Candidates Warned Against Empty Talk

That fact didn't seem to faze the caller, who identified himself as a representative of "Mountain Research," a firm that is not listed by the American Association for Public Opinion Research. In addition to questions about banning marriage and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, Puth said, the caller asked "what issues would sway me to vote for or against such an initiative, including whether this were a ruse by Republicans in the Bush administration to divert attention from more critical issues . . . or if increasing numbers of black men were becoming gay, thereby reducing the strength of the black family."

Community activist Gary Imhoff said he, too, was surveyed, although he thought the caller was asking about an initiative to legalize gay marriage. Numerous confused others called D.C. election officials to ask about a gay marriage initiative, said Bill O'Field , a spokesman for the Board of Elections and Ethics.

The bottom line: A proposal to ban same-sex marriage in the District was filed in 2004 by Ward 4 resident Lisa L. Greene , O'Field said, but Greene never filed campaign finance papers, raised any money or sought certification from the elections board. That process generally takes several months and requires the collection of thousands of signatures.

For the November election, the deadline for submitting signatures is July 10. That means there's unlikely to be anything about gay marriage on the D.C. ballot. So who is spending money to conduct a poll about something that doesn't exist?

Barbs From Bobb

At a Ward 8 town hall meeting last week hosted by council member Marion Barry (D), City Administrator Robert C. Bobb praised his host and took a swipe at his boss.

"Although I work for Mayor Williams , I feel like every day I work more for [Barry] because he's in my office more than any other council member. And the mayor has yet to come to my office after three years," said Bobb, who was highly vexed when Williams this spring backed away from a plan to build a hospital on the banks of the Anacostia River.

Bobb's appearance was unscheduled at the event, billed as a seminar on "wealth building" featuring representatives of developer Herb Miller 's Western Development Corp., which has been tapped to build an entertainment district around the city's new baseball stadium.

Miller didn't show. But employee Moddie Turay did, and he related the tale of his hiring. When Miller asked why he wanted to work in development, Turay responded: "Well, I want to make a lot of money."

But the town hall meeting was not about building Turay's wealth. It was about building other people's wealth, in part through an entrepreneurial training program Western Development plans to offer D.C. residents who are interested in operating concessions and working as vendors at the new ballpark.

Remember, you can get wealth only three ways, Barry told the crowd: Earn it, inherit it or steal it.

"Let's focus on how we can get money legitimately," Barry said. "Legitimately."