The thought of things to come in 2010 brought on a headache. Six D.C. Council members seek re-election while Chairman Vincent C. Gray contemplates a run against Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. A parcel of wannabes also is in the ring; no need to provide individual names now.
Expect plenty of recriminations, investigations and pontification. All of that will be televised ad nauseum. If watching those joint council round-tables into contracting at the D.C. Housing Authority or Fenty’s movable feast of news conferences in 2009 didn’t satisfy your taste for political mundanity, minutiae and drama, by the time local primaries roll around in September, I promise you’ll be pleading to eliminate cable channels 13 and 16.
Too much of a bad thing is murderous.
What isn’t broadcast will be brought to a location near you. There won’t be any escape. Ward races are expected to be brutal. Citywide campaigns will be raucous and wicked.
The District has a noise ordinance. Violators can be ticketed.
The first publicized scrimmage will be over the budget. Individuals and corporations have been slow to pay their taxes. With increasing regularity, property owners have challenged their assessments. That has meant fewer dollars. Those trends are not likely to abate in the near future. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi already has estimated revenue shortfalls for 2010 and 2011 totaling $121 million. And 2012 won’t be better; a drop of at least $187 million is expected.
Special interest groups won’t care about any of that. They will want their needs met. Elected officials and their challengers, meditating on the first law of politics — self-preservation — will try to respond to those demands, even if it means raising taxes.
That act is sure to intensify the fight, with each candidate accusing the other of being irresponsible and reckless.
It’s an election year, remember.
So, don’t be surprised, as incumbents engage in an unannounced contest over who can introduce the most ridiculous or absurd legislation to appease targeted voting populations. Residents witnessed some of that in 2009. A tsunami of useless laws, policies and patronizing resolutions is headed your way. Watch out.
But the mayor’s race will attract the most frequent fights. All weapons are trained on Fenty. Unfortunately, the free-for-all may lack adult supervision and could be vicious.
In 2006, residents were bombarded with negative ads produced by challenger and then-council Chairwoman Linda Cropp. Such tactics didn’t serve her well. Still, some candidates are preparing brochures calling not just Fenty, but other incumbents, everything but children of God, as my mother would say.
There’s every reason to believe 2010 won’t be pretty.
The fighting could be tolerable, however, if between punches, incumbents and challengers actually offered a thoughtful, realistic and holistic plan for growing the District and its neighborhoods. But that won’t happen.
It’s hard to find visionary leadership. These days, campaigns are mostly about destroying opponents — not about building communities.
Jonetta Rose Barras, host of WPFW’s “D.C. Politics With Jonetta,” can be reached at [email protected].
