Cropp's Allies in Business Look Wobbly

By Elissa Silverman and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 7, 2006

The marathon D.C. mayoral campaign has finally turned into a sprint, and with less than one week left until the historically decisive Democratic primary on Tuesday, council Chairman Linda W. Cropp might need a little help from her friends.

Trailing in the polls behind council rival Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4), Cropp might have expected to benefit from a few independent expenditures made by her deep-pocketed fans in the business community, who enthusiastically backed her candidacy with a hat trick of endorsements in July.

D.C.'s titans of industry have contributed to Cropp's campaign, but they have been frugal in producing independent ads to promote her candidacy. The relatively small amount spent for ads on Metrobuses and in a smattering of community newspapers has caused some whispers that the business community threw in the towel before the fight was over.

Not so, agues Scott Sterling, vice president for government relations for the Greater Washington Board of Trade. "The Board of Trade is firmly behind Mrs. Cropp," he said. "She's our candidate. We believe she has done a world of good things for the District."

Two business groups did come through with an ad in last week's Washington City Paper. "We've Come Too Far to Start Over Again," reads the headline of an ad supporting Cropp, paid for by the political arms of the Board of Trade, the Washington, D.C. Association of Realtors and the D.C. Chamber of Commerce.

Leaders of the organizations said that Cropp has harvested plenty of cash from individual contributors in the business community, which helped her to raise more than $2.54 million as of the Aug. 10 campaign finance filing.

"It isn't as if she hasn't raised a lot of money," Sterling said.

D.C. Legal, the political action committee for the D.C. Trial Lawyers Association, also made independent expenditures to promote incumbent at-large council member Phil Mendelson , Ward 5 council candidate Harry Thomas Jr . and Ward 6 hopeful Tommy Wells by buying ads in several community newspapers this week.

The group has been vocal in its opposition to tort reform legislation that is under consideration in the D.C. Council.

"We are against putting artificial restrictions on people's ability to recover for non-economic or economic damages," said James Taglieri , treasurer of D.C. Legal.

Promises, Promises

Chad Williams , a developer who is trying to unseat council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), can't seem to stay out of court.

In July, he pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to simple assault against his ex-girlfriend.

Now, he is scheduled to appear in small-claims court Sept. 15 to face accusations that he failed to pay campaign consultants Donny Gonzalez and Nate Mathews for their services.

Both filed lawsuits late last month. Mathews says that he is owed $2,705, plus $33 for overdraft charges incurred for the "bounced check" he received from Williams, according to the claim.

Gonzalez is seeking $2,568.49, which he said was part of a "promissory contract," according to his claim.

Williams, who could not be reached, seems to be a fan of promissory notes. The dispute with his ex-girlfriend, which occurred in March, revolved around a handwritten promissory note for $1,500.

Williams had borrowed $1,500 because he was short on cash. According to campaign finance reports, he has spent more than $34,000 to finance his long-shot campaign.

Confident or Naive?

Despite high-profile endorsements this week for his mayoral bid, nothing is likely to assuage the more nervous members of the Fenty campaign. In a remarkable display of either confidence or naivete, Fenty is doing no polling, so there's little solid evidence of impending victory for his supporters to grab on to. As recently as Saturday night, at the first of eight get-out-the-vote rallies Fenty has scheduled by the end of the week, one of his top advisers was fretting about the impact of Cropp's steady stream of negative ads and taking bets that the race will be tight during the primary.

Fenty says he doesn't need polls because he always campaigns as though he's 10 points behind. Besides, aides said, Fenty has as many as 50 people knocking on doors and talking to voters for at least four hours every day. If there were any major shift in the winds, Fenty and his team would sense it.

Refusing to Be Ignored

Theresa Conroy , the lone Republican running in her primary on Tuesday, wants people to know that she, too, is in the race for the open Ward 3 council seat.

In this Democratic-dominated city and in a field of nine Democrats in the Ward 3 race, Conroy has not been invited to forums, debates and meet-and-greets as her peers in the other party have been.

So Conroy is crashing the party. She wasn't asked to be part of the program at a candidates forum in St. Columba's Church two nights ago, but she went, anyway.

"She was not invited to the forum, but she will be introduced," said Steve Spitzer, press secretary for her campaign.

Staff writer Lori Montgomery contributed to this report.