Fenty drops the ball on council crime bill
By: Harry Jaffe
Examiner Columnist
June 17, 2009
Mayor Adrian Fenty doesn’t care that much about crime in the nation’s capital. He can’t be bothered by the fact that gangs are making some Washingtonians afraid to walk from their door to the playground or supermarket or Metro.
How else are we to interpret the mayor’s lack of attention to the crime bill he introduced last fall? Council members spent Tuesday afternoon debating ways to eviscerate his attempt at enacting an emergency bill for the bloody summer months; Fenty was not around.
“Weak as tea” was how at-large member David Catania described the legislation after the council had worked over Fenty’s original bill.
Fenty never testified when the bill was introduced. He never showed up at the hearings. What’s more telling is that he was not involved in tense negotiations during the last week among council members. He never visited a council member’s office or phoned to lobby for his bill.
Compare this AWOL mayor with Fenty’s attention to legislation that gave him control of the city’s public schools. His first act as mayor in 2007 was to show up in person before the council to explain why and how he needed to run the schools. He has come to the council at least twice more.
If pubic education and public safety are the two most pressing issues for the nation’s capital, couldn’t Fenty have spent some time making sure his bill got passed?
Criminals are stealing cars and using them to deal drugs and shoot up corners. Criminals are getting out of jail, committing more crimes, getting slapped on the wrist. And gangs — local and national — have taken control of streets in Shaw, Columbia Heights and Anacostia.
Fenty’s bill would have stiffened penalties for gun crimes and given lawmen more tools to take down gangs. He dispatched Attorney General Peter Nickles and Police Chief Cathy Lanier to testify and lobby. Nickles fought with Judiciary Chairman Phil Mendelson and belittled anyone who disagreed with him. Fenty was not a player.
If President Barack Obama introduces a key piece of legislation — health care reform, for instance — he invites senators and congressmen to the White House. He calls and cajoles and twists arms. Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy and all of Fenty’s heroes knew if they wanted to pass a bill, they had to engage Congress.
Fenty has tarnished his brand so badly with the council that he has no juice. “Negative juice,” one member told me.
At the end of Tuesday’s session, the council did pass emergency legislation with some of Fenty’s proposals. It got through thanks to Ward Two’s Jack Evans, who rewrote the bill and lobbied hard. He has become the de facto chairman of the judiciary committee.
Mendelson does deserve credit for his willingness to toughen up laws on gun possession and a mandatory minimum sentence for felons caught with guns. Ward Four Councilwoman Muriel Bowser spoke eloquently about the need for civil gang injunctions. “Keeping our streets safe is our first obligation,” she said.
Apparently, Fenty doesn’t think working the city council is part of his obligation.
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