Cropp's Gay Support Surprises Insiders

Council member Adrian M. Fenty's remarkable surge in campaign donations this week overshadowed an equally remarkable accomplishment by his chief rival for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp .

On Monday night, Cropp trounced Fenty in a survey of about 170 members of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the oldest and most influential political organization representing the city's gay community.

During the first round of voting, Cropp nearly won the 60 percent necessary for endorsement, getting 103 votes (58 percent) to Fenty's 39 (22 percent). In a runoff, Cropp snared 106 votes, sewing up the group's support. Fenty got 41 votes (24 percent), while 24 people voted to issue no endorsement at all.

The outcome startled some political insiders, who had come to view Fenty as the candidate of gay Washington. Throughout his year-long campaign, Fenty's schedule has been peppered with fundraisers held in the homes of gay luminaries in Georgetown and Dupont Circle. What happened?

Fenty adviser and gay activist Peter Rosenstein says it's no mystery: Cropp spent time and energy rallying her supporters to the Monday night meeting at the John A. Wilson Building, a process facilitated by Cropp campaign adviser David Meadows , who was president of the Stein Club from 2004 to 2005. Indeed, Meadows engineered a news conference just before the balloting at which nine past Stein Club presidents endorsed Cropp -- a little insurance policy in case Cropp failed to hit 60 percent.

"It's old-time politics: Make sure your people are there on the one night you need them," Rosenstein said of Cropp's efforts.

So why didn't Fenty do it?

"Adrian doesn't believe in working that way," Rosenstein said. "He respects the Stein Club. But he was not about to make phone calls and urge people to show up just for one night."

Rosenstein argued that the endorsement means little anyway, because the Stein Club represents the conservative old guard of the gay community, not the larger universe of young club hoppers and up-and-coming professionals.

Cropp campaign chairman Max Berry begs to differ.

"Gertrude Stein is the most solid, responsible organization in Washington, in my opinion, representing the gay community. It's a very important endorsement," Berry said. "So we got an endorsement [Fenty] wanted. Give us a little credit."

Polls Favor Clients

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If clients commission pollsters to report findings they want to hear, then Cropp and the Foggy Bottom Association got their money's worth out of two recent surveys.