By Lori Montgomery and Henri Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 5, 2005
Readers of the DCist, a Web site about local culture and politics, were treated last week to an amusing lampoon of the "Orange Poll," the 10-item questionnaire Council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) has been circulating since December to help him decide whether to run for mayor.
"Part insulting, part confusing and wholly unhelpful in measuring public support or opposition for any given issue, Orange seems to have gone cheap on his polling," wrote Martin Austermuhle , a DCist contributor who lives on Capitol Hill and works for the Venezuelan Embassy, according to his bio.
There follows a list of Orange's yes/no queries and Austermuhle's responses. To wit: "5. Are public safety, public education and quality of life important factors in deciding who you will support for Mayor in 2006?" "Now, really, would anyone actually answer 'no' to this question?"
Soon after the piece was posted last Thursday, reader replies started pouring in. And that's when things got really interesting.
"Oh, wait, it gets MUCH BETTER," wrote Jim , who directed readers to a page on Orange's mayoral exploratory committee Web site. That page appeared to show the results of the Orange Poll: As of Friday, 96 people had replied to the 10th and final question, "Should Vincent Bernard Orange Sr. become a candidate for the 2006 DC Mayoral race?"
Fifty-five of them -- 57 percent -- answered no.
By Monday, the poll was no longer accessible on Orange's Web site. "Error processing survey," came the message. "Survey is not active."
Hmmmm. Did Orange pull the plug because he was losing his own poll?
Not at all, said the council member. Those so-called results Jim offered up were phony, he said, doctored by hackers who attacked the exploratory committee Web site over the weekend.
"We don't have any results, so they would have to be made up," Orange said. "Our system isn't designed for people to have access to that information."
On Monday, aides were still trying to figure out what had happened and planning to call police, Orange said. On Tuesday, the online poll reappeared in a different format. Two spelling errors ridiculed by Austermuhle had been corrected.
Meanwhile, 60 people have replied to a paper version of the Orange Poll mailed last month to approximately 90,000 D.C. households. Of those, 34 said Orange should run for mayor, a more encouraging 56 percent of those polled, Orange said.
Also on Deck . . .In other news about 2006, Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) held his first mayoral campaign event Friday, a meet-and-greet at the home of Shaw activist Beth Solomon. About 100 supporters from across Evans's downtown district showed up to hear him sketch out a platform emphasizing better schools and health care for the poor.
"I intend to run for mayor in 2006 and I intend to win," Evans said, according to those present.
And Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) stands ready to join the line forming to run for council chairman if Linda W. Cropp (D) runs for mayor. Patterson met with several dozen advisers two weeks ago to game out a campaign strategy. She could form an exploratory committee, but -- as one of the council's good-government types -- she has promised to make public reports about donations and expenditures.
"There's no secret that I'm interested in serving as council chairman and there's also no secret that I would not run against Mrs. Cropp,'' Patterson said.
Washington's the ManJudge Eric T. Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals appears to have sewn up the nod for chief judge of the District's highest court. The D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission announced this week that Washington, 51, is the only applicant to replace Annice M. Wagner , who has served as chief judge since 1994.
Wagner announced earlier this year that she would step down after almost three decades on the bench, first in Superior Court and later on the appeals court. The judicial nomination commission plans to meet May 23 to choose her successor.
The Court of Appeals is the District's highest local court and, in a city teeming with lawyers, the chief judge assumes a post of considerable legal and political influence.
Washington has been a judge for 10 years, first on the superior court bench from 1995 to 1999 and then on the court of appeals. Before becoming a judge, he was a partner at Hogan & Hartson, and before that he was a senior attorney for the corporation counsel, now known as the D.C. attorney general.
Moving and Shaking· D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) showed up at the White House Correspondents Association dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night as a guest of the Los Angeles Times. "I'm a hometown boy," said the mayor, who was born and raised in the City of Angels. " They appreciate me."
· D.C. school Superintendent Clifford B. Janey has hired a new communications director. Alexis Moore-Bruton , a former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter who later worked in public relations for the Philadelphia public schools, started work Monday.
· There's also a new spokeswoman at the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. LaShon Seastrunk came from the Falls Church sports and entertainment PR firm of Brotman-Winter-Fried Communications, where she worked on homeless and youth projects. She started this week.
Staff writers Eric M. Weiss, V. Dion Haynes and Theola Labbe contributed to this report.