D.C. Primary Election

Between the distractions of summer and the presidential campaign, candidates in next week's D.C. primary have struggled to capture the attention of the city's voters despite widely reported problems of the government's fiscal distress and managerial disarray.

On Tuesday, voters will make their preliminary choices for who they think can best help repair the District government by choosing nominees for two at-large D.C. Council seats and four ward seats, as well as the District's shadow representatives to the House of Representatives and Senate.

Perhaps the most significant races will be for the two at-large council seats. Incumbents John Ray (D) and Bill Lightfoot (I) are not seeking reelection to the 13-member legislative body. A council incumbent, Ward 6 council member Harold Brazil, and a 30-year veteran of D.C government, Joseph Yeldell, appear to be the front-runners in the Democratic primary.

By law, only one of the at-large seats can go to a Democrat, but the contest for the other seat has failed to attract fresh faces.

Carol Schwartz, who served as an at-large council member in the late 1980s and was a mayoral candidate in 1994, is unopposed in the Republican primary. Mark Thompson, who unsuccessfully ran for council chairman two years ago, is unopposed in the Umoja Party's primary. The only primary contest among other parties is between D.C. Statehood candidates Bardyl R. Tirana, who served on the school board in the 1970s, and Sam Jordan, who also has run for council before.

Ward 2 council member Jack Evans, Ward 4 council member Charlene Drew Jarvis and Ward 7 council member Kevin P. Chavous appear likely to survive the Democratic primary. In Ward 8, incumbent Eydie Whittington will try to prove that she has earned the council seat she won by one vote in a special election last year. Whittington, who was a political neophyte when she won last year's race with the backing of Mayor Marion Barry, has the mayor's blessing again. Her toughest opponent among seven challengers is expected to be Sandy Allen, a former aide to Barry and his longtime political supporter. Lafayette A. Barnes, who ran a distant third in last year's special election, also is seeking the seat.

The most visible signs of this campaign season are candidates' signs. Indeed, this year's primary season has passed much like the summer: a few hot spots, but overall mostly soggy.

Incumbents have dutifully made the rounds of candidate forums and stood with labor leaders and political action committees to accept endorsements and campaign contributions.

Challengers have tried to keep pace but have found it difficult to compete in fund raising.

Still, challengers have held their own at forums. They sometimes draw as much or more applause as incumbents by criticizing the current officeholders, promising to be tougher in dealing with the city's problems and pointing out that they had no hand in the current government.

There has been no shortage of crises since the primary filing deadline in early July: The breakdown of refrigerators and a crematorium at the D.C. morgue; the discovery of dangerous levels of bacteria in city drinking water; the disarray in the school system that resulted in five schools not opening this week.

Yet none of those issues appears to have caught fire. The forums have been well attended but not packed, and audiences express more resignation than anger over the fiscal and managerial crises. Candidates have showed themselves better at talking about the problems than at offering solutions. Incumbents have tried to distance themselves from the broken D. C. government, while challengers offered vague assurances that they are the agents of change.

Even the D.C. financial control board, which was the target of demonstrations at the beginning of the summer after it forced Barry to fire a longtime aide, has not become a rallying point.

Most candidates, including the incumbents, blame the city's leadership for abdicating its responsibilities and making a control board necessary. Oversight has become the buzzword, with challengers criticizing the current council for failing to watch over spending and management.

But few have put forth concrete plans. Instead, most talk about why government has failed.

Last week at a forum in Mount Pleasant, moderator Elinor Hart pleaded with the at-large candidates not "to give lectures, but to tell us what you will do" to address the crisis in the city schools.

The candidates admonished Hart to let them finish their statements. Finally, she gave up with a shrug.

At-Large

The battle for the Democratic nomination for an at-large council seat has in many ways played out as a battle of age versus youth. Age, in the person of veteran D.C. government employee Joseph Yeldell, has contended with a variety of younger candidates who say they want to overhaul city government, including D.C. Council member Harold Brazil (D-Ward 6), former council staffer Phil Mendelson and shadow representative John Capozzi.

But not even the older generation wants to be seen as old-fashioned. Yeldell, who was fired from his city job when he ran afoul of Mayor Marion Barry (D) earlier this year, is viewed by many as a symbol of the city bureaucracy, a canny survivor who has outlasted numerous administrations and personal setbacks. But on the stump, he has been calling for reform, saying the government needs to be better run and to provide better services.

Brazil is trying to step up from a ward seat on the council to a citywide seat, in what political activists have widely interpreted as a step toward running for mayor, perhaps in two years. Like Brazil, Capozzi and Mendelson also have called for a major overhaul of the government.

Brazil is widely considered the front-runner, and this week he got the endorsement of the influential Board of Trade business organization. But Yeldell got the backing of organized labor, traditionally a source of power.

Even Barry got into the race, signaling that his forces might rally behind Capozzi. He branded Brazil, a potential mayoral rival, "the laziest" council member. Other at-large candidates are Southeast Washington activist Paul E. Savage; Democratic Party activist Kathryn A. Pearson-West; Ronnie L. Edwards; and Ernest E. Johnson.

Ward 2

By most conventional political measures such as fund-raising, the race for the Ward 2 Democratic nomination could be characterized as a battle between David and Goliath. But unlike the biblical story, the underdog appears to be not faring well.

James McLeod, a 43-year-old District lawyer, is the only candidate challenging incumbent Jack Evans. McLeod says he has only $200 in his campaign war chest, compared with Evans's $78,000.

"The campaign should be about issues, instead of how money each candidate can raise," said McLeod, a first-time candidate who has spent $1,000 of his own money.

But despite McLeod's lack of experience or money, Evans is running as if his opponent may yet be able to turn the campaign into a serious race. "I take every challenger seriously. You never want to become complacent in any election," Evans said.

In anticipation of a poor turnout next Tuesday, Evans said he has held about 20 campaign events, mailed out literature to every registered voter in the ward and is showing up at subway stops and grocery stores to greet voters.

Evans thinks he has raised more money than any other candidate in the primary, but dismisses charges that his campaign is being fueled by big law firms and downtown business magnates. "The campaign financial filings reflect that 70 to 80 percent of the money that I have received comes from individuals who made contributions of $50 or less," Evans said.

Despite Evans's advantages, McLeod remains upbeat. "I feel good about the campaign because at least I a.m. giving people a choice in this election," he said.

Ward 4

Council member Charlene Drew Jarvis dipped into her campaign fund earlier this week for what can only be described as an unusual election-related expenditure: School buses. With the opening of three elementary schools in Ward 4 delayed by fire code violations, Jarvis wanted to make sure students would have transportation to their temporary schools.

Jarvis, a 17-year council veteran, clearly hoped her move would help fight off three challengers in next Tuesday's Democratic primary.

One of her challengers, Pat Kidd, a former D.C. government worker who won a highly publicized sexual harassment suit against her ex-bosses, has posted signs that read, "Had Enough? Change it!"

Another, Dwight E. Singleton, a political neophyte and former sales representative, says his campaign is born of "great discontent" among voters. The third, Diane Miller, a one-time constituent services worker for both Jarvis and then-Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly, says simply that voters are hungry for change.

Jarvis first used her own funds a year ago to hire garbage trucks after the city eliminated bulk trash collection. Last winter, she hired snowplows to help her constituents dig out from the blizzard of '96 after city plows couldn't clear the streets. And when the Board of Education proved incapable this summer of rectifying fire code violations and opening all city schools, Jarvis brought in contractors to help do the job.

Kidd, Singleton and Miller don't fault Jarvis for that. They just think it's time she moved on. Kidd says she is using the sexual harassment settlement she won from the city to finance her campaign and give something back to the community. Singleton has spoken on the hustings about watching his essential services disappear. Miller laments the flight of the middle class from the ward.

Ward 7

The summer has been anything but sleepy for voters in Ward 7, where two high-profile elected officials -- Council member Kevin P. Chavous and school board member Terry Hairston -- have been battling it out in a high-octane Democratic primary for Chavous's seat.

A third candidate, Eddie Rhodes, a former school food-services worker, is cultivating the anti-incumbent vote, trying to separate himself from his better-known opponents by cleaning trash-strewn lots.

Chavous, the front-runner by most accounts, has voted with a bloc of younger, reform-minded legislators during his first term on the council and generally advocated downsizing the city bureaucracy.

Some Ward 7 voters have complained that Chavous hasn't fought hard enough to bring city services east of the Anacostia River. Chavous, too, complains bitterly about city services. But he maintains he's worked hard at helping his constituents and making government perform.

Hairston has been a loner on the school board, sometimes voting with a bloc that opposes Superintendent Franklin L. Smith and sometimes supporting the superintendent. His attendance record has been spotty and, most recently, he has become embroiled in controversy after helping a friend maintain a lucrative contract to educate emotionally disturbed teenagers.

Hairston says he intervened only because he thought the school system was unfairly scrutinizing a minority contractor. He adds that he's worked hard to improve the school system.

Rhodes, the third Democratic candidate in next Tuesday's primary, says he has knocked on almost every door in the ward, trying to show voters that he will be a visible, hands-on council member.

Ward 8

When Eydie Whittington was elected to represent Ward 8 in a May special election last year, many residents of Southeast Washington derided her as a puppet of Mayor Barry and his wife, Cora Masters Barry. After a raucous campaign, Whittington slipped past former Barry supporter Sandy Allen in a crowded field of candidates.

But Whittington contends that over the last 15 months, she has been able to build her own political base. And she is confident that she will be returned to office Tuesday.

"The fact that I won by one vote doesn't make me feel bad. The important thing is that I win each time I go for reelection," said Whittington. "If I win by one vote, that's okay."

Whittington still has her political work cut out for her. She is being challenged by a crowded field of candidates that includes Allen and Lafayette A. Barnes, who finished third in 1995 and who is the son-in-law of former Ward 8 council member Wilhelmina Rolark. Other contenders include Leonard "Hanif" Watson Sr., Ray Bell, Winifred Freeman and Paul Lamont Simms.

Political observers say Whittington's most serious threat comes from Allen. "In the last 15 months, it has been one steady campaign for me," said Allen, president of the Ward 8 Democrats.

"I have been right there for the people. I walked with parents so I can feel and touch the residents of Ward 8," Allen said.

Some people describe the relationship between Allen and Whittington as strained -- both have been close associates of Barry, but Allen is now estranged from him -- but the candidates say they are friends.

"We have a very congenial relation and we both are for improving the ward," Whittington said.

Non-Democratic At-Large

Statehood Party candidates Sam Jordan and Bardyl R. Tirana will wage the only contested race outside the Democratic Party in Tuesday's primary, competing for their party's nomination for an at-large council seat.

District law requires that one of the two at-large seats at stake in November go to someone not affiliated with the Democratic Party, which represents an overwhelming majority of D.C. voters. That means the Statehood Party nominee will compete against the Republican nominee, the Umoja Party nominee and any independents for at least one seat.

The only person vying for the GOP nomination is Carol Schwartz, who ran for mayor unsuccessfully two years ago and has served on the school board and D.C. Council. Schwartz is widely known and usually considered the non-Democratic favorite.

Umoja Party candidate Mark Thompson, 29, ran unsuccessfully against David A. Clarke (D) for D.C. Council chairman in 1994. This year, he's scaled back his ambitions.

Tirana, 58, has not held an elected office since he served on the school board more than 20 years ago. A lawyer who lives in Northwest Washington, Tirana said if he can defeat Jordan next Tuesday, he'll campaign as a political outsider.

Jordan, 50, a self-employed construction contractor and research fellow for a think tank, has run for office twice in recent years. In 1992, he came in third in the general election for two at-large seats. Two years later, Jordan lost to Statehood matriarch Hilda H.M. Mason in an at-large primary.

Staff writers Hamil R. Harris, Vernon Loeb and Yolanda Woodlee contributed to this report.