Cropp Presses Fenty for Series Of Debates in D.C. Mayor's Race

D.C. mayoral candidate Linda W. Cropp challenged her main opponent, Adrian M. Fenty, to a debate yesterday and attacked his voting record on education on the D.C. Council.

"I am ready to meet Adrian Fenty for a one-on-one debate twice a week," Cropp said during a news conference at a seniors apartment complex on Florida Avenue NE.

The D.C. Federation of Citizens Associations invited Cropp and Fenty last week to participate in a debate during the last week of this month, two weeks before the primary Sept. 12. "I accepted," Cropp said. "Mr. Fenty did not."

Fenty (D-Ward 4) said he declined the invitation because of a scheduling conflict. "No one has contacted my office about a debate," Fenty said at a luncheon meeting yesterday with Washington Post reporters and editors. "When someone contacts my office about a debate, we will respond."

Cropp (D), the council chairman, who trailed Fenty by 8 percentage points in a Washington Post poll last month, also repeated allegations about Fenty's handling of the probate case of Herbert Eugene Bratton and the custodial case of William Hardy Sr., an elderly client he was appointed to represent.

"Mr. Fenty can run from mayoral forums, but he cannot hide from his record of neglect," she said.

Cropp's latest attack on Fenty focused on two D.C. Council votes about education. Over the weekend, the Cropp campaign released a new mailing alleging that Fenty's record on public schools had been "shameful."

That material, a glossy brochure, features pictures of Cropp surrounded by children in a classroom setting and highlights her experience as a teacher. The four-page pamphlet outlines Cropp's plan to improve schools: universal pre-kindergarten, the creation of a principal's academy and the inclusion of the superintendent in mayoral Cabinet meetings.

It alleges that Fenty "has a record of turning his back on our children" and highlights two education bills that Fenty voted against: an emergency bill in May 2001 on purchasing public school textbooks and a bill in May 2005 approving emergency funding for school security.

During his meeting with Post reporters and editors, Fenty said he thinks District voters are "turned off " by Cropp's recent surge of negative campaigning.

Fenty defended his positions yesterday on both bills. "We don't need to micromanage the school system," Fenty said of the textbook issue, which was vetoed by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and eventually withdrawn when it came up as permanent legislation. He said he had voted against the school security measure because the company in charge of school security was "doing a miserable job."

On Fenty's record as a lawyer, Cropp portrayed Fenty as having been so preoccupied with campaigning for the D.C. Council in 2000 that he neglected his clients.

In the Hardy case, the Office of Bar Counsel found that Fenty had mishandled the man's financial interests. The office issued an informal admonition, the lightest sanction possible, and Fenty sent $15,000 to the man's estate.

In the Bratton case, Cropp provided documents showing that a probate judge ordered Fenty to resign from the case.

Fenty said yesterday that he received only an admonition in the Hardy case and takes full blame for his blunders. "There's only been one case that the judge or any independent person working for the court has ever admonished me," he said. "I've always said from Day One that I made the mistake, I accept all responsibility for it, I've learned from all my mistakes."

During the luncheon interview, Fenty focused on his goals for managing the city. He has traveled the country meeting with big-city mayors and other officials to gather ideas and said he would use the "best practices" of places such as New York, Chicago and Miami. On the other hand, he said, he would not necessarily recruit managers from outside the city and wants to tap talented professionals in Washington.

He compared the mayor's job to the position of corporate chief executive and said he would probably look to the private sector to help him run his administration. Fenty said he would call on the "best and brightest" as, he said, President John F. Kennedy did with the help of brother-in-law Sargent Shriver.

"Shriver and Kennedy believed that the best people for public service aren't always the ones who are attracted to public service, and so sometimes you have to go after them. And we will go after them," Fenty said.

Staff writer Elissa Silverman contributed to this report.