Fenty Bonuses Handed Out After Council Banned Them.

The DC City Council voted, in light of budget cuts and challenging economic times, to ban bonuses to city employees. District employees have received 15 million in bonuses since Fenty took office.

But when the city council outlawed bonuses effective with the new budget starting October 1st, apparently Fenty didn't think the law applied to him.

Washington Post reports that even after they were outlawed, Fenty continued to hand out the big cash to the tune of more than $500,000:

...Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), chairman of the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment that oversees matters pertaining to city employees, said she is sending a letter to the administration and expects a detailed response.

"We voted, beginning Oct. 1, not to give bonuses. I want them to explain," she said. "I want an explanation. It flies in the face of what we voted on."

The law came after the council members' self-imposed ban this year on bonuses to their staffs when the city was struggling to fill a $666 million budget gap that stretched over three years.

"Given the fiscal climate, people losing their jobs, it just wasn't prudent," said Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D). "The larger aspect of this is, we're asking people to bite the bullet. How does it make people feel when they've lost their jobs and their colleagues are getting bonuses?"