D.C. Council Chairman and mayoral candidate Linda Cropp continued to verbally pound her chief opponent Friday for his position on emergency crime-fighting measures.
But Cropp, who is running a close second to Council Member Adrian Fenty in recent polls, said her campaign is not turning negative, despite a week of attacking Fenty’s record on the council and as a private attorney.
“There are high stakes in running this city,” Cropp said Friday during a campaign event in the 400 block of O Street. NW. “And this is someone’s record. It’s not negative. It’s showing the differences between the candidates.”
The 400 block of O Street in Shaw was chosen by the Metropolitan Police Department as the site of one of four new crime surveillance cameras, a program approved last month by the D.C. Council following Police Chief Charles Ramsey’s crime emergency declaration. Fenty was the one vote against the emergency legislation, arguing the bill was knee-jerk and fluff.
Eric Holder, former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and Cropp campaign co-chair, said Fenty offers little more than “empty promises.”
“This notion of knee-jerk and fluff, they sound good,” Holder said. “The question we have to put to [Fenty] is, ‘What is your plan?’”
Fenty’s campaign Web site includes a three-page public safety plan, highlighted by proposals to overhaul the juvenile justice system, support community re-entry programs for adult offenders and strengthen community policing. The council member said Thursday his campaign will be prepared for any negativity and attacks coming from Cropp — though he has yet to fire back.
“To ensure the safety of the people of the District of Columbia we will make sure that we work to enhance the trust between our police and our citizens,” Fenty says on his Web site. “Crime prevention is and must remain the first goal of a police department, but we must also ensure that if a crime is committed we will see swift and appropriate justice for the criminal and appropriate and compassionate services for the victim.”
Adrian Fenty’s crime-fighting plan
» Procuring reimbursement for MPD costs associated with protecting federal government
» Prevention, treatment and intervention on behalf of at-risk youth
» Developing incarceration alternatives, such as monitoring systems
» Strengthening emergency preparedness and first responders
