David Grosso for DC Council At-Large

[jsteele]

For those of you who are interested, but missed this on the front page, I just published an endorsement of David Grosso for one of the two DC Council At-Large seats that is up for vote this election:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/weblog/2012/10/15/elect-grosso-at-large

The Washington City Paper is having some fun with this. Will Sommer tweeted about the endorsement and linked it to the contentious thread about raising chickens in an urban environment that dominated "Off-Topic" some time back. Grosso responded that he actually has plans for a chicken coop for his yard and has the support of his neighbors for raising chickens. WCP then followed with a blog article about this "controversy":

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2012/10/15/is-the-d-c-urban-moms-chicken-crisis-over/

I may have to update my endorsement to note that the thoughtful pro-chicken arguments in that thread -- all of which WCP chose to ignore -- caused me to change my initial anti-chicken stance and I now think chickens can be raised appropriately in an urban environment. Of course, where chickens rank on my list of priorities of what I want from our next At-Large Council Member is far closer to the bottom than the top.

[Anonymous]

I also plan to vote for Grosso. I guess that puts me in concert with Jeff (we are a concerto Grosso?).

A related question is whether one should vote only for Grosso. Each voter gets two votes, since two at-large seats are available (M Brown's & V Orange's). There is an argument that a second vote could turn out to be a vote against Grosso if he's in a close race for second place, and if your second vote is for Brown or Orange, I'd say that argument makes sense.

But if you are like me and would like to see both Brown and Orange replaced, I would advise voting for one of the other candidates (Beatty, Cooper, Swain, or Wilcox) as well, since the incumbents cannot both be replaced unless two opponents do well.

Grosso seems to have traction as the most likely incumbent-toppler. I wish I knew which of the others has the best chance of joining him; I would appreciate recommendations. I expect to see them at a forum on Wednesday (6:30 pm, Takoma Baptist Church, Aspen & Piney Branch, NW), and I may post my own recommendation after that.

[Anonymous]

Jeff, I just got a mailing from Grosso emphasizing his support for education "reform." There wasn't much detail, so it wasn't clear if he was a strong supporter of Michelle Rhee's kind of "reform," which I found to be highly divisive and counterproductive, or some other kind of reform. Obviously I'll do more research before I vote but I was wondering if you had a view on this. Your interview with him addresses a couple of interesting ideas but it's still unclear to me where he is coming from. What do you think?

I really want to get rid of Michael Brown (whose life seems to be in constant upheaval) but I'm not willing to vote for someone who might want to give us another Michelle Rhee. On the other hand, it makes sense to support the person who has the most support and Grosso may be that guy.

Anybody know anything about the other candidates that you'd like to share?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, I just got a mailing from Grosso emphasizing his support for education "reform." There wasn't much detail, so it wasn't clear if he was a strong supporter of Michelle Rhee's kind of "reform," which I found to be highly divisive and counterproductive, or some other kind of reform. Obviously I'll do more research before I vote but I was wondering if you had a view on this. Your interview with him addresses a couple of interesting ideas but it's still unclear to me where he is coming from. What do you think?

I really want to get rid of Michael Brown (whose life seems to be in constant upheaval) but I'm not willing to vote for someone who might want to give us another Michelle Rhee. On the other hand, it makes sense to support the person who has the most support and Grosso may be that guy.

Anybody know anything about the other candidates that you'd like to share?

Here is the best source for Grosso's education policy:

http://www.grossoatlarge.com/towards_a_better_d_c_streamlining_and_accelerating_education_reform

I co-hosted a meet and greet for him on Saturday during which he spoke about education. He would like to see education taken out of the Committee of the Whole and given to a standalone committee which he chairs. He supports Kaya Henderson. As I remember, he supported many of Rhee's reforms, but didn't agree with the way she operated. He feels that the Council has not done enough to support reforms.

I'll speak frankly about Rhee, but I want to emphasize that this is my own thinking, not Grosso's. Rhee is gone now and Grosso doesn't gain anything from taking a strand one way or another on her. He needs votes from people who both supported and opposed her. I personally was very opposed to Rhee and documented that opposition in many posts on the blog here and in posts in the DC Public Schools forum here. I am comfortable supporting Grosso and his education goals. But, he has support from people like Jon Hill who strongly supported Rhee.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your thoughtful response, Jeff. I will take a closer look at Grosso. It sure makes sense to have a standalone committee. Most of the stuff that politicians running for office promise us about education is bs anyway but this is one thing that the council could actually accomplish.