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Fenty in a free fall
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Anonymous
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Why is he dodging his opponent(s)
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/Fenty-Skips-More-Debates-98510204.html |
Anonymous
| Four neighborhood associations in upper Ward 4 (near Walter Reed) are sponsoring a mayor/council chair forum next week. I think he plans to be there. |
Anonymous
| I heard there was a good debate on the radio today. |
Anonymous
That Ward 4 forum was held tonight and was well-attended by both audience and candidates. The Mayor was criticized with gusto and responded with grace. For the most part the discussion was serious, although my opinion is that one mayoral candidate (Suleimon Brown) is essentially a shill for Vince Gray, and another (Carlos Allen) spoke in such generality that I got the impression he did not know much about the issues. I do not intend the previous sentences to favor Fenty over Gray or vice-versa, since I think both did well. In addition to the three mayoral candidates mentioned above, we had Leo Alexander, Vince Gray, Michael Green, and Ernest Johnson, as well as council chair candidates Kwame Brown, Calvin Gurley, Vince Orange, and Ann Wilcox, plus at large candidates Clark Ray and Michael Brown (the shadow senator, not the council member). All are Democrats except for Statehood-Green candidate Wexler. There was a mix-up about whether or not at large council members were invited, so the absence of Mendelson and Catania was not their fault. |
Anonymous
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I do think that Gray is Barry, in a "Barney Miller" suit with Foster Grants. If he is about the process, then we can look forward to more dc government workers with more bureaucracy and inefficiency. You can kiss the 12 years of advances advanced by Williams and Fenty. Back to entrenched teachers' union for dcps, trash everywhere, decline in city services, etc. Guaranteed!
Doing the right thing isn't always the easiest and most popular thing! I would just like to share a personal encounter that almost had me fired from my job because I voiced my opinion to gray three months ago when I sent him an email. I voiced my concerns about his candidacy and his nonsupport of Rhee. No profanity or threats were used. In less than 12 hours, he tracked down my employer via email to complain my email. I did get into some hot water at work. Was that really necessary. What about my first amendment rights? He is as dirty as they comes! As Truman once said, if you can't take the heat in the kitchen, then get out of the kitchen! |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Um no, not a DC government employee, never have been. If I was violating the Hatch Act, couldn't Vincent Gray just hit the "reply" button and tell me? Isn't that what you call "process" and communication? Come on, that's pretty underhanded and unnecessary! I've sent emails to Linda Cropp and Fenty with criticisms on their policies using the same email and have never, ever encountered this behavior! |
Anonymous
Without minimizing your experience, I have heard horror stories about Fenty also, and I would bet you can find similar examples about most politicians (and most of the rest of us as well). I can understand that it would turn you off to him, but if every such anecdote were taken by the hearer as reason not to vote for that person, I venture to say we'd have almost nobody voting at all. |
Anonymous
| Very much don't understand why Fenty is not more popular. He's done great things for DC it seems - good approach on crime and tough approach to actually try to turn the schools around. He can't do anything to change the overall economic situation and the jobs impact that has. All he can do is make DC a better place to live (read: crime, schools and quality of life focus, to try to attract people to live there and businesses to base there). He seems to be doing a good job focusing on those things and still is slammed. |
Anonymous
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I think the main issue with respect to Fenty is that his successful poicies are actually those of his predecessor, whiom he never supported, or worse, openly opposed.
So now he is claiming credit for bike lanes, schools, streetcars and the general state of public works. The problem is that all of these were started before he became mayor. He also inherited a massive cash surplus which has been squandered. Most of all, he has openly flaunted contracts and relationships which have cost DC taxpayers millions of dollars, to the benefit of his friends and fraternity brothers. He has also micromanaged policies of his agency heads, for example, supporting speed humps or sidewalks on certain blocks because of who asked, and not supporting them on others - creating a an inconsistency in policy. At the end of the day, he has hired good people to run agencies, but between the cronyism, "don" Nickles, Moten, Skinner and others, he has shown a complete disconnect with the voters who entrusted him 4 years ago. While he may win this time, it is just as likely that Gray takes the seat away from him. I am not a big Gray fan, but i do not think he would be as bad as suggested. |
Anonymous
I'm totally with you. I don't understand it either. Maybe one problem is that he isn't really a people guy. He doesn't across very charming or engaging. But I love his focus on getting results for the citizens. |
Anonymous
I live in Ward 4 and have known Fenty since his first campaign for Council. I'm unhappy about many things he's done, but in the many times I have seen him, he has always been friendly and charming with me and everyone I have seen him interact with. That's only a small sample, since I only see him a few times a year, but it certainly says he's a people guy when he feels like it. |