As we head into the season of thanks and celebration for all good things that have come our way, here are a few things our political and business leaders might want to contemplate as their good fortune.
- The District’s aging political class — Vernon Hawkins, Sharon Pratt, Cora Masters Barry, etc. — are back in the game with their successful campaign to rid the city of Adrian Fenty and install a mayor of their own: Vince Gray.
- Adrian Fenty: Having lost his re-election bid, the mayor can give thanks for so many things. Where to begin? He can ride his bike and train for his next triathlon without pesky reporters like WTOP radio’s Mark Segraves on his tail. He doesn’t have to speak in public, a task he never seemed to relish. He can vacation in Dubai without pesky reporters following him to the airport. (But who will pay this time?) He can move his boys to private school without facing questions about his commitment to D.C. public schools. He can hang with buddy Sinclair Skinner without wondering whether Skinner will use the occasion to ask how his city contracts are faring. And on and on.
- Vince Gray: The city council chair and mayor-in-waiting has a job. If he had lost his mayoral bid, Gray would have been out on the street.
- Peter Nickles: The attorney general can give up his apartment in D.C., along with the charade that he’s a District resident, and move back to Great Falls, Va.
- Slumlords: Nickles sued them for renting substandard housing, and his successor might not be as effective.
- Kwame Brown: No more campaigning and being forced to answer questions about his personal finances; as council chairman, he can try to balance the District’s budget, a less invasive task.
- Dan Snyder: The Redskins owner has treated fans to a team of players past their prime — Donovan McNabb, Joey Galloway, Albert Haynesworth and Santana Moss, for example — but they can still win a few games and might even wind up with an even record.
- Stan Kasten: Having moved on as president of the Washington Nationals baseball franchise, he will not have to answer questions about why the team is so awful.
- Terry Lynch: The executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Churches has spent the last four years defending Adrian Fenty; he’s much more comfortable attacking the establishment, and he can take aim on Vince Gray.
- Allen Lew: The chief of school modernization and maintenance, with its $2 billion fund, loves his job, has done well for the District and its students and is likely to write his own ticket with his pal, Vince Gray.
- Michelle Rhee: Like her patron and former boss Adrian Fenty, she is free of those pesky local reporters who didn’t see the world according to her view. The national press has always been more kind.
Yes, it’s time to look on the bright side, count our blessings and rest up for the political battles sure to come in the New Year.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
