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Native Intelligence
	Election repudiates politics-as-usual (Published September 20, 2004) By DIANA WINTHROP

I have a secret love affair with election post mortems. I savor the final numbers and spend hours analyzing candidate returns by precincts and wards. As a native Washingtonian, those numbers tell me what my neighbors care about and what their hopes and expectations are for the city. Tuesday’s primary was a good old-fashioned lesson in democracy. I knew there was a reason why I felt a tinge of optimism on Election Day.

The primary results indicate that some of the hottest races were a repudiation of Mayor Anthony Williams, as well as politics-as-usual in the District. Williams campaigned hard for his favorite council member, Harold Brazil, who could easily be persuaded to support the mayor’s programs on almost every critical issue. Brazil’s detractors have complained for years that the affable at-large councilman had no real political ideology and no vision for the city.

According to some of the mayor’s staff, Brazil’s was the easiest vote to sway. In a city where the mayor’s popularity has sunk so low, not only in the poorest wards but also in the wealthiest, Williams’ effort to save Brazil was doomed from the onset. The mayor’s political guru, Max Brown, was sent to raise Brazil’s sinking ship, but to no avail.

It was good to see incumbents like Brazil and Kevin Chavous, who possessed huge war chests, lose to challengers with far less money. It was good to see negative campaigns, such as Brazil’s against successful challenger Kwame Brown, rejected by voters at a time when mud slinging has become the norm in national politics. It was especially good to see incumbents lose because they took the voters for granted. While voter turnout has been embarrassingly low in the District (as it is nationwide), it was even better to see a large number of registered Democrats vote on primary day.

This election has also raised hope for the city because of the number of young candidates on the ballot. Brown, who defeated Brazil, is a 33-year-old native Washingtonian. Political observers said Sam Brooks, also a native Washingtonian, ran an excellent campaign and impressed much of the electorate in neighborhood forums. As a resident of Ward 2, Brooks is the first individual in years that Ward 2 activists say has the potential to defeat Jack Evans (who ran unopposed this time) -- and Brooks actually won Ward 2 in the at-large race. Evans won’t be up for re-election until 2008, when Brooks will still be young -- only 28. Some politically active residents say they hope Brooks doesn’t wimp out and stays involved in local politics.

Ward 4 Councilman Adrian Fenty, who at 33 is the youngest elected official serving on the council, is often mentioned as a mayoral candidate for 2006.

The winner of the Republican primary in Ward 7 is Jerod Tolson, a 32-year-old native Washingtonian who runs his own office relocation and storage business. The Statehood Green Party candidate challenging Evans in November is Jay Marx, who is a 34-year-old consultant.

The power of endorsements from elected officials also has declined dramatically. For example, the endorsement of Harold Brazil by Mayor Williams, council Chairman Linda Cropp, At-Large Councilman Phil Mendelson and Ward 6 Councilwoman Sharon Ambrose did not noticeably help Brazil. The endorsement of Ward 8 Councilwoman Sandy Allen by the entire city council didn’t sway voters away from Marion Barry in Ward 8.

Cropp, along with defeated D.C. Democratic State Committee Chairman A. Scott Bolden, thought endorsements and ballot position were important. They weren’t. Neither has a real clue why their candidates lost on Sept. 14th. Every candidate Cropp publicly endorsed lost (including the Democratic Party slate supported by Mayor Williams and headed by Bolden).

Cropp and Bolden just don’t get it. Primary endorsements are patently unfair. They weaken party organizations and are divisive. Bolden actually believes he has no responsibility for the loss of the 12 at-large members of the state committee. Bolden (as well as some of the other defeated state committee members) points to the clever slogan of the opposing slate -- "Running Against Bush" -- as one of the reasons the mayor’s slate lost.

"I do not believe my leadership or the reform positions we took had anything to do with our defeat," Bolden says. "They ran a great race, they had a great ballot position and they won.

"Scott, can you spell "denial"?

Longtime political activist John Capozzi, a member of the winning "Running Against Bush" slate, said the defeat of Bolden and his slate with a clever name and favorable ballot position says less about their strengths and more about the failings of Bolden’s leadership and the weakness of the mayor's slate.

Capozzi said an $8,000 war chest, a citywide mailing, Williams' organizational backing and the mayor himself couldn’t overcome the substantive shoe-leather appeal of the "Running Against Bush" slate.

Bolden likely will lose his position as Democratic Party chief at the state committee's October meeting, when a new chairman and officers will be elected. Bolden said his loss won’t affect his commitment to the city, though one wonders if he will still be viewed as a mayoral candidate in 2006. It is likely Bolden won’t go far in D.C. politics until he learns to take responsibility for his failures.

And not surprisingly, as I reported a month ago, Anita Bonds, the popular new director of neighborhood services for the mayor, is expected to run for the party chairmanship. Insiders say Ward 8's Wanda Lockridge also is being urged to run by the newly elected state committee members.

Stay tuned for the fireworks in October.

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Diana Winthrop is a native Washingtonian. Contact her at diana@thecommondenominator.com.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator