Where are the Vincent Gray supporters today?

[Anonymous]

Agreed that the first moves were not good but I'm not ready to write him off yet. Gray has a long way to go before he turns into a Marion Barry clone. And on a positive note, he got rid of Sulaimon Brown right away as opposed to Fenty who clung to Sinclair Skinner right up till the end. Maybe he can learn from his mistakes - something that Fenty was slow to do. But we'll see.

[Anonymous]

Why? If they can't follow procedures, they are not qualified for public office.

Read Mara's response on the Austermuhle blog. http://martinaustermuhle.com/four26/

Wasting city time and resources trying to disqualify these candidates.

[Anonymous]

DC Government: Fully Loaded.

[jsteele]

You can read where I am here:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/weblog/2011/03/01/dc-future

[Anonymous]

Gray is a well-intentioned, intelligent man. However, his victory owed a lot to groups whose ox was gored by the reforms of the Williams and Fenty years. As Marion Barry said about Gray's election, "To the victors belong the spoils," and many of those in Gray's electoral coalition expect some payback. The city is changing, but this administration may be the last throwback to a political establishment who believes that the first job of the DC government is to provide jobs, and the delivery of quality services is somewhat of an aspirational afterthought. Hopefully, Gray will be a one-term mayor, but there is likely to be some back-sliding (and back-scratching) over these next four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed that the first moves were not good but I'm not ready to write him off yet. Gray has a long way to go before he turns into a Marion Barry clone. And on a positive note, he got rid of Sulaimon Brown right away as opposed to Fenty who clung to Sinclair Skinner right up till the end. Maybe he can learn from his mistakes - something that Fenty was slow to do. But we'll see.

You're 100% right about Skinner. However, I don't think you can attribute Brown's termination to Gray. By all accounts I've read, it was the agency head's decision (possibly after being pressured by Catania). Gray apparently had nothing to do with it, and in fact got him the job in the first place. He's gone, and that's good, but the fact that he had the job in the first place is a real problem (especially considering the dubious nature of his candidacy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:in hindsight, it was amazing how competent Tony Williams was. one competent mayor in 40 years.

Williams was in the right place at the right time. Anyone would've looked good in that era: some of the tech bubble, the real estate bubble, and the general boom in the DC area post 9-11. Especially with the real estate bubble, money must have been gushing into the city's coffers. Plus he was coming in after Barry and the whole control board situation. Heck, Kwame Brown would've looked good under those circumstances. Although he would've wanted a fully loaded Aston Martin instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed that the first moves were not good but I'm not ready to write him off yet. Gray has a long way to go before he turns into a Marion Barry clone. And on a positive note, he got rid of Sulaimon Brown right away as opposed to Fenty who clung to Sinclair Skinner right up till the end. Maybe he can learn from his mistakes - something that Fenty was slow to do. But we'll see.

You're 100% right about Skinner. However, I don't think you can attribute Brown's termination to Gray. By all accounts I've read, it was the agency head's decision (possibly after being pressured by Catania). Gray apparently had nothing to do with it, and in fact got him the job in the first place. He's gone, and that's good, but the fact that he had the job in the first place is a real problem (especially considering the dubious nature of his candidacy).

Thanks for that elaboration, pp.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Sekou Biddle will be challenging the petitions of his most popular opponents - Weaver, Mara and Patterson. I'm seriously peeved.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/debonis/2011/02/biddle_campaign_aims_to_oust_f.html

Biddle's challenges are turning out to look pretty spurious. Check out this article:

http://martinaustermuhle.com/four26/?p=433

Biddle challenged the signature of Weaver's wife, his campaign manager, Kwame Brown's brother, former Mayors Williams and Fenty, and a bunch of other well-known people.

[Anonymous]

To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gray is a well-intentioned, intelligent man. However, his victory owed a lot to groups whose ox was gored by the reforms of the Williams and Fenty years. As Marion Barry said about Gray's election, "To the victors belong the spoils," and many of those in Gray's electoral coalition expect some payback. The city is changing, but this administration may be the last throwback to a political establishment who believes that the first job of the DC government is to provide jobs, and the delivery of quality services is somewhat of an aspirational afterthought. Hopefully, Gray will be a one-term mayor, but there is likely to be some back-sliding (and back-scratching) over these next four years.

This just about sums up my thinking. I still believe Gray may turn out to be the good-government savior that a small subset of his supporters hope for, but the Gray coalition is a weird melange of good-government types, and folks who thought Fenty was insufficiently quick with the slops at the trough. Basically a multitude of irreconcilable interests.

Should be interesting to see what happens to the Gray coalition as Gray actually starts to *do* things. (Assuming he eventually does).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Are you serious? Or just playing dumb?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Well, he didn't pick his name and I couldn't care less who he was named after. Let's stick to issues that matter. That's like people refusing to vote for Obama because his middle name is "Hussein". Right now, I would vote for Muammar "Baby Doc" Marcos Pinochet if he would get the city heading in the right direction.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Well, he didn't pick his name and I couldn't care less who he was named after. Let's stick to issues that matter. That's like people refusing to vote for Obama because his middle name is "Hussein". Right now, I would vote for Muammar "Baby Doc" Marcos Pinochet if he would get the city heading in the right direction.

That's the same reason I didn't vote for Bob Dole in 1996. I mean, why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugabe

Yes, to paraphrase another dictator's namesake,it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To Jeff. Why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/African-Dictators---Sekou-Toure--The--Father-of-Coups-/129481

Well, he didn't pick his name and I couldn't care less who he was named after. Let's stick to issues that matter. That's like people refusing to vote for Obama because his middle name is "Hussein". Right now, I would vote for Muammar "Baby Doc" Marcos Pinochet if he would get the city heading in the right direction.

That's the same reason I didn't vote for Bob Dole in 1996. I mean, why would anyone vote for someone named after a dictator?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugabe

Yes, to paraphrase another dictator's namesake,it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

Sekou Biddle does say he was named after Toure. You fucking idiot.