The heat is on in the race for the vacant Ward 7 council seat, with an internal battle in one campaign and the surge of another candidate.
Victor Vandell’s former campaign chair, Jerome Brock, resigned last week in anger after he said two people who worked on Mayor Adrian Fenty’s campaign were added to Vandell’s team without his knowledge. Brock is speaking out against Vandell, calling him “disloyal” and claiming he had been a Republican until 2006.
“He brought a couple of people over from Ward 4, and that didn’t sit well with me,” Brock said.
Vandell, who moved to Ward 7 in 2006, led Fenty’s efforts in the ward on his mayoral campaign. He fired back Tuesday, saying Brock was “embellishing” and accused him of “doing some really crazy stuff.”
“He was a tyrant in our campaign. … He literally thought he was the candidate,” Vandell said. “He was proposing dirty tactics against other candidates.”
Vandell, a Democrat, said a glitch led to his having been registered as a Republican after he moved to the District in 2002. He said he discovered the problem in 2004 after turning out to vote.
“I was never a Republican,” Vandell said.
With 20 people vying for the seat, Vandell became one of the race’s most visible candidates after rumors of a turf war between Fenty and former Ward 7 Council Member Vincent Gray over candidate endorsements began to swirl. Campaign signs picturing Vandell with Fenty appeared, suggesting an endorsement. Fenty has not endorsed a Ward 7 candidate.
Gray’s endorsement of Yvette Alexander last month appears to have changed the face of the race. Her campaign reported more than $34,350 left on hand as of its March 10 filing with the District Board of Elections and Ethics. That’s up from $2,700 on Jan. 31. Vandell’s campaign listed about $30,000 on hand March 10, up from $17,500 on Jan. 31.
Alexander’s campaign did not return a phone call Tuesday.
