What Does Firing Say About Fenty?

By David Nakamura And Elissa Silverman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 26, 2006

Rash, impetuous and too demanding?

Or decisive, confident and fast-moving?

Those are the competing analyses of Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian M. Fenty in the wake of his abrupt firing this week of his chief spokesman just two weeks before the Nov. 7 general election.

Alec Evans , 27, had been Fenty's representative for a year and, to reporters at least, seemed attached to Fenty's hip throughout the campaign. When Fenty drove to Baltimore to visit Mayor Martin O'Malley shortly after winning the primary in September, Evans rode along. Fenty stopped the SUV twice -- the first time for Evans to buy McDonald's chicken strips for him and the second to run into a 7-Eleven for some vitamin water.

Evans seemed as energetic and intense as his boss. He had his own Blackberry and an additional cellphone and seemed to be talking on them as often as Fenty did into his own two Blackberrys.

But when reporters were not around, Evans wasn't always as eager to do Fenty's bidding, sources close to the campaign said. Fenty often asked Evans to attend events that Fenty could not and called Evans at all hours to check on his whereabouts, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the campaign continues.

Last week, Evans told Fenty he could not accompany the candidate to an event in Prince George's County for O'Malley because of a personal commitment, sources said. On Sunday, Evans left early from a staff meeting. On Monday morning, Fenty called him on the phone and relieved him of his duties.

The timing and the way Fenty cut ties with Evans struck some government officials at the John A. Wilson Building as odd.

Even if Fenty wanted him out, why not wait until after the election, when the transition months before the Jan. 2 swearing-in ceremony would seem like a more natural time to make changes? Did he consider offering Evans a chance to resign? And why tell him over the phone?

Fenty declined to address the specifics, calling the issue a private personnel matter.

Terry Lynch , executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations and a close Fenty ally, said the candidate's strength is making up his mind and acting decisively.

"Alec did an outstanding job in what he was hired to do," Lynch said. "But he's had a grueling year, and for that position [Fenty] needed someone who was always there. You've heard the phrase 110 percent? Adrian invented the idea of 210 percent."

Still, some at City Hall noted that other Fenty staffers have taken leaves of absence or quit rather than meet the demanding expectations of their boss. William Singer, 25, who handles legislative affairs for Fenty, took a two-month leave in 2004 before returning. Now he is one of Fenty's most trusted aides.

Rumors circulated through City Hall on Monday evening as the news spread about Evans's departure. Evans, a former Haverford College basketball player who is tall and lean, can come across as confident, bordering on cocky. One of the leading rumors was that he mouthed off to Fenty and refused to apologize. Other rumors were worse.

Sources close to the situation said that Evans, a former chief of staff for council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), had showed increasing signs of burnout from the demanding pace and that Fenty knew it. If that was the case, Fenty's allies said, why wait to make the change?

"Adrian is extremely smart, savvy," Lynch said. "He has sent a message he's in charge. Performance with him is everything. He'll make those decisions, and when he runs the government, that's the kind of leader he'll be -- in charge."

K Street Backs Fenty

Fenty, once the bane of the business world, is now the candidate of K Street.

The Democratic mayoral candidate funded his victorious primary election with lots of small contributions from his Ward 4 constituents, which helped cultivate his image as a politician more beholden to neighborhood concerns than downtown interests. The city's biggest business groups enthusiastically endorsed his chief rival, council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), and their members wrote large checks to her campaign.

On primary night, the heads of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Washington Board of Trade were among the first to congratulate Fenty at his victory party, and the money followed their lead. More than half of Fenty's contributors in the latest campaign finance filing gave $500 or more.

Fenty's recent contributors include many members of the city's business elite such as lobbyists, developers and construction executives.

The change of heart occurred even before the votes were tallied Sept. 12. Liquor store owners, who had been wary of Fenty because of his push to prohibit single-sales of beer, contributed a heap of cash Sept. 8 to the well-known teetotaler.

There were many other converts. Southeastern University President Charlene Drew Jarvis , the former Ward 4 council member whom Fenty defeated in 2000, contributed $500 on Oct. 5. So did former financial control board chairman and Brookings Institution scholar Alice M. Rivlin , who endorsed long-shot mayoral candidate Marie C. Johns in the primary.

Union Endorsements

For weeks, the 15 candidates running for the D.C. Board of Education have been clamoring for the endorsement of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, which represents about 45,000 teachers, principals, custodians, bus drivers and other workers in the schools.

The suspense likely will end today, with the expected endorsement of former city administrator Robert C. Bobb for president; school activist Marc Borbely for the District 3 seat; and incumbent William Lockridge for District 4.

On Tuesday, one union, District Council 20 AFSCME, which represents bus drivers and classroom aides, ruffled some feathers by breaking ranks and announcing its endorsement of Bobb. Council leaders had wanted the various unions to speak with one voice.

"The council encourages all affiliates to stay in the process," said Rick Powell , political/legislative coordinator for the Metropolitan Council, when told that the District Council had issued a news release on the Bobb endorsement.

But George Johnson , executive director of District Council 20, said his union "is looking out for its own interests now. I'm not going to sit on my hands waiting on the central council."

Johnson said District Council 20 also endorses advisory neighborhood commissioner Robert Vinson Brannum for the District 3 seat and Lockridge for District 4.

He said the union is endorsing Bobb because it has had positive experiences negotiating labor contracts with him. He said it likes Brannum because of his feisty activism in Ward 5. The union likes Lockridge because of his eight years on the board, Johnson said.

Though the Metropolitan Council is expected to endorse Borbely and Lockridge, Powell said it was not a done deal, as of press time Tuesday. Joslyn N. Williams , president of the council, "hasn't decided yet," Powell said. "Whoever told that was premature."

The Metropolitan Council typically endorses candidates who receive the support of two-thirds of its delegates, Powell said. But no one received that level of support, which could indicate that the members thought they were seeing a lackluster field of candidates.

So the council's executive committee directed Williams to make the endorsements by today.

Staff writer V. Dion Haynes contributed to this report.