Global Mayor May Miss Local Vote

Following up his recent trip to Paris, the District's peripatetic mayor, Anthony A. Williams, is planning to hit the road again this weekend. His destination: Rome.

The four-day trip, scheduled to commence Saturday and conclude Tuesday, may force the mayor to miss a key date in his battle to take over the city's troubled public school system. The D.C. Council, which last month rejected the mayor's original takeover proposal, has tentatively scheduled a second vote on the schools plan for Tuesday.

The vote originally was scheduled for last week, when Williams was in Paris. But it was canceled because Council member Sharon Ambrose was attending her mother's funeral.

Williams's deputy chief of staff, Gregory McCarthy, conceded this week that "the mayor might not be back" in time for the rescheduled schools vote. But McCarthy said Williams (D) has been "lobbying hard" for his takeover plan and will continue to talk with council members until his departure this weekend.

"Do we have seven votes yet? No. Are we close? Yes," McCarthy said.

So what's drawing the mayor to Rome? Williams is scheduled to participate with music producer Quincy Jones in a global forum to assist children in areas of conflict. Williams spokesman Tony Bullock said Williams has participated in the event for the last two years.

"It's important to the mayor and to Quincy Jones and to mayors from major European cities," Bullock said. "It's an event that's growing in stature."

Bullock said Williams's itinerary isn't all European capitals. For instance, he plans to deliver an address this week in connection with his leadership role in the National League of Cities. The venue? East Plains, Ga.

"You gotta take the glamorous with the East Plains," Bullock said.

Democrats Name Official

Emily Durso Vetter, the former president of the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C., has been named the executive director of the D.C. Democratic Party, Chairman A. Scott Bolden announced Monday. She takes the reins of the D.C. Democratic State Committee less than three months before the District's party leaders head to Boston to cast their ballots in the 2004 presidential race.

Vetter said she enjoyed watching the reaction of longtime associates when she started attending the state committee's meetings.

"They were a little shocked when I started walking in the room," she said. "I was never involved in state politics. I was always involved in supporting candidates."

Vetter, who headed the hotel association from 1990 through mid-2001, is president of E.V. Housing Inc., a Washington-based nonprofit affordable housing development corporation. She was the association's team leader for the development of the new Washington Convention Center.

"Ms. Vetter has a stellar reputation in the D.C. community at large and is well known for her leadership, political and fundraising skills in the business and hospitality industry," Bolden said in a prepared statement. "She is a first-rate manager and administrator, [and] knows the District, its politics and Democratic elected officials."