Cropp Attacks Fenty's Stance on Crime Bill

By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 9, 2006

D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp changed the tenor of the mayor's race yesterday in a campaign brochure warning thousands of voters that front-runner Adrian M. Fenty's position on crime "puts our safety at risk."

The personal nature of the glossy four-page brochure marks a change in tactics for Cropp, who had not mentioned Fenty in previous mailings. With a little less than five weeks until the Sept. 12 Democratic primary, Cropp is seeking to reinvigorate her campaign.

In words and pictures, the document paints Cropp as moving quickly to curb the city's crime emergency by marshaling emergency legislation through the council last month. Fenty voted against the bill and has failed to "offer any concrete solutions or alternatives," the brochure states.

Trailing Fenty by eight percentage points among all Democratic voters surveyed in a recent Washington Post poll, Cropp intends to dip further into her sizable campaign funds for radio and TV advertisements as soon as next week, aides said.

"There's a difference between Adrian and me," Cropp said in an interview. "People need to see the differences."

Asked about the charges made in Cropp's brochure, Alec Evans, Fenty's spokesman, said, "They're behind, and they're desperate."

Fenty, the only council member who voted against the crime package, has called the council's action a "feel-good" maneuver that will have minimal impact in reducing violent crime.

Until now, Cropp and Fenty have mostly focused on their own achievements and rarely engaged in debate with or criticisms of each another. The two camps have been so isolated that they have no debates scheduled, even though Fenty is set to spar with telecommunications executive Marie Johns, who is running third with single-digit support in The Post's poll.

Cropp, 58, chairman for nine years, has positioned herself as the experienced council leader who can build on the city's economic growth under Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). Fenty, 35, is a sophomore council member who has focused on constituent services and says he can bring new ideas about ensuring that prosperity is spread evenly.

Cropp's aides declined to say how many households would receive the brochure but said that the mailing will be widespread.

Once quick to return reporters' phone calls, Fenty has been more guarded in recent months as his front-running position in the polls has been affirmed. Yesterday, he responded with a written statement after his campaign was e-mailed a copy of the brochure by a Post reporter.

"The hastily and politically inspired response to the newest crime emergency underscores the need for new leadership in our city," Fenty said in the statement. "My campaign is about real solutions: putting police officers on the streets, closing down open-air drug markets and drug houses, holding the police department's feet to the fire and addressing the root of the problem by finally fixing our troubled school system."

In the poll, crime and violence were ranked as the city's biggest problems among 38 percent of voters. Among blacks surveyed, 43 percent ranked crime as the No. 1 problem. By focusing on her position on crime, Cropp is trying to strengthen her support. The poll found that 56 percent of those who said they will vote for Fenty support him "strongly." By contrast, nearly 60 percent of those in Cropp's column said they support her "somewhat."

District Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a crime emergency July 11 after 13 homicides were committed in that month. Williams requested that the council return from summer recess to approve his emergency crime package, which the council endorsed after making some changes.

The final package authorized 300 new police officers, a 10 p.m. youth curfew and surveillance cameras in neighborhoods.

Cropp's brochure minces no words in playing up the drama.

The cover page shows a police officer looking for evidence under yellow police tape that reads "CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER." Above that, in red letters, are statistics: 12 killings in 11 days; a 35 percent increase in robberies; a 56 percent increase in assaults.

Under the picture is the tagline: "We need a Mayor who understands that this is an emergency."

The statistics that Cropp used came from the police page on the District government's Web site, her aides said.

According to that page, there were 39 assaults from July 16 to 22, up from 25 during the same week in 2005, an increase of 56 percent. In one category of robberies, the site lists 383 incidents from Jan. 1 through July 22, compared with 284 during the same period last year, an increase of 35 percent.

However, the statistics that Cropp offered stopped short of painting a complete picture of the city's crime problem.

For example, the police department released statistics yesterday that said there have been 2,376 robberies this year through yesterday, up 11 percent from the same time last year. Assaults with a deadly weapon increased 2 percent, and sexual assaults are up 16 percent this year compared with last year. There were 13 homicides in the first 11 days of July, although homicides are down 7 percent from the same time a year ago.

In the brochure, Cropp is pictured talking with three D.C. police officers, with the words "Linda is providing real solutions, not just rhetoric" underneath.

On the third page, Fenty is shown in a small headshot, along with a summary of his position on the crime bill.

"Can we trust Adrian Fenty to be a Mayor who protects us from crime?" the mailing asks in red letters.

Jack McKay, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Mount Pleasant, said he agreed with Fenty that the crime package would have little impact and called Cropp's brochure a "shameful" attempt to use the issue for political advantage.

"I'm sure she knows that the crime problem is much more serious and difficult than simply throwing more officers onto the streets," McKay said.

"I was all set to vote for Cropp, but now this will just about push me to support Fenty."

But Kathy Chamberlain, a Cropp supporter who lives in Hillcrest, said Cropp is pursuing a good strategy to distinguish herself from Fenty.

"Crime is one of the biggest issues in Washington right now," Chamberlain said.

"I was incredulous Fenty voted against the crime bill. It was a no-brainer. He really had no other solution."