital, a stage for demon- strations that breed a cottage industry of lawsuits. San Francisco,which is similar in size to the District, awarded nearly $60 million in settlements arising from suits against city agencies during that same period, city officials said. Attorneys for plaintiffs say the Dis-
trict spends more than needed on such settlements because it prolongs law-
settlements continued onA12 REDSKINS16,PACKERS13 (OT)
Redskins’ resolve moves them to 3-2
Graham Gano kicks a 33-yard field goal in overtime to send NFC East co-leading Washington to an overtime victory against Green Bay at FedEx Field.
Thomas Boswell: From rookies to seasoned veterans, they’re buying in. D1
MikeWise: The smoke and mirrors are back for another thrilling finish. D1
6Game Center: Explore Sunday’s stats
atwashingtonpost.com/redskins
Gano, center right, hugs his holder, Hunter Smith, after kicking the game- winning field goal for the Redskins, who recovered from a 13-3 deficit.
MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST
Sen. LisaMurkowski (R-Alaska) at anAnchorage rally for herwrite-in candidacy.GOP Senate nominee JoeMiller defeated Murkowski in part by painting her as aWashington insider.NowMurkowski is labelingMiller as the “establishment” pick.
An incumbent’s ‘insurgency’
After GOP primary loss, Alaska’s Sen. Murkowski stakes claim as outsider with write-in effort After her loss in an August primary to
BY AMY GARDNER IN ANCHORAGE
“F
ill in the bubble! Write in the name! Fill in the bubble! Write in the name! Fill in the bubble!
Write in the name!” So the chant went at a rally for Alaska
Republican Lisa Murkowski outside the public library here on a brisk recent Sunday — the soundtrack to one of the more striking and peculiar dramas of this year’s fluky election season: the write-in campaign of a sittingU.S. senator.
tea-party-backed lawyer Joe Miller, Murkowski was assumed to be finished as a senator. Another head-in-the-sand incumbent who just didn’t get it. But then, against all advice, including
that of fellow Republicans, Murkowski decided that she did get it — and was willing to fight for it. Now, despite the hurdles in the way of
a write-in victory, Murkowski is stirring passion and energy. It helps that the “entrenched incumbent” is suddenly the underdog, turning the year’s throw-the- bums-out theme on its head. If she
succeeds, Murkowski will join Miller, of all people, as one of the year’s unlikeliest winners. “It’s kind of fun,” Murkowski said
during a recent campaign trip down Alaska’s majesticKenai Peninsula, where she went from a senior center to a cocktail reception to a firefighters con- vention with the urgency of a long shot. “It’s fun to be turning the tables on your primary opponent, who was making such a big deal about how he is running against the establishment, and now he
murkowski continued onA8 MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2010 ELECTION2010 Cable chatter narrows electoral landscape
Outlets increasingly provide partisan platform for
candidates on left and right BY HOWARD KURTZ
AND KAREN TUMULTY When Senate candidate Christine
O’Donnell appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, he read her some advice from another Fox commentator, SarahPalin. Palin, urging theDelaware Republican to “speak through FoxNews,” had said on
Twitter that she should be spending her time with voters back home “versus ap- peasing national media seeking your de- struction.” “She is absolutely right,” said O’Don-
nell, although she has held almost no public events since that televisionappear- ance lastmonth. In the same period, her Democratic
opponent, Chris Coons, appeared on MSNBC, where host Chris Matthews asked him about the inexperienced O’Donnell: “Does it bother youpersonally that someone like her, with that back- ground, should run for public office?” Coons said no, but the leading question hung inthe air.
The increasing polarization of cable
news is transforming, and in some ways shrinking, the electoral landscape. What has emerged is a form of narrowcasting, allowing candidates a welcoming plat- form that helps them avoid hostile press questioning and, insome cases,minimize the slog and the slip-ups of retail cam- paigning. “There’snoquestionit’scontributingto
the splintering of the political systemand the means by which people get informa- tion about that system,” said Robert Thompson,whoruns theBleierCenter for Television and Popular Culture at Syra-
cable continued onA8
Group says foreign cash isn’t used in election efforts
BY DAN EGGEN AND SCOTTWILSON The White House intensified its at-
tacks Sunday on the powerfulU.S.Cham- ber of Commerce for its alleged ties to foreign donors, part of an escalating Democratic effort to link Republican allies with corporate and overseas inter- ests ahead of the November midterm elections. The Chamber adamantly denies that
foreign funds are used in itsU.S. election efforts, accusing Democrats of orches- trating a speculative smear campaign during a desperate political year. President Obama, speaking at a rally
in Philadelphia, said “the American peo- ple deserve toknowwhois trying to sway their elections” and raised the possibility that foreigners could be funding his opponents. “You don’t know,” Obama said at the
rally for Senate candidate Joe Sestak and other Democrats. “It could be the oil industry. It could even be foreign-owned corporations. You don’t know because they don’t have to disclose.” The remarks are part of a volley of
recent attacks by Obama and other Dem- ocrats on alleged foreign influence with- in the Republican caucus, whether through support for outsourcing jobs by majorU.S. corporations or through over- seas money making its way into the coffers of GOP-leaning interest groups. The comments also come as Demo-
crats attempt to cope with an onslaught of independent political advertising aimed at bolstering Republicans, much of it fueled by donations that do not have to be revealed to the public. The spend- ing has added to a political environment
chamber continued onA6
22 DAYS . . . remain until the midterm elections.
The Monday Fix Chris Cillizza looks at states in which a party’s losses could be contagious. A2
Obama: 2008 just a start In Philadelphia, he tries to reignite the energy that put him in office. A3
The fundamentals of Freud come into fashion in China
But recently, Drake said, she has dis-
Through online sessions, U.S. psychoanalysts train their Eastern counterparts
BYWILLIAMWAN JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
beijing — On a recentmorning, Danille Drake flipped on her computer and sat down to wait in the home office of her two-story house in Bethesda. As the screenflickeredto life, she explainedhow she has spent her whole career learning and practicing the teachings of Sigmund Freud. And how, for decades, she has watched the slow death of his theories, abandoned in favor of antidepressant drugs and newer treatments.
INSIDE
STYLE1 Humanizing a terrorist
Edgar Ramirez portrays the man known as “The Jackal” in the 51/2
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Howard Kurtz examines how much of Emanuel’s persona is the press’s caricature. C1
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METRO $108,000
Income needed for a family of four to be financially secure in Fairfax County, the priciest area in the region, according to a new cost-of-living analysis.
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Kim and son and a grand show of force
North Korea’s leader and his heir attend a large military parade to build support for the coming transfer of power in Pyongyang. A10
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BASEBALL Crunch time for Giants
San Francisco edges Atlanta to go up 2-1; Tampa Bay ties its division playoff series with Texas. D1
THEFEDPAGE Printing it old-school
At the redesigned GPO bookstore on North Capitol Street, the federal government doubles down on good old ink and paper. A15
The Washington Post Year 133, No. 310
CONTENT © 2010
covered a corner of the world where whole flocks of students just can’t get enough of Freud. The computer bleeped and a grinning, bespectacled Chinese doctor popped up on the screen, waving hello. This,Drake said,wasWanJingjing, 35,
a psychologist in Hubei province. And Psychoanalysis 101was nowin session. For the past two years, a small army of
therapists in the United States has been getting up at ungodly hours and staying up late into the night to teach the funda- mentals of Freud to counterparts on the other side of theworld. Their efforts have raised the practice of psychoanalysis, a type of theory developed by Freud a cen-
china continued onA11
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Chamber QUESTIONS SOURCE OF GOP FUNDS
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