Who deserves my vote for DC Council At Large?

[Anonymous]

I don't see 2 good options in this list of candidates. Can someone convince me otherwise?

[Anonymous]

I just put a relevant note on the Carol Scwartz thread.

[jsteele]

No for the Browns. Yes for Schwartz and Schwartzman. My probably politically-incorrect slogan is "Black over Brown".

[Anonymous]

Why no Michael Brown?

[Anonymous]

I'm curious too. Why no Brown for City Council?

[jsteele]

I like both Browns on the personal level and I hate to put them down in public. Its not so much that I have issues with them particularly, but that I prefer alternative candidates to them. It is imperative to have an independent voice such as Carol Schwartz's on the Council. She and Mendelsohn are generally the only ones willing to oppose Fenty. The main reason she was primaried was because of her sponsorship of the mandatory paid leave act. As parents, I'd think we would understand the importance of that law better than most. Kwame has been much less willing to take risks or act independently than Carol.

That leaves the choice for the second seat. I think Schwartzman has the most innovative ideas and will also not as willing to go along with the crowd as either of the Browns. Let's face it, Michael Brown may be running as an independent, but he is a Democrat. If DC is not going to have any Republicans on the Council, it should at least have a Statehood/Green. The Council really needs to be more than simply a stamp for Fenty.

[Anonymous]

I'm one of those people who is sour on Michael Brown. I decided I'd better check out his positions. After I found his site, I saw that he's got a long list of good liberal positions.

But this is why I don't like him. He ran for mayor, for gosh sakes, without holding office at a lower level. And now he's running for council, also, without having held a lower office. According to his site, he's been on a bunch of boards -- so I suppose it's not like he is coming out from under a rock. But his major claim to fame seems to be that Ron Brown was his father and he plays that card regularly.

I don't know -- his positions are good -- but I have no evidence of his ability to be a good politician and no confidence that he will actually do anything to bring these goals about.

On the other hand, Carol Schwartz is a proven thing. I don't always agree with her (smoking ban) but she has taken a stand at times when it was important and supported paid sick leave for DC workers (which is what turned the business community against her). She also voted against the school takeover. Not everyone will agree with me on this but I think she showed a requisite amount of cynicism about the mayoral takeover. (I was willing to be convinced it was a good thing but instead Fenty just rammed it through without much consultation with the community.)

Which is what makes it so interesting that there is talk that Fenty is supporting her behind the scenes. But that may just be because Gray is endorsing Brown. And I suppose Fenty might see Brown as a competitor for mayor down the road.

But here's my caveat -- I haven't paid close attention to these things and I welcome you insiders who know more to please share what you know. Am I wrong to be so critical of Michael Brown? Educate me!

Oh and I forgot to mention I got my 8th robocall from Michael Brown today and it was so sickly sweet I wanted to puke.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree on the grossly sacharine robocall from Michael Brown yesterday. Would that ridiculous call actually convince anyone to give him their vote? I doubt it.

[Anonymous]

Colbert King says Fenty opponents are lined up behind Michael Brown because they think he will join Marion Barry, Kwame Brown, Harry Thomas Jr. , Yvette Alexander, Vincent Gray, and Phil Mendelson in a bloc opposed to Fenty. King says the first five have endorsed Michael, but Kwame, in an email from his campaign, says he has not endorsed anyone for the other at-large seat, and demands a retraction. King thinks that Kwame is a shoo-in, that Michael is leading for the other seat, and that Carol is the only one with a decent chance to beat Michael.

Personally, I think Carol is independent enough, and has a long enough history, that I trust her more than I trust Michael. Michael wants in with Obama, and Adrian probably already has that in, so I would not be shocked to see Michael cuddling up to Adrian if he gets in.

I do not have any inside information, though, so this is mostly guesswork. Anyone have inside dope?

[Anonymous]

I've heard Mendelson has endorsed Schwartz -- and there are two other council members how have as well but I can't remember who.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard Mendelson has endorsed Schwartz -- and there are two other council members how have as well but I can't remember who.

The other two are Bowser and Graham. The Bowser endorsement is kind of weird because it suggests Fenty is support Schwartz.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other two are Bowser and Graham. The Bowser endorsement is kind of weird because it suggests Fenty is support Schwartz.

Another indicator that Adrian would prefer Carol to Michael is the fact that Fenty people are running her campaign. But Muriel is also supporting Kwame, who is supposedly in the anti-Adrian group.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I voted Schwartz & Schwartzman, which would probably be seen by the pros as one vote for Adrian and one wasted.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm annoyed with Fenty so according to this recent scuttlebutt I should vote for Michael Brown because he will be aligned with Gray against Fenty. But he's got no track record that I can point to to show that he would truly be independent of Fenty. On the other hand, I know Schwartz will vote against Fenty when she thinks it's right. So, even though she seems to be getting help from him behind the scenes, I'm still going with Schwartz unless I hear from anyone out there in DCUM land compelling reasons why to vote for Michael Brown. But so far he hasn't had much in the way of anyone going to bat for him on this thread.