Jonetta Rose Barras: Race propaganda in D.C.
By: Jonetta Rose Barras
Examiner Columnist
October 13, 2009
Told ya!
I wrote last week that if the D.C. Council didn't confirm Ximena Hartsock director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, it would take heat. Not surprisingly, the 7-to-5 vote against the Chilean native has been characterized by supporters and some in the media as a racist act.
This ugly campaign isn't happenstance. Individuals in Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration and some legislators circulated e-mails and made telephone calls -- even before Tuesday's vote -- stirring flames of hate with misinformation. On Friday, Hartsock joined the fray, asserting she and her "entire heritage" were mistreated.
Give me a break.
The rap is that Marion Barry and African-American legislators formed a black posse that went after her. In this fiction, there is no mention that at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson and Ward 3's Mary Cheh -- both white -- were part of the opposition. Overlooked, too, is the fact that Barry isn't a member of the committee that initially disapproved Hartsock. And, he was hospitalized when the final council vote occurred.
Hartsock's nomination always was problematic: She lacked parks and recreation experience. During her tenure since April as acting director, she joined the mayor in breaking local privatization laws. She may have violated city personnel rules, hiring a throng of individuals from her former D.C. Public Schools shop who also didn't have subject-matter expertise but were given inflated salaries, even as other workers were terminated for "budgetary reason." While some praised her "responsiveness," there were residents -- black and white -- who couldn't get her attention.
Those are substantial disqualifiers. Name-calling won't change that fact.
It's about time the council took its confirmation role seriously. Cabinet-level nominees have been given a pass under the theory that the executive should have the team he wants. The results have been disastrous: Summer Spencer, confirmed to run the Department of Employment Services, mismanaged the summer jobs program and wasted millions of dollars. Lars Etzkorn, director of the Office of Property Management, and Emeka Moneme, director of the Department of Transportation, also were considered terrible managers. They're gone.
Actually, many individuals hired by Fenty and touted as the best in their field didn't live up to their billing. They left or were fired. With each termination, District taxpayers shelled out money for severance pay or settlements in lawsuits.
Hartsock's and others' claims of discrimination are laughable. I'm no Barry fan. But, during his mayoral administrations, he championed Hispanic professionals. Moreover, Hispanics currently lead two District agencies -- although smaller than DPR.
Truth told, after seven directors -- including interim and acting -- in eight years, it's time someone took the agency seriously and appointed a qualified candidate.
Final point: Gone are the days when race, ethnicity and gender were prime qualifiers for employment and political office. No one should try to return the District to that era. This is the 21st century. We're well into the skills, character and content stage.
Shout hallelujah!
Jonetta Rose Barras, host of WPFW's "D.C. Politics With Jonetta," can be reached at rosebook1@aol.com.
