Mayor Vincent C. Gray is bringing new meaning to “pandering”: Hoping to gain favor with congressional representatives, he pushed through a change in a District law governing penalties for unregistered cars. To win support from Hispanic voters, he issued an executive order mandating public safety officials ignore federal immigration laws. But he may have outdone himself this time. Last week, to maintain his African-American political base east of the Anacostia River, he introduced legislation to impose a 5 percent sales tax on food sold in city movie theaters.
Gray said 25 percent of the revenues collected would help provide incentives to Hollywood film production companies. The remaining 75 percent would be used to facilitate the opening of a movie theater east of the Anacostia River.
“This incentive will create jobs, develop and promote District small businesses, contribute to local infrastructure development, generate additional tax revenue, and increase tourism opportunities,” Gray said in a prepared statement.
Don’t believe the hype. The mayor’s desperation is glaring.
Gray’s approval rating, well above 60 percent during the election, had plummeted by March to 31 percent, according to a Clarus Research Group poll. His initiatives and policies haven’t been creative or bold enough to pull him out of the ditch. There’s little question his blatant pandering to select voters is a feeble attempt to get ahead of the recall effort he knows is coming early next year — whether or not he is indicted on charges stemming from the current criminal investigation being conducted by U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen Jr.
But while he seeks to aid his own career, Gray has no qualms insulting residents east of the river. He has decided the most immediate need of residents where unemployment is more than 20 percent is a movie theater. That must be the keep-them-entertained-and-distracted plan.
Gray isn’t alone in his view. Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry characterized the area he represents as a “ghetto.” Councilwoman Yvette Alexander voted for a redistricting plan that dumped into her Ward 7 the massive Reservation 13 complex — filled with homeless shelters, drug treatment facilities, sexually transmitted disease clinics and sundry empty buildings. She doesn’t appear to perceive her ward as one on the rise, worthy to be built up, but one where the unfortunate should be collected — as if it’s the best her ward can do. Meanwhile, Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown has trashed public schools in Wards 7 and 8 at every opportunity, even those showing consistent improvement. His is a strategic assault designed to justify his decision to send his children out of his ward to schools in upper-income Ward 3.
The District doesn’t need yet another tax — not for a new theater; not to entice film production companies; and not for incentives for favored developers. After all, Gray recently told a group of Chevy Chase residents the city likely will record a $100 million surplus for fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30. That doesn’t sound like a jurisdiction hurting for cash.
The problem in the city isn’t a revenue shortage. It’s spendthrift politicians like Gray who seek to use taxpayers’ money to finance lame ideas aimed at propping up their faltering careers.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
