A10 From Page One nickles from A1
to Fenty’s George W. Bush. His supporters say he has harnessed the bureaucracy to bring needed change to the city. Critics say he has interpreted laws and policies in Fenty’s favor and mishandled some cases. Both questionwheth- er he has contributed to the may- or’s poor approval rating. Though not as prominent as
Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, he has also become an issue in Fenty’s reelection campaign. D.C. CouncilChairmanVincent C. Gray, Fenty’s chief opponent in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, called for Nickles’s firing in July after a series of escalating con- flicts. In turn, Nickles, who made a successful career of suing the city, has raised questions about Gray’s leadership as director of the Department of Human Ser- vices in the 1990s.His tenure has been so controversial that the D.C. Council pushed a long- sought referendum for an elected attorney general onto Novem- ber’s general election ballot. “I think Peter Nickles is de-
structive,” said council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), a Gray supporter who often criti- cizes Nickles and Fenty. “You don’t have to antagonize every- one to do it [the job]. But that’s what he does.” Council member David A. Cat-
ania (I-At Large) said he has appreciated Nickles as “a rough- and-tumble, no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners litigator,” cred- iting him with helping to save United Medical Center in South- east Washington and defending the council’s gay-marriage legis- lation. But he sees the other side. “He
has become the de facto spokes- man for the mayor, which some have viewed as politicizing the position,” said Catania, who has not made a mayoral endorse- ment. “Some have raised the con- cern that there’s a conflict be- tween what’s in themayor’s inter- ests and what’s in the city’s inter- est.”
Says Nickles, “I am completely apolitical.”
A stellar resume Whenhe introduced himself to
council members after Fenty’s mayoral election, Nickles im- pressed many with his stellar resume — Princeton, Harvard Law, 35 years as a Covington & Burling partner, the D.C. Bar As- sociation’s pro bono attorney of the year — the last given for his known work suing the city on behalf of neglected mental pa- tients, prison inmates and others. Less known was Nickles’s close
relationship with Fenty, one that began when his parents met Nickles while vacationing in Maine in 1970 — while Jan Fenty was pregnant with the future mayor.
Nickles and Phil Fenty became
training buddies, though they dif- fered in their styles and diets. Nickles dons tailored suits, while Fenty’s father is known for his NativeAmericanandAfrican jew- elry. And while Nickles enjoys the occasional Ben’s Chili Bowl half- smoke — a nod to his family’s history in the diner business — Phil Fenty kept no fatty or sugary foods in the family’sMount Pleas- ant home. “Anytime [the Fenty children] wanted to cheat . . . eat cereal with sugar, they could come over,” Nickles said. When Adrian Fenty decided to
go to Howard Law School, “Phil said, ‘Would you watch out for Adrian?’ ” recalled Nickles, who had been an adjunct professor there. Thus Nickles began his godfa-
ther duties. When Fenty began his career in city politics as clerk of the council education commit- tee, Fenty called him from time to time for advice on educationmat- ters.By1999, asFenty prepared to run for the D.C. Council, he ne- glected his duties as court-ap- pointed guardian to an 88-year- old man, leading to bar discipline proceedings. Nickles servedas his attorney, and in 2005, the Office of the Bar Counsel handed Fenty an “informal admonition,” its lightest sanction. Soon after Fenty was sworn in,
Nickles emerged as second in command. Fenty’s first attorney general,
Linda Singer, resigned in Decem- ber 2007 and continues to decline to speak publicly about Nickles. But lawyers around the city say Nickles was running a months- long crusade to undermine her, and he finally succeeded. In one incident, less than a year into Fenty’s term, federal authorities unveiled a massive embezzle- ment scheme in the city tax office. Singer went to work recouping what she thought she could, start- ing on a lawsuit against Bank of America, which had played a role in allowing the scheme to persist. Nickles, as Fenty’s legal counsel, disagreed. “Stop work on this,” Nickles
EZ SU
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 Bond between Fenty and Nickles has grown through the years
told her in a Dec. 6 e-mail. “[W]e are not rushing into lawsuits.” Eleven days later, Singer left, and Fenty named Nickles to replace her.
But in his work as attorney
general, Nickles has often found himself in a rush. He’s kept the philosophy he employed as a feared corporate litigator: over- whelming force brought with overwhelming speed.
“Peter goes totally thermonu-
clear on you,” said Frederick D. Cooke Jr., a lawyer who has liti- gated against Nickles and who held the job, then called corpora- tion counsel, in the late 1980s. But, he said, Nickles sues with a goal in mind, and “he is certainly a person with which you can negotiate.” The tactics have often worked: When a dispute between a devel-
oper, the JBG Cos., and the Mar- riott Corp. threatened to derail a long-planned anchor hotel for the city’s convention center, Nickles intervened with the parties, help- ing to bring an end to the stale- mate, observers say. He also was the lead executive branch official organizing efforts to keep United Medical Center open amid finan- cial crisis. Fenty has said that Nickles has
brought a set of professional skills that have served the city well. “In terms of both management
experience, litigation experience and legal experience, you can make a case that Peter Nickles . . . is as qualified as anybody we’ve ever had in the position,” Fenty said at a recent debate. But Nickles’ tactics, put to work in politically fraught situa-
tions, have sometimes backfired. Lastsummer, Nicklesmovedto
evict a nonprofit group run by CoraMasters Barry, the estranged wife ofD.C. CouncilmemberMar- ion Barry (D-Ward 8), from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, which the organization had helped build. The nonprofit fought the move, and a Superior
nickles continued on A11
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