A coalition of D.C. activists and politically connected residents is urging the recently fired director of the District’s parks department to run for a citywide D.C. Council seat next year.
Roughly 90 individuals, some fairly well known, have joined to form the Draft Clark Ray for D.C. Council organizing committee. The group wants Ray, former chief of the Department of Parks and Recreation, to challenge three-term Democratic Councilman Phil Mendelson for his at-large seat in 2010.
“We have so few elected opportunities here for new blood to come in,” said Peter Rosenstein, member of the draft committee. “These aren’t lifetime positions.”
As for Ray, Rosenstein said: “There’s a commitment by Clark, along with an incredible empathy for people, that’s been displayed over his many years of work. He’s just a person who gets things done, and while he’s getting things done, he doesn’t make anybody mad.”
The effort to draft Ray, 45, started earlier this year, the potential candidate said. If he was intrigued before he was fired, Ray said, today it is “doubly intriguing to me.”
“I was not caught off guard, but just overwhelmed,” he said of the announcement of a formal draft committee. “I did not know the depth of the support that was out there.”
Mayor Adrian Fenty’s decision in April to fire Ray left many scratching their heads. Ray was a loyal Fenty aide and well-liked DPR director who seemed to have the agency running well.
The draft effort is not raising money, yet, but the still nonexistent campaign already has a $200,000 commitment from potential donors, Rosenstein claimed.
Mendelson is the mayor’s loudest council critic and a likely target of Fenty backers in the 2010 race. Whether Ray will be part of their strategy is unclear.
“Folks will certainly say that it’s never too early to talk politics,” Jason Shedlock, Mendelson’s spokesman, said in an e-mail. “Phil is certainly prepared to run on his record and build upon his already broad support across the District.”
While Ray’s firing was condemned by D.C.’s gay community — Ray is gay, as is Rosenstein — the organizing committee is diverse.
“This is not a gay race,” Rosenstein said.
