Fenty Vows 'Aggressive' Transition If Elected

Adrian M. Fenty promised yesterday to pursue the "most aggressive" mayoral transition agenda in the history of the District government, assuming the Democratic nominee wins today's general election as widely expected.

Fenty, the Ward 4 D.C. Council representative, made his remarks at a morning meeting with policy advisers, who presented to him a list of proposals on subjects including education, public safety, health care and the environment. The ideas were developed during the past month, with input from D.C. residents through discussions in Internet chat rooms.

"We've had the most organized, most technology-based, most research-based, most constituent-involved pre-transition," Fenty told two dozen people gathered in the office of William Lightfoot, a lawyer, former council member and top Fenty adviser. "Now we'll have the most aggressive transition in city history, maybe the country's history."

Fenty, 35, swept the city's 142 voting precincts in the September primary and is expected to carry them again today because about 75 percent of D.C. voters are Democrats. He is opposed by Republican David W. Kranich and the Statehood Green Party's Chris Otten. If he wins, Fenty would have less than two months for the transition, before being sworn in Jan. 2.

Other races lack suspense, because Democrats and incumbents are widely considered front-runners. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) is unopposed for the chairman's seat, as is Democrat Jim Graham for reelection in Ward 1.

Democrat Mary Cheh in Ward 3 faces Republican Theresa Conroy; Democrat Harry Thomas Jr. in Ward 5 is running against Carolyn C. Steptoe of the Statehood Green Party and independents Miriam Moore and Tontalya T. Terceiro Wright. In Ward 6, Democrat Tommy Wells faces Republican Tony Williams and Will Cobb, an independent. Council members David A. Catania (I-At Large) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) are running in a field with Republican Marcus Skelton, Ann C. Wilcox of the Statehood Green Party and Antonio "Tony" Dominguez, an independent.

The city's Board of Education races are more competitive, even though Fenty has said repeatedly that he might bid to turn the 11-member board into an advisory panel and take direct control of the failing public schools. The candidates for school board president are: Sunday Abraham, a school activist; Robert C. Bobb, former city administrator; Carolyn N. Graham, vice president of the school board; Timothy Jenkins, former interim president of the University of the District of Columbia; and Laurent Ross, the first director of the District's Tuition Assistance Grant Program.

Yesterday, council members Jim Graham and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) joined Bobb for some last-minute campaigning at Ben's Chili Bowl on U St. NW. Over chili dogs and fries, Bobb called for more urgency to fix city schools.

Fenty said he is not taking anything for granted, but he has been planning his transition. Yesterday, he was joined at the policy briefing by Dan Tangherlini, who resigned as interim Metro chief and has agreed to join Fenty as city administrator.

Tangherlini and Fenty aide Tene Dolphin, who is expected to be named Fenty's chief of staff, will oversee the transition, sources close to Fenty, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Fenty, who has visited several big-city mayors to examine programs he might emulate, said his transition team will develop policy proposals based on those in the other cities and input yesterday from local policy teams. Several hundred city residents participated in the policy meeting through a conference call and Internet hookup.

Staff writers Theola Labbé and V. Dion Haynes contributed to this report.