Adrian Fenty has passed the midway point in his first, four-year mayoral term, and he appears to be a lock for re-election in 2010.
Most voters still see him as the young, energetic chief executive bent on cracking the whip on our notoriously lethargic bureaucracy.
He has committed his political fortunes and the city’s revenues to fixing the wretched public schools, and most voters applaud his crusade.
He has raised more than $2 million for his next campaign.
And he’s a native Washingtonian.
And he’s tight with President Barack Obama.
And he has a lovely wife, twin sons and a new baby.
So is Fenty a sure bet? I checked with my secret, political operative, who has run and won campaigns from California to Vermont to Congress to Ward 7.
“The only one who can beat him is Adrian Fenty,” my guy says. “He’s doing a great job of making himself look like every other politician blinded by the arrogance of power.”
Start with Fenty’s picking a fight with Council Chairman Vince Gray. Vince is a sweet guy. He lives alone in a nice house in a swell neighborhood in the hills across the Anacostia River. He’s a good government, civic activist type, rather than a thoroughbred politician like Fenty. Gray does not covet Fenty’s job. Yet Fenty cast Gray as an enemy and snubbed him at every turn.
Fenty treated Gray and all but a few of the council members as obstacles to his programs or as props at his press conferences, if he chose to invite them.
Attorney General Peter Nickles tried to broker a truce between Fenty and Gray. No dice. Other insiders have advised him to change course with the council. Same result.
Fenty may be winning the battle with the council, but he’s embittering and empowering the members in the process.
Next, my political operative says Fenty has abused his power in nominating people to crucial boards and commissions. He’s stuffed many with friends and loyalists, which is fine if the panels are ceremonial. But his appointments to substantive boards that control zoning, utilities and employee disputes show a genuine disdain for how the government works.
My friend says Fenty’s approach is: “I’m above it all. The rules don’t apply to me.”
He says Fenty is beating himself up on travel issues. He shrouded last month’s trip to Dubai in secrecy. He dares reporters to guess where he spends time out of town. No one likes public officials to be coy about travel.
“ ‘Where’s Adrian?’ becomes the story,” he says. Take yesterday’s news cycle. The mayor wanted the story to be how he cut the ribbon for an affordable housing project on Georgia Avenue. But reporters were more interested in where he spent last weekend’s vacation trip and who paid. Fenty gave reporters the back of his hand, which serves only to make them more curious and critical.
“He had the wind in his sails,” my guy says. “Now he’s sinking himself.” And his potential opponents can just watch him drown.
