Jonetta Rose Barras: Election complications in D.C.
By: Jonetta Rose Barras
Examiner Columnist
September 8, 2009
The campaign posters for the 2010 election already are popping up on lawns in the District. The mayor and seven D.C. Council seats, including the chair, technically are open.
But while some residents have labeled Mayor Adrian M. Fenty a dictator in training, the dissatisfaction isn't significant enough to seduce a sane and serious politician to enter the race. Fenty has money in the bank and a machine revving up in the garage.
Incumbent council members Vincent Gray, Jim Graham, Mary Cheh, Harry “Tommy” Thomas and Tommy Wells are hoping to retain their seats. Challengers have yet to appear.
The most bruising action may occur in the race for two at-large council seats. Phil Mendelson has announced he is seeking re-election. David Catania has been closed-mouth. Still, look for a central theme in that race to be same-sex marriage.
Earlier this year, Mendelson and Catania led the council in approving legislation that mandates the District to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions. When civic leaders and clergy learned of the legislature's action, they sought to repeal the bill. Their efforts failed.
Earlier this year, Mendelson and Catania led the council in approving legislation that mandates the District to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions. When civic leaders and clergy learned of the legislature's action, they sought to repeal the bill. Their efforts failed.
Not a group to give up easily, last week they filed for a ballot initiative that would impose a definition of marriage as only between a man and a woman. There is a similar federal law. Proponents of homosexual marriage expect that the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics will rule as it did with the referendum: A public vote could violate the city's expansive Human Rights Act. Such a ruling will pave the way for Catania, who has promised to introduce this fall legislation that will permit homosexual marriages to be performed legally in the District.
If opponents lose in their effort to have a public vote on an issue sure to change the culture of the nation's capital, and Catania's bill passes the council, don't expect them to go into that proverbial dark night. They will look for someplace to direct their anger and dissatisfaction: Mendelson and Catania.
The battle could be messy and complicated. Gay rights organizations and advocates will dump a bunch of money into campaigns of so-called marriage equality proponents. Opponents -- national and local -- won't be slouches.
Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl pulled in his posse of priests and traditional Catholics, which means an even larger contingent of Hispanics and African-Americans pushing for the initiative against same-sex marriage. Baptists and Evangelical clergy already were in the yard ready to battle. Some in the media have tried to casts these individuals as Neanderthals. The opposition is broader and deeper than media reports convey.
Same-sex marriage opponents hoping to do political damage and preserve certain cultural traditions will have to float their own candidate, however. Thus far, the only person to declare in the at-large race is the former director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, Clark E. Ray. He is openly gay.
Opponents won't get any satisfaction there.
