Bobb Touts Skills, 'Sense Of Urgency'

When he came to the District in 2003, Bobb oversaw four deputy mayors, 20,000 government employees and an $8 billion budget in his role as city administrator.

Before resigning from the $195,000 position to concentrate on his campaign full time, he created and managed citywide initiatives such as the "hotspot" program, designed to bring police and social services to high-crime areas as a crime-reduction tool. He was also at the forefront of the city's efforts to reform its juvenile-justice agency.

Bobb put in late hours with an approach that often took him outside of his office and into neighborhoods for night meetings. To members of the council, he was a consensus builder who could solve problems and create results.

His consensus building wasn't necessarily subtle.

"There's nothing delicate about him . . . [he] doesn't suffer small talk," said Tony Bullock, former press secretary to Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). Bobb exudes confidence, has boundless energy and relishes a challenge, Bullock said. "He's a man on a mission," he said.

Last year, as Bobb mulled over a new career in education, he completed a 10-month executive management course from the Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation, which is designed to produce future school superintendents. He said that he has received offers from across the country to run school districts but that he has turned them down to run for the board seat.

"If that was my desire, that's what I would have pursued," said Bobb, a father of three who lives with his wife in Ward 4. "I'm here, and this is where I want to be."

As he visits with senior citizens and speaks at candidate forums, stomping around in his trademark cowboy boots, Bobb promotes eliminating what he calls the "preparation gap" in young children who are not ready to enter pre-kindergarten, through a health-care and education program that would serve children from the "moment of conception."

He wants the school board to have stronger oversight of school programs, and he said the facilities-modernization program recently announced by Superintendent Clifford B. Janey should happen on a more accelerated timetable than the 15 years proposed.

Bobb said he would make sure that Janey's plan for increasing academic standards was fully funded and push for reading centers and programs across the city by declaring a "reading emergency" to highlight the issue.

Bobb disagrees with Janey's call for a moratorium on new charter schools, which now serve about one-fourth of District schoolchildren.

According to campaign finance reports, Bobb made a loan of $50,000 to his campaign and raised $113,585 in contributions between Sept. 5 and Oct. 10.

Some of the money has come from developers working on projects in the District, including a $500 contribution from Chris Donatelli of Bethesda-based Donatelli Development Inc.

Robert Green III, president of the Capitol Area Minority Contractors and Business Association, said he is concerned that Bobb might steer school construction contracts to his campaign supporters. Green said he tried to work with Bobb to fund a study examining the dearth of African American businesses receiving government contracts, but he said Bobb never followed through. "I think he's a nice guy, but practice what you preach," Green said.

Bobb acknowledged that the study of minority contractors did not take place, but said he supports African American businesses and pointed to his former presidency of Oakland's African American Chamber of Commerce.

It is unclear what will happen with the school board when a new mayor takes over next year. Democratic nominee Adrian M. Fenty has said he is leaning toward a school system that is run by the mayor, which would make the school board an advisory panel.

Bobb said he couldn't comment on those ideas because he has not seen any concrete plans. Plus, first he has to win Nov. 7.

"I'm focused like a laser beam on winning my election under the current system," Bobb said.