Primary Irrelevance
Dear Hapless DC Voters:
I've recovered nicely from my drubbing for opposing the graffiti
vandalism that's being committed on the DC flag, and I'm back for
seconds. You do realize, don't you, that if you are a Democratic voter
your vote in the greatly touted “first Presidential primary” won't
count for anything? The Democratic primary will be nothing but a beauty
contest, worth no more than any other poll. Your vote won't elect
anything or anybody. For years, the great majority of the DC delegates
to the Democratic presidential convention were “superdelegates,”
chosen because of their elected positions or positions in the local or
national party, and the voters selected only a minority of the
delegates. But this year, the primary "election" won't elect
any delegates, and the delegates to the convention aren't required to
support the candidate chosen by the voters. Two of the most influential
elected officials who will be delegates have already said that they
won't be bound by the result of the “shadow primary”: Mayor Anthony
Williams refuses to pledge to support the winner of the primary, and
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, after initially saying she would support the
winner, withdrew that pledge on June 26, saying: “I had indicated that
I would support whoever wins the non-binding presidential primary.
However, considering research being done for me by outside experts, I do
not intend to make a final decision until I am convinced by the outcome
of that research that pre-pledging my vote will not keep the District
from getting support for voting rights from other delegations at the
convention or otherwise harm the city's campaign for full voting
representation.” Whatever else that double-talk means, it certainly
means, “Waste your time voting for whomever you want, suckers. It
won't have any effect on me.”
A few years ago, DC voters gave away our power to elect half the
school board. Now Democratic voters have lost any meaningful or binding
vote for their party's presidential candidate. How come the people who
say that they're concerned about increasing the power of DC's voters
succeed only in reducing our power and in freeing politicians from
having to answer to us?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Tom Sherwood and the DC Primary
Chuck Thies, chuckthies@aol.com
On January 13th, 2004 Democrats in DC will host the nation's first
Presidential primary. Supported unanimously by the City Council, signed
by the mayor and approved by Congress, this date is now law. Activists
and elected officials who developed the idea, well aware that all things
political are subject to criticism or even attack, did their research
and brought a solid plan to the table. Now that the Primary is set, one
pundit critical of the Primary appears to be firing from the hip. Tom
Sherwood misses the mark when, in his June 18th Notebook “One step
forward... Two Back...,” he writes, “other [presidential] candidates
would use a [DC primary] win to beat you over the head in every primary
after that.” http://www.nbc4.com/tomsherwoodsnotebook/2276612/detail.html.
The notion that a candidate would be somehow penalized for a primary
campaign victory in DC — due to our history of electing a few
scandalous politicians — is unsubstantiated and lacks historical
precedent. Based on Sherwood's theory, national candidates would have
stopped campaigning in California post-1974, when that state's former
Governor suffered the ultimate political humiliation and resigned the
Presidency. Recent events cast further doubt on Sherwood's premise. At
present, California Governor Gray Davis is facing a shocking — and
likely to succeed — recall effort. Notwithstanding, presidential
hopefuls continue to campaign in the Golden State and have not
characterized California voters as misguided or otherwise unworthy of
serious attention. If it is truly possible to tarnish an opponent by
negatively exploiting a prior campaign victory, there was no better
opportunity to do so than 1992, when the nomination of incumbent
President George H.W. Bush seemed to be in jeopardy. Prior to New
Hampshire and Iowa, the candidacy of Pat Buchanan got a jump start by
winning the Louisiana caucuses. Of course, it's no secret that
Louisianans have a history of electing some less-than-scrupulous
politicians. Nonetheless, the Bush campaign didn't attack Buchanan based
on his Louisiana victory, and in fact, New Hampshire primary voters
chose Buchanan over Bush.
Campaigns, be they local or national, always tout their victories,
and do so without reservations. That can be said for the recent
reelection of DC At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson, as well. In June
of 2002 Mendelson won the endorsement of Ward 8 Democrats. Ward 8, of
course, is widely understood to be Marion Barry's base. Later that
month, at the endorsement forum in Ward 3 (undeniably Mendelson's base
and a Ward in which Barry support had long ago vanished), Mendelson
pitched his Ward 8 victory. The result: a landslide for Mendelson. Ward
3 Democrats didn't penalize Mendelson for receiving the support of
voters who had once supported Barry, and Mendelson's rivals certainly
didn't try to exploit his success in Ward 8 as a sign of weakness.
Rather, Mendelson was able to use his Ward 8 victory to demonstrate the
diversity of his supporters. I know of no instance wherein campaigns
were able to exploit victories enjoyed by their opponents. As an
experienced professional campaigner, I wouldn't even know how to
successfully spin a story like that. The District's January 13th, 2004
first-in-the-nation Primary provides a rare opportunity for voters and
presidential candidates. For DC voters, they get to play a key role in
determining the Democratic nominee, and for presidential hopefuls, a
victory in DC will demonstrate that candidate's ability to win urban,
progressive and African American votes; vital constituencies on the road
to nomination.
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Trash Collection Will Begin Early on Code
Red/Code Orange Days
Bill Adler, billonline@adlerbooks.com
Despite DPW's good intentions to start trash collection at 6 a.m. on
Code Red and Code Orange days, it's illegal. Section 2806.1 of Title 20
of the DC Municipal Code prohibits trash and recycling pickups in
residential neighborhoods before 7 a.m. City agencies, including the
Department of Public Works, cannot waive the law by fiat. District
residents are entitled to a full night's sleep. The preamble to the DC
noise law sums up the law's purpose well: “It is hereby declared that
excessive or unnecessary noises within the District are a menace to the
welfare and prosperity of the residents and businesses of the
District.” Sleep deprivation is a major health problem. I wish that
the DC government would get serious about fixing our air pollution
problems and eliminate Code Red days, rather than adding noise pollution
to the list of the city's woes.
If you are woken up by illegal, pre-7 a.m. trash or recycling pickups
you can call 311 and have the violator cited by the police. You can also
sue the city. I have a web site about how to stop illegal noise in DC at
http://www.quietdc.com. That site
also includes contact information about illegal morning trash and
recycling pickups.
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The Metropolitan Police Department revealed tonight that there have
been twenty-nine related arsons, with the same modus operandi and
probably by the same person or persons, in the metropolitan area over
the past several weeks, since March 25. Over these weeks, a regional
task force has been formed to investigate the arsons. The lead spokesman
during the ongoing crisis has been the fire captain of Prince Georges
County, Chauncy Bowers, who continues to downplay the number of
connected fires. Meanwhile, the DC Fire and Emergency Services
Department has been represented only by battalion chiefs and by
Department spokesman Allan Etter.
Neither the Mayor nor Fire Chief Adrian Thompson has spoken out about
the crisis. Thompson's first public comment on the issue was made only
tonight, after the issue of his invisibility was raised during the
Mayor's morning press conference. During a public safety crisis, whether
it be these arsons, the anthrax scare, or the Beltway snipers, citizens
want to hear from their responsible public officials. It is an important
part of these officials' jobs not only to coordinate efforts to meet the
crisis, but also to assure citizens that the government's best efforts
are being made on their behalf. A frequent complaint about MPD Chief
Ramsey is that he is concerned almost exclusively with public relations.
That concentration on PR demonstrates misplaced priorities. But in a
crisis, communicating to the public what the government knows, what it
is doing, and what the citizens' exposure to danger is, is an important
part of the job. Officials' reluctance to being seen giving out the bad
news shouldn't stand in the way of their doing their duty to inform the
public.
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AOL Time Warner Foundation’s Involvement in
DC
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
I was browsing the AOL Time Warner Foundation web site this evening
and came across this interesting text: "AOL Achievers. AOL
partnered with Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington, DC, for a
program that builds students' skills and raises their aspirations for a
college education. Challenging students to set their sights high, the
AOL Achievers program offers free SAT prep courses, an AOL computer lab,
free AOL accounts, and AOL employees as mentors for qualifying students.
Calvin Coolidge students can earn scholarship awards based on academic
performance, which are put towards a college education. Through the help
of employee involvement, the AOL Achievers program has seen the number
of students who have qualified for the scholarship increase from 87 to
205 over the past 18 months." You won't be seeing mention of this
in the Washington Post or on the evening news, which focus
predominantly on negative news stories about our communities. Whatever
anyone says about AOL, I give them credit for having an active
philanthropy program in place. Same for Verizon; however much anyone
complains about their service, it's good to know that Verizon is very
seriously committed (to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars) to
increase literacy in the DC. For those who might be interested, you can
see some more about AOL Time Warner Foundation's handiwork in a product
review I wrote earlier this year. This interactive training DVD is
available at a discounted price of $25 for affiliates of Community
Technology Centers' Network. http://www.ctcnet.org.
The price of the DVD for the general public is $99. The review I wrote
can be found at http://www.his.com/pshapiro/flashmxbasicsdvd.html.
The source of the above quote from the AOL Time Warner Foundation web
site is http://aoltimewarnerfoundation.org/test/employ/employ.html.
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DC and Statehood
Joe Coletti, Columbia Heights, jdcoletti@hotmail.com
John B. Mahaffie raised a number of interesting critiques of
comparing DC statistical apples with other cities' statistical oranges
and states' statistical bananas. While I would argue that comparing DC
with other cities is not as baseless as Mr. Mahaffie contends (compare
population densities), the state comparison raises again the question of
whether statehood for the City of Washington and the District of
Washington makes sense.
Regardless of what you compare the District to, its citizens are
overtaxed and underserved. What benefits will representation in Congress
bring for DC as it is now constituted? Greater control over the local
budget? Lower taxes? Better public schools or more school choice? A more
reliable Metro system? More affordable housing? More pork? Montgomery
and Prince George's Counties and Northern Virginia share greater
economic, cultural, and social similarities with Washington than they do
with the rest of their respective states. Why not recognize this and
incorporate the metro area into a state. This is no more quixotic than
the current quest and has the potential to solve more problems. The
other option is for retrocession to Maryland. Then Washington, PGC,
Montgomery County, and Baltimore can trump the rest of the state and
there would be no more Republican governors for the state.
###############
It can have only the most distant relationship to the outrageously
hot discussion of the DC flag and George Washington, but the device of
stars and bars was, long ago, the sign of my village in England, also
called Washington. Three stars with two bars, worn by children (there
were some, then) who attended the Grammar School there. The colors were
strange, of course: golden stars on a deep green, but the shape was the
same.
It is surely very normal for those despised by others to adopt, with
pride, the terms of those others or, as here, to reach back into an
effective rhetoric of past struggles for their watchword, but I would,
personally, keep terms of art and insignia separate, or put the first in
the obscurity of a decent dead language, such as Latin. Pecunia non
olet, for example.
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Push Polls and Vouchers
John Whiteside, johnwhiteside at earthlink dot net
I chuckled at Mark Eckenwiler's post on push polls and DCPS. Sounds
like this poll was not about gathering data. It's highly unlikely, by
the way, that the person on the phone had any idea who paid for the
poll; that was probably a low-paid phone worker hundreds or thousands of
miles from DC just following their script from a computer screen.
Speaking of manipulation and vouchers, though, did anyone catch Kevin
Chavous on the Kojo Nnamdi Show's DC Politics Hour last week on WAMU
(NPR)? Mr. Chavous informed us that vouchers have worked wonders all
over the place, the only people opposed to them are bureaucrats in the
school system or people who are “ignorant,” or people without kids
(who apparently aren't allowed an opinion even though our tax dollars
pay for DCPS. Best of all was the string of callers who phoned into the
show and led with “I love your guest and the things he's saying!”
Congratulations to Mr. Chavous' team on lining them all up, and shame on
Kojo Nnamdi's staff — it was an embarrassing moment for the show. It's
rather frightening to hear someone who clearly wants to be mayor
demonstrate such simple-mindedness; the voucher debate is a serious one,
and opponents have valid and important concerns, but Mr. Chavous either
doesn't understand them or simply doesn't care. If you were a teacher,
your blood would boil listening to him; as he talked about the current
system in which teachers “leave at 3 and forget about kids”
(paraphrasing him, but it was pretty close to that) I thought of the
number of times I've called to my best friend (a public school teacher
in New England) at 9 p.m. to find him grading papers, preparing
materials for class, etc.
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Republican School Voucher Push: Solutions
Melody R. Webb, melodywebb@lobbyline.com
In the context of the struggle to stop the voucher push in DC,
readers of themail have written eloquently of the unfair comparison
between the performance of DC school students (residents of a poor
central city) and those students in cities and states with a vastly more
varied demographic makeup than that of Washington. themail contributors
have made a wonderful new commitment to exploring solutions to match
problems discussed in themail. A solution to this particular continued
assault on DC schools and students is for us all to get more involved in
the debate on an issue critical to the future of DC school students --
private school vouchers. What an affront this push is by the Republican
Rep. Tom Davis (R- Va) and President George Bush to impose their
solution to DC's public education problem, at the expense of DC
self-governance. (How hypocritical that Mr. Davis now wants to give us a
single vote in Congress (representational democracy) when he would
ignore the 1981 referendum and opinion polls of DC residents rejecting
vouchers (self governance democracy)!)
Rep. Davis and company have lately been nobly busy working on behalf
of DC's residents. In the span of a few weeks, Rep. Davis has introduced
a new congressional DC voucher bill (Rep. Flake (R- Arizona) was the
author of the first House voucher plan of this 108th Congress); he has
inflicted the federal back stab to the Mayor in the process (the feds
had promised money for the public charter and traditional schools to
accompany the Mayor's newfound support for vouchers). Mr. Davis has held
a hearing on the voucher legislation (HR-2556), and his markup will
happen sometime next week. What a fast track! Just yesterday -- Tuesday
— Pres. Bush used a local public charter school as the backdrop to
reinvigorate the unpopular plank of his national education platform
(vouchers) to promote the same for DC. Vouchers comprise the Republican
party's solution for our local public education problem. If we want
solutions, how about Republicans fully fund the federal special
education mandate, which is nationally about 22 percent below what was
promised thirty years ago? How about fund the Bush's own No Child Left
Behind federal mandates for ensuring accountability through measures
like teacher training and student testing. NCLB was under-funded by $6
billion last year, and so far the bill in the House this year is $9
billion short. Lest we be fooled about the President's intent on behalf
of DC public school students, of whom my children are two, there is no
extra money for our public schools in the President's budget.
I have written before about this issue, and many have done their
research and taken action. Superb. What can you do about this
exploitation of our disenfranchisement to impose a privatization scheme
on our public schools, against our will? Let's keep up the good work by
signing a petition at http://www.stopdcvouchers.org/petition.htm
and by E-mailing the Mayor, Mr. Davis, Ms. Cafritz, and asking the
Council to sponsor a resolution against vouchers. Thank our champion on
this issue, Mr. Fenty, also. Look out for the markup of Davis' voucher
plan, likely to happen sometime next week in the Rayburn House Office
Building. Call for details and tell Rep. Davis to leave DC residents and
their schools alone! Mr. Davis' number is 225-1492.
###############
While I support the idea of community policing — officers
encouraged and trained to listen to residents’ concerns and solutions,
and residents committed to ensuring their neighborhood is safe and
vibrant — I also identify its shortcomings. The biggest one being that
what normally results from community policing is that “bad guys” are
rooted out of communities and put into the criminal justice system, or
pushed into other communities.
I am much more interested in exploring the community conferencing
model, which resembles the way a number of tribes across the world have
solved problems for generations. Not yet utilized in DC, community
conferencing is reducing recidivism and saving thousands of dollars in
Baltimore (and just adopted in Montgomery County). While cooperation is
needed from police and the courts, the main actors are community
members. Instead of focusing on who did what, and how to punish them, a
community conferencing facilitator asks community members impacted by a
crime, including the perpetrator, what harm was caused and how to repair
the harm. This way a community gains a broader understanding of the
roots of crime in their community, and also gets an opportunity to
develop ways to fill in some of the gaps in a community. For example,
after adults heard that the children they have labeled
"disruptive," had nowhere to play because they were scared of
the park, adults formed a football league that has been growing for two
years.
I’m sure some really innovative ideas could be developed to solve
the problem of garden raiding. It would be in the process of
communicating and getting to the root of an issue, that the cycle of
crime can be stopped. For more information about community conferencing,
search the web, or E-mail Lauren Abramson at Community Conferencing,
Inc., labramso@jhmi.edu
###############
I'm really glad the frustrated reader of themail got his tax refund.
Moving forward, what is it going take for citizens can get basic
services delivered without having to air the problem in a public forum
first? To make sure this isn't perceived as just whining, I'll propose a
solution: require that city employees return phone calls, respond to
service requests, and resolve problems within a reasonable time frame.
###############
I commend Mr. Linton's assessment of why community policing is harder
that we think, but I'm afraid the training and time he suggests is
another task for the Palm-enjoying police chief, who isn't really
addressing the issue of community policing/presence in any realistic
way.
On another tack, the perpetual budget crisis: in addition to the
reasons given by many writers, it is also due to DC's particularly high
number of people needing city human services, and the abnormally few
sources of revenue for the city. I wonder who has a solution for this
reality.
###############
Here's a quote from Saturday's Post about the credit card
scandal: “Some purchases might appear unusual, but further research
has shown them to be reasonable, Bullock said. For example, he said, one
employee who was criticized for using his card at a Bally shoe store was
actually buying bags to protect government-issued laptop computers.”
Given that Bally is known as a luxury leather goods store, I was amazed
by the statement, so I called over to the store. Leather computer bags
are $650 each. They also sell a nylon messenger bag which some people
use for computers. They're on sale for $299. At such bargain prices,
maybe the employee should have also bought some leather bags for the
$10,000 plasma screen TVs the procurement office paid for, which are now
missing. It's shocking that Mr. Bullock would use the Bally purchase as
the one example to give to the Post of how the credit cards were
used properly.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Rosalynn Carter at Woman’s National
Democratic Club, July 9
Pat Bitondo, pbitondo@aol.com
A gala evening as former First Lady Rosalynn Carter visits WNDC to
receive the Eleanor Roosevelt Award being given jointly to former
President Jimmy Carter and to her. Wednesday, July 9, 6:00 p.m., Woman's
National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, telephone
232-7363.
After presentation of the award Mrs. Carter will introduce a film,
Waging Peace, followed by brief remarks. Come and greet this
extraordinary woman, half of a remarkable couple. This is a tax
deductible event and proceeds will help with the projects at Neval
Thomas Elementary School and the Young Women's Leadership Program. Price
is $50.00 for non members, $40 for members and students $25.00. E-mail
Pat Fitzgerald at pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org
to make a reservation.
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On Monday, July 14, Footlights — the DC area's only
drama-discussion group — will sponsor a talk with Canada's leading
feminist director, Alisa Palmer. Palmer will discuss her production of
“Diana of Dobson's,” on stage through October 3 at the Shaw Festival
in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. In “Diana,” a sweatshop worker
receives a small inheritance, then spends it all on a month at a
high-class resort frequented by eligible bachelors. Reckless
extravagance or wise investment? The New York Times found
“Diana” “witty” and “smart”; the New York Post called
it “exciting and “remarkably moving.” Backstage Books, Olsson's,
and Politics and Prose have copies. Admission is free; an optional
dinner begins at 6:30, and the discussion runs 7:30-9:30 p.m., both at
Luna Books, 1633 P Street, NW. For reservations and further information
go to http://www.footlightsdc.org,
E-mail gruenberg@footlightsdc.org,
or call 898-4825 (24 hours/day).
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Just got central A/C installed and no longer need my three window
units. Two are about three years old and good for 1-2 rooms. One is
older, but powerful enough to cool my entire first floor. $40/each.
332-5599.
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CLASSIFIEDS — INTERNS
Spring/Summer Interns, Institute for Local
Self-Reliance
Jonathan Burnworth, ilsr@igc.org
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s (ILSR’s) Washington, DC
office has immediate openings for spring and summer interns to work on
our DC Area Green Business Directory. ILSR is a nonprofit research and
educational organization that works with government agencies, community
groups, and business to help build sustainable communities with local
resources. The DC Area Green Business Directory will be a community
resource listing businesses that sell or offer environmental products or
services. It will also include independently owned coffee houses,
bookstores, pharmacies, and video stores. Need an architect who can
design green buildings? Want to know which dry cleaners use
environmentally benign cleaners? Want to control pests without using
toxics? Looking for a house cleaner who uses environmentally sensitive
cleaning products? Seeking a printer who uses recycled-content paper?
Try the DC Area Green Business Directory!
Interns will use phone, face-to-face meetings, Internet and other
resources to identify and solicit green businesses to include in our DC
Area Green Business Directory. Specific tasks include: assisting to
develop business categories for the Directory, identifying green
businesses to contact for inclusion in Directory, entering green
business contact information into spreadsheet, contacting and inviting
green businesses to be listed and advertise in Directory, collecting
ads, updating Directory database as needed, researching and developing
community resources section of Directory (e.g., local recycling
requirements, recycling locations, public transportation information),
assisting in writing and editing as needed for the Directory, and other
tasks as needed.
This is an unpaid internship opportunity. Minimum 3-month term, 20
hours/week (30 hours preferred). Flexible hours available.
College/university students or graduates with interest, knowledge,
and/or experience in the environment, recycling, or community
development. Interns should have basic research and computer literacy
skills and be willing to help with basic office tasks as needed.
(Experience with Macintosh, MS Word, Excel, and desktop publishing a
plus.) Excellent communications skills. Ability to work independently
and meet deadlines. ILSR offers an informal, nonsmoking work environment
in the heart of the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington, DC. The
office is accessible via public transit. To apply (no calls please),
mail, fax or E-mail cover letter and resume to Spring/Summer Interns,
Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2425 18th Street, NW 20009-2096, fax
332-0463, ilsr@igc.org.
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CLASSIFIEDS — CAUSES
DC Action for Children Postcard Campaign
Susie Cambria, scambria@dckids.org
“More money for kids . . . More money for youth . . . More money
for families” is DC Action for Children's community-focused initiative
to increase funding for programs and services for children and youth in
the District. You can make a difference. Sign a set of postcards (the
current one is “We want to be able to play ball too”) explaining why
additional funds are needed for recreation-type programs and services.
We'll deliver the cards to the mayor and city council.
To participate, contact Susie Cambria — 234-9404, scambria@dckids.org
— with the number of people in your family and your mailing address.
You'll get a packet including postcards and instructions, and we'll even
mail the cards for you so you don't have to incur the cost of postage!
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Movers
Nick Keenan, nbk at gsionline dot com
We are seeking recommendations for reliable movers for a cross-city
move of our household at the end of July. The ideal company would be
someone who would take care of everything, packing and unpacking as well
as the actual move.
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