Cropp's Mayoral Campaign Gets Early Signs of Support

From the looks of many local streets, Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp must have been awfully busy in the days leading up to her planned announcement to run for D.C. mayor. In upper Northwest, on Capitol Hill, in Adams Morgan and all along 16th Street NW, lampposts and telephone poles have been blanketed with stark black-and-white signs that say simply, "Think Cropp." (Or "Piensen Cropp," to attract Hispanic voters.)

But Cropp (D) said she had nothing to do with the well-timed campaign.

"They aren't mine," she said Tuesday, after greeting Louisiana evacuees outside the D.C. Armory.

"And I don't know who did it. Whoever they are, they're bright people. Intelligent. Thoughtful people who think," she said, laughing.

The signs are the work of the Think D.C. Political Action Committee, which filed papers with the Office of Campaign Finance on Aug. 19. Think D.C. is the brainchild of L. Maurice Daniel, a Ward 4 resident and national political consultant who most recently worked for the mayoral exploratory campaign of former D.C. Democratic Party chairman A. Scott Bolden.

With Bolden out of the hunt for mayor (he's mounting a Democratic primary challenge instead against at-large Council member Phil Mendelson), Daniel formed an independent organization that hopes to endorse candidates in local races and "spur the citizens of Washington, D.C., to give deep consideration about their leaders."

Daniel said he previously worked on the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and Richard Gephardt but has never before gotten involved in city politics. Although he has never met Cropp, he said, he decided to post hundreds of signs supporting her because he thinks she "has what it takes to be an effective leader."

"We're really at a crossroads in the city. I'm assuming the mayor's not going to run. So the city can go one way or another," Daniel said.

Of Cropp, he said: "She knows when to be a conciliator and when to drop the hammer. She has a good balance between economic development and compassion for the city. I think she has a deep reservoir of experience she can call on."

Sharing the Credit

He may have sharp elbows, but at least Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large) gets things done.

While the mayor was in New Mexico at a League of Cities function and other Council members were enjoying the end of their recess or campaigning for office, Catania and his staff came up with the idea of reaching out to victims of Hurricane Katrina by bringing them to the District and housing them at the D.C. Armory.

As Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and most members of the D.C. Council lined up Tuesday outside the Armory to welcome the New Orleans evacuees (and take part in the press conference afterward), Catania was all smiles.