D.C., Maryland and Virginia Politics

D.C., Maryland and Virginia Politics

WTOP political commentator Mark Plotkin will be online Tuesday, June 12 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss Virginia's primary election, the future and new superintendent of D.C. schools, Maryland's budget and more.

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Archive: Mark Plotkin discussion transcripts

Plotkin joined WTOP after 10 years as a political analyst for WAMU radio. He has been active in D.C. and national politics since attending George Washington University in the late '60s.

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Downtown Washington: So how big of an issue will it be that Fenty is appointing a lot of non-blacks to top positions in his administration?

Mark Plotkin: He was asked this question today and he gave a very good answer. I know that he is being roundly criticized and that there have been some big appointments, such as police chief, fire chief, city administrator -- all of whom were not African Americans. He was very confident in saying that he is looking for the best person, and that is his criteria. I know that Marion Barry has taken him to task on this issue privately and Fenty has dismissed it. It will be a problem for him, but he is a lot more popular in the black community than Tony Williams, and he will be able to withstand the criticism -- at least in the early stages.

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Washington: What do you think about the relative marginalization of black women in the higher offices of D.C. government?

Mark Plotkin: His chief of staff is African American. She is very low-profile, but that is a very important position. I think that the mayor just doesn't think that this is as important as many other people do. But this does not mean that it won't be pointed out and criticized.

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Washington: Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't get what Fenty's doing with his nominee for schools Chancellor. Where's he going with this? The Post's current series makes it seem like the biggest problem with the schools is that no one knows what's going on: who the teachers are, who the students are, what the buildings are like, etc. I don't have any confidence that Rhee can get a handle on those problems. What about you?

washingtonpost.com: Fixing D.C.'s Schools: A Washington Post Investigation (Post, June 10-12)

Mark Plotkin: I just had a brief impression of her today at the press conference. She is confident and well-spoken but she doesn't have any real experience running a large organization. There are more than 10,000 employees in the school system and the organization she presently runs has about 120. The Chancellor of New York City, Joel Klein, recommended her highly and said she was a "change agent" and an "out-of-the-box appointment." That surely is true. The mayor did not throw the outgoing superintendent, Janey, even a perfunctory thank you for his two years of service. He constantly stressed that he wanted somebody with a "sense of urgency." Just a minor point -- Janey announced last week that he was going to China, and I asked the mayor about that this morning and he diplomatically said that he was "no longer the superintendent of schools." So it seems to me that that was a direct inference that he had no business going to China in any official capacity. I will be talking about this at 3:50 p.m. today. I hope you'll be listening.

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Maryland: Why didn't we just re-elect Ehrlich? O'Malley is following what Ehrlich started -- such as the huge increase in electric rates.

Mark Plotkin: This is a good point, and O'Malley's explanation was weak. He ran campaign commercials blasting Ehrlich on this issue and he is now vulnerable on this issue. He also appointed a majority of the Maryland Public Service Commission, which regulates the utilities in Maryland. He did provide about $5 million in relief for consumers, but that will not satisfy everybody by any means.

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Washington: This is a little bit off the "politics" topic, but here goes: A sports radio station said that you will be a VIP basketball player in a charity tournament this weekend. How's your health?

Mark Plotkin: Who wrote this? I demand to know. Identify yourself.

Let me tell you, I scored 17 points against St. Michaels many years ago. Were you at that game? I promise not to shoot unless I have the ball.

I am playing with two stiffs and I will name them: Bill Hall and a foreigner named Henry Champ. Both tall, but no talent. I know you can't coach height and both of these guys, that's the only thing they have going for them. They can't jump, they can't rebound, they take up space and their only function is to dish the ball out to me. And I'll pop from long distance.

As for my health, I am a better tennis player than basketball player. And thank God it's half-court. I was a GW intramural great named to the All-Star team, and I have the clippings to prove it.

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Spokane, Wash.: The ICC has been expressing interest in recent months in tapping a largely untouched U.S. market. Among other things, the ICC would like to see more ODIs played on U.S. soil. Given that the D.C. area certainly has as international a flavor to it as any region, do you think that Mayor Fenty and others might do well to court the ICC and bring international cricket to the D.C. area?

Mark Plotkin: I think the mayor would be interested in bringing anything he can to the city. There is a large international community that might be interested in cricket. I know one obscure radio host who works for another station who nobody listens to, and he is a cricket fanatic.

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Charlottesville, Va.: Which incumbent is most in danger in today's Virginia primaries?

Mark Plotkin: I would say that Benny Lambert, who committed the cardinal sin of supporting a Republican for the U.S. Senate last fall. He is from Richmond and has been in the state Senate a long time. Donald McEachin, who ran for Attorney General and lost, and is presently a delegate to the Virginia House, is seeking to unseat him. They want to teach him a lesson. Gov. Kaine has stayed out of this race, but I am sure they want Lambert gone.

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Rockville, Md.: Notwithstanding Joel Klein's recommendation, is Rhee the best Mayor Fenty could do? A 37-year-old woman with no connections to Washington, scant educational skills other than starting a teacher nonprofit, and absolutely no large organizational management experience? This is the best leader Fenty could find to oversee his administration's top priority -- an overhaul and improvement of the schools?

Mark Plotkin: You make the case very well in opposition. Fenty kind of reveled in the fact that it was such an unorthodox choice, and her chief sponsor -- Joel Klein, the Chancellor of New York City public schools -- applauded his decision and felt that the city needed this kind of person. It is a surprising and daring selection and the Washington Teacher's Union president, George Parker, seemed to endorse it, as did the Council Chair Vince Gray. So she starts out without any initial opposition. It's a very difficult job with a lot of demanding issues, and she will have to prove that she can succeed.

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Potomac, Md.: Gov. O'Malley also pledged on his campaign Web site last year to introduce gas price gouging legislation. Gas was just at a record high and he never introduced any bill. Can't public officials do anything about gas/energy prices?

Mark Plotkin: They can decrease -- with the approval of the legislature -- the state gas tax, and they can investigate selective stations for price gouging, but I think the market really rules. Politicians say a lot of things during the campaign that they cannot back up. Maybe this is a prime example of that.

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Southwest Washington: The Judge Pearson $54 million pants case was going to trial today. Any news?

washingtonpost.com: Liveblogging from the courtroom (washingtonpost.com, June 12)

Mark Plotkin: I am not on top of this issue -- all I know is what I hear on WTOP. The judge is asking for "complete satisfaction" and the dry-cleaning establishment obviously feels that this claim is unreasonable and ridiculous. It sure has gotten a lot of attention, and I am sure that there will be copycat examples in the future. Sorry I am so deficient in commenting on this case.

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Fairfax County, Va.:"Mark Plotkin: I think the mayor would be interested in bringing anything he can to the city. There is a large international community which might be interested in cricket. I know one obscure radio host who works for another station who nobody listens to and he is a cricket fanatic." You make me laugh! (I'm guessing his initials might be K.N.?) Just a note to say I always enjoy your discussions even though I know nothing of D.C. politics.

Mark Plotkin: You're right, his initials are K.N. He is a very delightful and attractive and smart person but it's really a tragedy that he has no following and no listeners. But thanks for acknowledging him. I am sure he appreciates any attention he gets.

On another issue, I insist on knowing the person who wrote in concerning my basketball skills. Don't be such a coward. Identify yourself.

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Marion Barry connection?: Any news on the woman hopped up on crack who plunged her car into a crowd of people? You reported that she worked for Barry, and I think either you or Segraves were going to check out just how well Barry knew this woman, etc. Anything to report?

Mark Plotkin: As they say in radio, stay tuned. We're working on this story and it is in the capable hands of Mark Segraves. If you have anything that you know please call him at 202-997-1576. He is our intrepid investigative reporter and is going to be winning a bevy of awards tonight at the Society of Professional Journalists function. He has come a long way. He reads this stuff from his "Jimmy Olsen" cub reporter days.

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Ward 2, D.C.: The problem with Rhee is that she is not qualified for the position. It has nothing -- zero, zilch -- to do with her race, at least to those of us who -- as the man says in the first line of "The Godfather" -- believe in America. I am African American and I work for the District and I've been embarrassed by some of the comments I've heard in the hallways today.

Mark Plotkin: I'd like to hear some of these comments you have heard in the hallways. I'm serious -- please send them in. There is a general feeling that the school bureaucracy is so entrenched and ossified that nothing will shake it of its lethargy and incompetence, that the people there have been there so long they will outlive any superintendent, and that their commitment to change is lacking and they onlyare  interested in protecting their sinecures. Maybe this is a too generalized criticism, but it has a lot of adherents. The D.C. school system ranks the lowest in so many national rankings that I think Fenty thought he would go for broke and not make a traditional appointment.

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Philadelphia: Another radio host on your station has lauded Councilman Barry's ability to survive, if not thrive, while committing faux pas such as the crack issue and the tax evasion. Your thoughts on how this guy survives?

Mark Plotkin: This guy survives because of what he has said about his own way of operating. He is a "situationist," meaning he does what is necessary in every situation. Morals, honesty, integrity are consistency are not components of his decision-making. In Ward 8, where he got elected, he is viewed as a folk hero who stands up to the man. He did get elected four times as mayor and twice to the City Council, and never has lost a Democratic primary. He did lose one election in 1990 when he ran as an Independent, but that was right before he went to jail. He is a black James Michael Curley, the legendary mayor of Boston who got elected while in jail.

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Washington Teacher Union: The WTU endorsement of all of this confuses me, as Fenty's style always has been one of pointing out who is not doing their job. He did it from trash collection to repairing windows. What is it I am missing on the relationship/endorsement by the WTU?

Mark Plotkin: I think Fenty was very glad to have George Parker there this morning; the new Chancellor needs to be confirmed by the Council and maybe the teacher's union could have been a potential adversary. In fact, the opposite seems to be true: Parker sang her praises and said he had worked with her on issues having to do with teachers. Doesn't look like the union wants to get in the way with this appointment.

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Woodbridge, Va.: I've been inundated with calls, flyers and visits for a particular candidate in the Virginia Democratic Senate Primary. That stuff isn't cheap -- where is this money coming from? Is the state or national party pouring that kind of money into a primary? Or is there some other PAC I should be looking for? The volume of it makes me nervous.

Mark Plotkin: An enormous amount of money is being spent on legislative seats that pay very little. I have heard that some candidates are prepared to spend $1 million for a job that pays about $16,000 a year. It's getting ridiculous -- in one state Senate seat in Virginia, the majority leader, Walter Stosch, who is being challenged, has raised more than $500,000 in this primary. So it doesn't surprise me that you are getting a lot of mail, and mail that costs something. There are national groups that make independent expenditures because of particular issues, and you might be getting literature from them.

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Ward 3, D.C.: Seriously, there must have been other nontraditional candidates -- such as Alan Bersin or Paul Vallas -- who Fenty wanted but who passed on the job, forcing him to settle for Rhee, right? How else to explain this bizarre choice?

Mark Plotkin: My colleague, Mark Segraves, did a story last week that said that the mayor had talked to Rudy Crew, who is the superintendent in Miami. Paul Vallas, who you mentioned and was the superintendent in Philadelphia, has just gone to New Orleans. Arne Duncan -- who by the way went to my high school in Chicago -- also was consulted and would have been a great choice. The mayor is going to come into a lot of criticism because this is such an untraditional pick, and at first glance, she appears to lack the experience to run a large organization. If test scores go up and facilities are improved and people like her, her lack of experience will be forgotten. The mayor today said that he does not have a lot of experience at "police work" but he picked somebody that does have that expertise to be the chief. I guess he wants to apply that same rationale to the appointments that she will make.

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Davis Bill: So tomorrow is the Senate mark-up ... what do you hear?

Mark Plotkin: Yes, tomorrow is mark-up and WTOP is reporting this afternoon that the ranking Republican, Susan Collins of Maine has come out for the bill. She is the first Republican outside of Utah (Hatch and Bennett are co-sponsors, but of course they benefit from this) to announce support for the bill. Two more Republicans, quite likely, will vote for it in committee tomorrow; Coleman of Minnesota and Voinovich of Ohio are good prospects. That would mean there will be three Republican votes for the bill in addition to all the Democrats. If Domenici of New Mexico and Warner of Virginia voted for it, that would be a big surprise. But three Republicans is a major boost for the bill, if that should happen. Now the next challenge is getting nine or ten Republicans to break a filibuster, and after that make sure the bill passes the Senate and the president does not veto the bill. There are not two-thirds in either house to override that veto. The conventional wisdom is that enough momentum will have occurred that the president would not veto the bill; I'm not so sure. I hope I'm wrong -- very wrong.

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Good old days?: When I was a kid growing up in Baltimore, my dad used to say that Schaeffer ran the city like the mob. He was the rainmaker -- if he like you great, if not, you didn't exist in Baltimore. It seems to me that all cities to some degree are infested with cronies and political appointees. It also seems that much of the dysfunction is related to people being put into positions for which they are not suited.

So with that admitted bias on my part, I'm intrigued by what is happening in the District. Is Fenty trying to break the bonds of political servitude to bring in people with new ideas and great potential, or is he merely replacing one group of cronies with his own? (Please don't over-read this as a critique of Janey, I know nothing about him and am not suggesting anything with respect to him personally.) Is this political suicide? I remember well that I was blown away when I heard Kurt Schmoke speak before he became mayor of Baltimore; by the end I couldn't wait for him to leave -- I felt that he was great in theory lousy in execution. Perhaps he was naive or perhaps he fell into the crony pit -- I don't know. I hope Fenty does and will do better. The city needs him to.

Mark Plotkin: Thank you for your very savvy take on this. I think Fenty definitely and genuinely feels that he has a mandate. There are 142 precincts in the District and he carried every one of them -- an extraordinary and, I think, never to be repeated political accomplishment. This has given him the confidence to not play the ordinary political games and play certain constituencies against each other.

He is still very popular and very well liked and people want him to succeed. He is extremely likable and approachable and he is taking some bold steps because he feels that the people are with him. I don't know how long this honeymoon will last, but for now he is doing just fine. The schools are an enormous challenge, and he will have to prove that he fundamentally can change things for the better, but I do admire his taking on this challenge. It won't be easy. It will be very hard. His watchword was "accountability"; that is how he got elected. Now he will have to prove that he is up to it.

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