Fenty Seeks Tips From Big-City Mayors
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 5, 2006; Page DZ02
The scheduling software in Adrian M. Fenty 's BlackBerry is getting just as big a workout as the e-mail and phone services: He has booked trips to New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles for this month.
Fenty's trips aren't for pleasure but to meet the mayors of those cities for brainstorming on best practices that he might borrow for the District, assuming the Democratic mayoral nominee wins the general election Nov. 7.
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Fenty met last month with Baltimore's Martin O'Malley (D). He intends to talk with New York's Michael Bloomberg (R), Chicago's Richard M. Daley (D), San Francisco's Gavin Newsom (D) and Los Angeles's Antonio R. Villaraigosa (D). He said he admires different aspects of each.
Fenty is considering a takeover bid of the D.C. public schools in the model Bloomberg created in New York, and he has analyzed Baltimore's CitiStat program, a data-based analysis of city agencies designed to eliminate waste and increase efficiency. Fenty said he will bring a model called CapitalStat to the District, which he will implement along with Dan Tangherlini , who agreed this week to be Fenty's city administrator.
Lining Up for Fenty's Seat
The word is that Fenty has handpicked a candidate to campaign for his Ward 4 D.C. Council seat if he wins the mayor's race on Nov. 7.
But ask anyone involved in the ward's political machine and they can string together a list of candidates who are vying for that coveted seat.
Michael A. Brown , who abandoned his bid for mayor at the last minute, was the first to talk publicly about his intentions. But then Fenty sent out some signals when he was observed introducing Muriel Bowser , an advisory neighborhood commissioner who lives in the northeastern section of the ward, to residents at a block party soon after the election. Fenty has said on the record that he thinks Bowser, who campaigned for him, "would make an excellent candidate."
If any of the political posturing was meant to frighten off challengers, it's doesn't appear to be working.
Among the first wave of potential candidates said to be eyeing the council dais according to political observers are: Ted Trabue , Douglass Sloan , Willie Flowers , Artee Milligan , Dwayne Toliver , Charles Gaither , Charles Lowery , Graylan S. Hagler , F. Alexis H. Roberson , Renee Bowser , Joe Ruffin , Dwight E. Singleton and Neil O. Albert .
Stay tuned. The election is not until spring.
Vermonter Pushes D.C. Rights
As D.C. voting rights' advocates hunt for supporters of the cause, they might want to look to Vermont, where Jerry Trudell , an independent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, is pushing statehood for the nation's capital.
"First of all, I'm already raising the issue here," said Trudell, 52. "They claim to bring democracy in Iraq. I say have you forgotten Washington, D.C."
