In his April 15 op-ed, “Oversight from the D.C. Council? More, please.,” Colbert I. King encouraged D.C. Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) in his oversight of the D.C. Housing Authority. He’s not the only one wishing for stronger oversight.
The most frequent criticism I hear of the D.C. Council is its failure to exercise effective oversight of D.C. agencies. This failure is not for a lack of trying, but the council often appears to be outgunned because the council has to rely primarily on complaints from constituents. The small council committee staffs work hard to do the necessary analysis to give the council members ammunition to cut through the arguments from the agencies, but they are often outstaffed.
In the federal government, Congress has not only larger committee staffs but also the Government Accountability Office, which does a broad range of studies to help with program evaluation. The D.C. Council has only the D.C. auditor, which appears to be understaffed and primarily focused on numbers rather than the needed broad program evaluation. The recent disappointing audit of Vision Zero DC is a good example of a missed opportunity.
The council needs its own GAO. If not that, then a beefed-up Office of the Budget Director that could do in-depth program evaluation during the months when the council is not adopting the next year’s budget. Council members explain that the mayor runs the agencies, not the council. That’s true, of course, but she doesn’t run them perfectly — and we would all benefit from a better-staffed council and a true oversight agency to assess these agencies’ performance.
The writer is the ANC3D 01 advisory neighborhood commissioner.
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