BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Since beginning operations in early June, the five presidential appointees who comprise the powerful financial control board here have been seeking to implement deep cuts in jobs and social services.
The board, which has been empowered by the federal government to run the District of Columbia affairs into the next century, has final authority over city budgets, contracts, and loans, with ultimate power to veto any measure that has a fiscal effect. According to the New York Times, "no previous control board" anywhere in the country has "had such power."
Most members of the board are wealthy businessmen. Chairing the board is Andrew Brimmer, an economist who served on the Federal Reserve Board from 1966 to 1974.
Brimmer receives hundreds of thousands of dollars a year as a director of more than a dozen major corporations. In an interview with the Washington Post, Brimmer spelled out how he expects this board to function. "I see no advantage in trying to do this in public," he stated.
The board has won support from leading Democratic politicians in the city. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the nonvoting D.C. delegate to Congress, praised the control board as "the only thing that stands between the District and the loss of home rule." Jesse Jackson stated that the board might even enhance the prospects for statehood by helping the city overcome its financial problems.
In mid-July, the control board presented its first major ultimatum to Mayor Marion Barry and the city council: eliminate 5,600 city jobs by October 1. In addition, all future city labor contracts will have to be approved by the board before they are signed. In response, Mayor Barry presented his alternative plan, calling for cuts of 1,500 jobs over the next two years. The city council, for its part, approved a plan July 29 to remove more than 3,600 jobs from the city payroll by privatizing D.C. General - the city's only public hospital- school cafeterias, and other services. In addition, the council proposed contracting out the jobs of more than 1,500 city workers and weakening union seniority rights.
Unsatisfied with the response to its demands by city officials, the financial control board August 12 began carrying out the job cuts itself. They slashed 460 jobs from education programs at D.C. public schools and the University of the District of Columbia, and gave the council one month to fire 715 others.
Declaring the city out of cash, Mayor Barry at the end of August ordered a halt to Medicaid payments from July until October. A week later, the mayor reversed this unpopular move, promising to cover bills through mid-August. One in four Washington residents receive health care through Medicaid. According to a recent study, half the children in the district are living in poverty, double the proportion five years ago. The district's infant mortality rate is double the national figure.
While taking aim at jobs and vital social services, city officials together with the control board place top priority on maintaining their commitments to the wealthy bondholders. Some $180 million was scheduled to be place in an escrow fund for bondholders at the end of August.
Brian Williams is a member of United Food and Commerical Workers Local 27 in Cheverly, Maryland.