Open Seats Bring Vigor to Races for the D.C. Council

By Elissa Silverman and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 11, 2006

With four D.C. Council seats up for grabs, including the chairman's spot, the September primary is shaping up to be one of the city's most competitive elections in nearly two decades.

Three council members are seeking higher offices and one is retiring, drawing hopefuls to the election who do not have to face the deep pockets of an incumbent. Because there are no runoffs in District elections, victory is possible with a small but reliable group of supporters.

The majority of the 42 declared candidates as of Thursday were Democrats seeking to become their party's nominees for the November general election. Ward candidates must get the signatures of 250 voters of the same party and ward on nominating petitions by July 5. For the chairman and at-large races, candidates must collect 2,000 signatures of voters of the same party.

The races feature an eclectic mix of advisory neighborhood commissioners, previously unsuccessful contenders and grass-roots activists, as well as longtime professionals in other fields who have little experience in local politics. The part-time council job pays $92,520. In Ward 5 alone, there are 16 candidates.

"Incumbents are hard to beat, and now the incumbents are leaving," said Mark Plotkin, a political analyst with WTOP radio. "To quote George Washington Plunkitt, the fabled boss of Tammany Hall: 'I seen my opportunities and I took 'em' -- and that surely applies to this political season."

With Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) retiring after eight years in office and the council being reshaped, political observers say the city is at a critical juncture.

The District has restored its financial health, and an economic boom has sent real estate values soaring, but many residents worry that the urban renaissance has been uneven. Gentrification has revived neighborhoods but pushed out those with lower incomes; development has spread to only certain parts of the city; and the public school system is trying to implement reforms to raise test scores.

"An election like this, where the mayor and council can change, it gives the city a chance to recharge its batteries," said Kurt L. Schmoke, dean of the Howard University School of Law and a former mayor of Baltimore. "It's a time of transition."

No contest highlights the impending change in leadership more than the race for council chairman, one of three at-large council races. The major candidates are Kathy Patterson, who has represented Ward 3 for almost three terms, and Vincent C. Gray, who has served Ward 7 for 17 months.

The two colleagues differ on only a few issues, most notably whether the District should build a $400 million hospital in partnership with Howard University on the grounds of the former D.C. General Hospital. Gray has been a steadfast supporter; Patterson has questioned the need for the hospital.

At some point, political observers say, their political bases could influence how they are perceived by voters. Patterson, who is white, represents a predominantly affluent and white ward. Gray, who is black, serves a ward that is more mixed-income and predominantly black.

Gray's campaign mantra has been to bridge the District's growing divide, and he poses himself as a consensus builder. Patterson has emphasized that her work on citywide issues, including oversight of the police department and the school system, has benefited all residents.

In another at-large race, A. Scott Bolden, 44, a K Street lawyer and former D.C. Democratic Party chairman, is challenging incumbent Phil Mendelson.

Bolden lost his seat on the D.C. Democratic State Committee in 2004 after a backlash from Democrats upset that he pushed the party to endorse council candidates and after a strong showing from Running Against Bush, a group of newcomers with ties to Howard Dean.

But Bolden has out-raised and out-spent Mendelson and boasts 2,000 yard signs. The candidates say they have different leadership styles. Bolden plainly lays out the city's issues and problems, and Mendelson admittedly is detail-oriented. Bolden talks about "new leadership," and Mendelson emphasizes "experienced leadership."

In the third at-large race, incumbent David A. Catania, an independent, will be running in November's general election.

The four ward races have drawn the most candidates, many of whom lack name recognition, money and experience.

In Ward 5, campaign signs blanket the Northeast community, a mix of working- and middle-class neighborhoods that many residents say are a part of the city's renaissance. Few neighborhoods have sit-down restaurants, but all are feeling the crunch of rising property assessments.

With council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) running for mayor, the 16 candidates seeking his job have been inundated with calls for more development.

Ward 5 candidates tend to fall into two camps: grass-roots community activists, and lawyers, consultants and entrepreneurs. Those who have spent years organizing trash pickups and block watches say they resent professionals who have jumped into the race with better organized campaigns and more campaign money.

Candidate Steve Rynecki, 38, has worked to improve the North Capitol Main Street program, and candidate Audrey Ray, 52, has championed city development in her Ivy City neighborhood. "We've been here. We all respect each other, though we're running against each other," Rynecki said of the grass-roots candidates.

Harry Thomas Jr., 47, whose late father was a Ward 5 council member for 12 years, has name recognition and has been criticized for using it to his advantage. In the 2002 Ward 5 race, Thomas lost to Orange but received 41 percent of the vote. He maintains that he continues to have a strong base.

As the primary neared, Thomas questioned whether his opponents would meet key challenges: "Do you have a grass-roots campaign? How much money can you raise? Can you run a ward? You have to have all three," he said.

In Ward 3, every yard with a campaign sign is a combat zone, and candidates have high-tech ways to determine which battles to pick.

Candidate Sam Brooks, 26, stopped one May evening in front of a stately colonial in the 3800 block of Fulton Street NW, where a sign supporting opponent Cathy Wiss, 58, was staked. He looked down at his handheld computer, which contained a database ranking every registered Democrat by voting frequency.

"It's a 7!" announced Brooks, explaining that the voter inside was almost guaranteed to cast a ballot in the primary. "I'm going in!"

Many of the 10 candidates are waging door-to-door campaigns, in which they encounter voters such as Sarah Grantham of the District's Chevy Chase neighborhood, who is deciding whether to send her children to public schools or private schools or to move to the suburbs. "The city is unaffordable as it is, especially if you have to do private schools," she told Ward 3 hopeful Robert Gordon on her porch one afternoon.

Nearly all of the Ward 3 candidates back school reform but offer few specifics. Some support creating an independent authority to manage construction and maintenance of buildings. Paul Strauss, 42, the District's shadow senator, tells voters that as the only candidate with a child in the system, he has a personal interest in implementing reforms.

Sharon Ambrose's retirement from the Ward 6 seat has attracted at least five candidates, but she has already declared her choice: Tommy Wells, 49, who represents the ward on the D.C. Board of Education.

Wells has served on the school board for six years but shies away from mentioning his service at public forums. At a recent fundraiser, he listed municipal finances and affordable housing as the District's biggest challenges. When he talks about the schools, Wells focuses on his successes in helping to hire a superintendent and encouraging more families to invest in the system.

With gentrification occurring on all sides -- H Street NE, Southwest, eastern Capitol Hill -- development is another large concern in the ward. In past elections, Ambrose faced accusations that she cared only about the more affluent parts of Capitol Hill, and candidates seeking to replace her have made an inclusive appeal to voters.

"I've been frustrated with the direction our government is going," said Ward 6 candidate Will Cobb, 34, a resident of the eastern part of the Hill, who said many of his neighbors believe they've been neglected.

In Ward 1, three Democrats are trying to unseat Jim Graham, a popular council member who won the 2002 primary with 64 percent of the vote.

Graham, who was elected in 1998 and has led the ward through the development of condominiums and a Giant grocery store and the restoration of the Tivoli Theater, is considered the front-runner in the densely populated and diverse ward.

Lenwood O. Johnson, 46, who has tried to have Graham recalled, said Graham had ignored the needs of the ward's eastern side, mainly Georgia Avenue.

But Graham said he fought for projects surrounding the Georgia Avenue/Petworth Metro station and for a senior housing complex on the main thoroughfare.