Margaret Thatcher once said that the problem with standing in the middle of the road is that you get hit by traffic from both sides.
Phil Mendelson can bear witness.
Mendelson, D-at large, is the architect of a hotly debated new crime bill that passed the D.C. Council on Tuesday. The police union says it gives a free pass to cop killers. Reform groups say it locks up small children for piddling offenses.
Mendelson says the division is proof of the bill’s effectiveness.
“You always have to find the right balance between civil liberties and public safety,” he said Tuesday.
But in an election year, faced with a stiff challenge for his seat from lawyer A. Scott Bolden, Mendelson’s attempts at balance might just tip the scales against him. Already, his decision to remove mandatory minimum sentences for possessing armor-piercing ammunition led police union chief Kristopher K. Baumann to ask if the bill was drafted by “a cop-killer lobby.”
And the Justice Policy Institute, a reform group, says the crime bill is another example of a “lock ’em up” mentality that has failed communities for decades.
Nonetheless, institute spokesman Jason Ziedenberg said he found Mendelson to be a reasonable, principled legislator.
That’s not a unanimous vote. Earlier this week, the police union endorsed Bolden over the two-term Mendelson. Asked what he thought about that, Mendelson said, “I have a number of thoughts, but not for the record.”
Mendelson says he stands by his legislative record.
“The council, of course, doesn’t manage the government,” he said. “But from our end, pushing the executive, we’veimproved public safety.”
