District of Columbia voters have a clear choice in tomorrow’s elections. They can risk a return to old-style patronage politics, or they can vote to continue the transformation of Washington from national embarrassment to world-class capital city. The revival didn’t start with Adrian Fenty, but in his four years as mayor remarkable progress has been made, and today D.C. stands on the threshold of what could become its golden age.
The Washington Examiner endorsed Fenty in 2006 when he won every ward and precinct in the city. We endorse him for reelection now, when he appears to be running as a decided underdog. The mayor has made some mistakes during his first term, as he freely acknowledges, and his detached style has alienated some residents. But he deserves special credit for being the first mayor with the political courage to tackle head-on the city’s failing public schools. If Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s reforms are successful – and every city resident should be encouraged by the initial results – future generations of better-educated Washingtonians will have Adrian Fenty to thank. His substantive record also includes reducing crime, modernizing city services, keeping a lid on government growth, and encouraging economic development, all of which make him deserving of a second term.
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The Examiner also believes that Council member Kwame Brown should be the Council’s next chairman. Like Fenty, Brown is not without his flaws. But also like Fenty, he is one of the few District politicians willing to challenge the status quo and demand results– especially in areas in which the city is already spending millions of tax dollars annually with little or nothing to show for the effort. Taking a hard, cold look at every one of the District’s expenditures during this time of economic retrenchment and declining revenue is exactly what the city must do in order to care for its most vulnerable residents and maintain financial viability.
Challengers Vincent Gray and Vincent Orange are good and honorable men who should be applauded for their past public service, and for stepping forward now as candidates for mayor and Council chairman. But the times call for more. Fenty and Brown have, in their individual ways, demonstrated the backbone to buck the deeply entrenched self-interests that have stood in the way of real progress in D.C. for far too long. The District of Columbia is a dramatically better place today than it was four years ago; let’s keep the progress coming.
