ABOUT THE EDITOR: A Short Biography

U.S. Capitol, viewed from the Old Post Office's bell tower. Photo illustration by Michael Grass.

UPDATE, MARCH 2008: A current backgrounder can be found here.

Michael Grass is the Web editor for The Washington Post's Express. Although he grew up in East Grand Rapids, Mich., Grass' family has resided in the District of Columbia since the 1860s. His grandfather grew up in what is now Kinkead's restaurant on I Street NW. Other ancestors ran a Capitol Hill tavern a century ago. His great-great grandfather's noted residential woodcarving can be seen in Dupont Circle's Christian Heurich House Museum, the United States' most-intact late Victorian mansion.

Grass is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he served as editorial page editor and news editor at The Michigan Daily. Grass has written for Crain's Detroit Business and was an editor at Roll Call. He's a founding editor of DCist.com, the fifth site in the global network of city group blogs from Gothamist LLC.

His work is also featured in "Writing Ann Arbor: A Literary Anthology," (University of Michigan Press, 2005) a collection of essays, poetry, fiction and other writings from Arthur Miller, Wendy Wasserstein, Joyce Carol Oates and other scribes who've made their way through Ann Arbor, Mich.

Links to selected Roll Call articles: (subscription only for full article)

"Recent Defense Debate Has Echoes of 1991" May 29, 2003
When it comes to examining Defense funding debates, an old adage quickly leaps to mind: The more things change, the more they stay the same. That was never more true than during the recent back-and forth over the massive $400 billion Defense authorization measures passed by the House and Senate on May 22. ...

"California Finds Messing With Texas Troublesome in Major University Spat" June 11, 2003
Keeping a watchful eye on moves by the Energy Department, the University of Texas is gearing up for what would be a major coup in the research community: taking operational control of the nation’s top government nuclear weapons lab away from the University of California. ...

"Bill Divides Capito, Bush" July 30, 2003
As Pfc. Jessica Lynch returned to a nationally celebrated homecoming in West Virginia last week, the former prisoner of war’s Congresswoman found herself in a public relations pickle. ...

"Saudis Spend Big on Image Work" Oct. 14, 2003
Eager to change its image in the nation’s capital, Saudi Arabia has emerged as one of Washington’s biggest spenders since President Bush launched his war on terrorism.

According to newly released figures compiled by the Justice Department, the government of Saudi Arabia paid about $15 million in the second half of 2002 for an extensive lobbying and public relations campaign designed to persuade the Bush administration, Congress and the American people that the Islamic kingdom is an ally, and not an adversary, in its counterterrorism efforts. ...

"Guantanamo Fight Comes to K Street" Nov. 17, 2003
In an unprecedented move, a dozen Kuwaiti families have hired K Street lobbyists to help them try to free family members from the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. military is holding enemy combatants from terrorist sweeps in Afghanistan. ...

"K Street Files: K Is for Kandahar" Nov. 23, 2003
Of all the American powerbrokers registered to represent Afghan interests, the most peculiar may be Four Horsemen International. While the North Carolina-based group’s name may evoke mythical visions of the apocalypse, it refers to the combined nickname of the founders, four Army Special Forces combat veterans who have an “untiring work ethic.” ...

"Boeing Playing Defense in New Session" Jan. 20, 2004
Senate sources say the Boeing Co., which is already under fire from the Pentagon, will face increased heat from Capitol Hill in the next few weeks. ...

"Flap Over Intern Infuriates Frank" Jan. 28, 2004
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is accusing the nation’s largest internship placement organization of misleading him over the firing of a program supervisor allegedly dismissed for assigning a student from a conservative college to the openly gay lawmaker’s office. ...

"Home Is Not Where the Hart Is" (Sept. 13, 2004)
Office space allocation has always been a complicated matter on Capitol Hill, especially in the Senate. And in the fall of 1982, when the Hart Senate Office Building was set to open, Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), like many of his colleagues, was not happy about the prospects of moving out of the Dirksen Building. ...

"Jefferson’s Bible Returns, Controversial as Ever" Jan. 24, 2005
It is a great irony of American history: Thomas Jefferson, the man credited with coining the term “separation of church and state,” wrote his own version of the Bible — and for decades the views in that Bible were imposed on Congress. ...

"The Keystone of Washington" June 16, 2005
If you were to stand at Union Station and look down Delaware Avenue Northeast toward the Capitol, it’s possible to see how the Congressional campus has changed in the past 50 years — if you know what you’re looking for. ...

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. Any views expressed in this space does not necessarily reflect those of my employer, Express, or The Washington Post Co.