Women should fill the DC Council Vacancies!

When the new DC Council takes its place at the beginning of 2007 Linda Cropp, Kathy Patterson and Sharon Ambrose, three of the legislature’s most experienced members will be gone! Cropp and Patterson tried to move up to higher office, but were soundly defeated. Ambrose is stepping down for health reasons. She’ll certainly be replaced by a male, Tommy Wells who won the Ward Six Democratic primary. Patterson will be replaced by newcomer

(D)Mary Cheh in Ward Three. That leaves only two women on the thirteen member DC Council.

Cheh and Republican Carol Schwartz, the only experienced female legislator. This should not stand! Special elections will be held to fill the seats of Adrian Fenty who should win the November election for Mayor; and Vincent Gray who should become Council Chairman. I know of people who are positioning themselves to make a run for the Ward Four and Ward Seven slots; but it seems to me that the Democrats should select their candidates from among a number of qualified females waiting in the wings. The names should be clear. Everybody knows who has done the heavy political lifting in these parts! It’s not my place to endorse; merely to observe; and from my point of view this is a no brainer. Adrian Fenty seemed to agree when I pointed out this incredible 11 to 2 gender imbalance to him after the primary. Rumor says his brother Sean Fenty, an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, may be at the top of the next Mayor’s short list of Ward Four candidates. If Adrian moves in that direction it may seem like a family power grab. Pick women in both Wards Four and Seven and it will appear to be what it is….the right thing to do!

Dirty Campaigning!

Regardless of who wins Tuesday’s Democratic Mayoral Primary this will go down as the most expensive elections in DC’s still young Home rule history. I may be wrong be it seems to me that this Primary will also go down as one of the ugliest contests. I’m really talking about the race between the two front runners, Adrian Fenty and Linda Cropp. I can’t speak for other reporters; but I have been pulled aside, called at odd hours and stopped at official functions and cornered to hear the latest trash about why he or she is unfit to become the party’s nominee and the city’s next Mayor.

People who claim to support Fenty talk about how she really doesn’t want the job; she’s tired and just wants to stop him. They warn! How about her age, her weight, her look? Cropp supporters can also be ruthless. A minister claiming to support Linda wanted me to do a story on how her opponent is Godless! Doesn’t believe in God and doesn’t go to church. Fact is he says he does believe; just doesn’t belong to a church. Another Cropp supporter get suggested that her opponent’s sexuality and alleged drug use be looked into? I must admit that regardless of Tuesday’s outcome I think both Linda Cropp and Adrian Fenty have staged hard fought respectable campaigns. And that includes her so called TV ads attacking his record as a private attorney. Voters should have that information and his admission of mistakes as part of their decision process; Likewise Cropp’s entire 26 years in public office are fair game including her role in the current state of the DC schools. For the record, neither candidate has ever encouraged the vicious personal attacks that I refer to..In fact Cropp told me that she would fire any campaign worker who took part in a personal smear campaign against Fenty or his family.  

Fenty and Barry!

 

You can bet that the Adrian Fenty campaign people have been on the phones with Marion Barry this morning trying to figure out what Barry must have been thinking late Tuesday when he issued a press release without warning declaring that Barry was “joining” the Fenty Campaign. The email came across my desk during the Six O’clock news after we aired our story, with Linda Cropp reaction, about the Washington Post finally endorsing Fenty for Mayor. We knew Marion Barry also wanted to publicly endorse Fenty before the contest with Linda Cropp was decided; but I’m sure someone of influence close to Fenty had to advise him to wait until after the Post signed on so as not to alienate the white voters who were already with Fenty or leaning his way! Barry could hardly wait! Without so much as a warning call to the candidate, Barry released a statement from his office declaring his support while also announcing that he and Fenty would be making several campaign appearances today (Wednesday) at a senior citizens complex and throughout Barry’s ward eight. Last night Fenty’s ward four team gathered at the home of Robert Malson where the 35 year old front runner told me he had no plans to campaign with Barry. The first he heard of Barry’s endorsement or the planned joint appearances was when a reporter asked him about it late Tuesday. Fenty pulled up a standard campaign line when asked about getting Barry’s public support. He said he welcomes all endorsements. Stay tuned. If I know Marion Barry, he won’t be ignored and he certainly won’t give up in his efforts for a joint appearance with Fenty to reaffirm that he is still a major player in local politics.

Is it over!

If Linda Cropp comes back to win the Democratic Mayoral nomination on Tuesday, September 12^th it will go down as the biggest political comeback in the District’s still brief Home Rule history. Already down by ten points in the polls, the veteran Council Chairman was dealt what Fenty supporters are privately calling a knock out blow Tuesday, September 5th when the Washington Post, as expected, tossed its support behind the 35 year old Ward four representative. If only 4 to 7 percent of the voters were undecided before the endorsement, what chances does Cropp now have of getting all those votes for herself? Slim and None! Fenty today sounded like a robot! The Washington Post endorsement is what it is, he kept saying regardless of how I tried to pin him down on where the race is now with but days to go…we both eventually laughed at his responses. Cropp, for her part said she had come to expect the Post to back her opponent. She bases that on the incredibly good coverage Adrian has been getting throughout the news paper for the past several months.

The Final Stretch!

“Sometimes the Post gets it Right and Sometimes They get it Wrong, This Time They got it Wrong”. That was Kathy Patterson’s comment when I talked to her by phone Saturday after the city’s biggest newspaper endorsed her opponent Vincent Gray in the race for Council Chairman. The endorsement comes as a stunner to some in the western parts of the city. Patterson, the ward three Representative since the mid 1990’s, was commended for her legislative record by the Post; but the editorial board clearly sided with some of her council colleagues who say privately Patterson is not one to seek consensus or lead the legislative body. Gray has been on the Council for but two years as the ward seven representative after upsetting Kevin Chavous, the veteran legislator and former mayoral candidate. The Newspaper clearly was impressed by Gray’s calm but demanding presence.

The big question now is will the Washington Post endorse Adrian Fenty as many people expect, helping elect two politicians with no experience at the District’s two biggest jobs! It could happen; or as someone pointed out this weekend, maybe the Post endorses long shot mayoral candidate Marie Johns, bypassing both Fenty and DC Council Chairman Linda Cropp, a move that would really shake things up. Post people in the know are not talking as no one wants to be accused of leaking how the selection process is going or when the endorsement is coming out.