The first black United States attorney general for the District of Columbia, who has long shied away from local politics, has joined D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp’s mayoral campaign.
Eric Holder, a former D.C. Superior Court judge and Deputy U.S. Attorney General, announced his endorsement Monday during a news conference in Mount Pleasant. He was named a co-chairman in the Cropp campaign.
Cropp, meanwhile, used the opportunity to unveil her public safety platform: Redeploying police officers where they’re most needed; rethinking community policing; making a special effort to protect older people from abuse; and developing new programs to reduce and prevent juvenile crime.
“Residents must feel safe in their homes and on the streets no matter where they live and work,” Cropp said from the corner of Irving and Mount Pleasant streets. “Whether it’s in Southeast or Northwest or Southwest or Northeast, residents must be free from worry when they walk home from a bus stop or grocery store or take a walk in their neighborhoods.”
Holder — who was D.C.’s U.S. Attorney from 1993-97 — said he looked at the field of five candidates and decided Cropp has the “vision, has the energy and has the compassion to get the job done when it comes to public safety.” He said Cropp’s program is a good combination of enforcement and prevention.
Holder, an attorney with Covington & Burling, was seen as a possible dark horse in the mayor’s race this year and in the past. He would not say whether a job in a Cropp administration is in the offing.
Cropp’s crime fighting program
» Focus attention on elder abuse in nursing homes
» Ensure construction of a city forensics lab
» Create opportunities for incarcer-
ated offenders to reduce recidivism
» Expand vocational training and gang prevention for youth
