Muriel Was Never Prepared

[Anonymous]

I really struggle to understand why anyone supports her. Maybe some infer from her opposition to the RCC that she represents some kind of vanguard against the “woke” council, but even that is a tellingly blinkered viewpoint. After all, it was her own Office of Racial Equity that determined that no further measures should be taken against drivers with fake temporary plates because it would have a “negative impact on people of color”. She also took no issue with the Council allowing drivers with thousands of dollars in outstanding fines renew their licenses and registrations.

My issue with her, though, is that she has demonstrated general ineptitude in managing the city, which arguably has lost ground under her leadership. If you look back to where this city was in 2015 and where it is today, you can only wonder where things might be today if we’d had a better mayor.

One of her biggest problems has been hiring competent people to run city agencies. We got a relatively early warning on this when her first DCPS chancellor exploited his position to get his daughter into DESA, but the trend has only continued through her appointment of Pamela Smith as MPD Chief, who by all accounts has lost her department. Kershbaum, who makes snap decisions to tear up road infrastructure many years in the making on the basis of a phone call from a real estate developer, is just awful.

Time and time again, I’ve seen her agencies develop proposals and then initiate multi-year consultation processes that divide communities and cause a huge number of people to waste a tremendous amount of time and then for her to upend all of that consultation with a diktat that makes little sense and is never really explained.

After all the progress that was made by her predecessors, she has been a colossal disappointment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never liked any DC mayor, but the current one isn't worse than the others. She's in a lose-lose position vis-a-vis the White House, so not to blame for this particular mess.

How could you not like Anthony Williams?

PP you replied to. They were all corrupt and incompetent. As is this one. But again, not worse than the others. I have given up hoping for an effective DC mayor. The entire city is apathetic to its problems. Maybe the current situation is what's needed to wake them up and put them in front of their responsibilities.

How long have you lived in Washington, DC? You sound uninformed about Anthony Williams.

NP- Anthony Williams was the best thing to ever happen to DC. Moved here in 1996 and what a difference he made.

Also I agree with OP, she should have hired some republican lobbyist who have the presidents ear. He needs to have his ego massaged constantly she could have hired someone for that.

Lastly, all her key appointments and hires are insiders only who have worked on her campaigns or as favors. Period.
If you aren’t part of the green team machine the you have no chance as certain positions.
I have been on the inside, it’s frustrating to say the least.

And we only got Williams because the Control Board hand picked him to be Mayor. The city would never pick another mayor like him if given a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry she fired you OP.

Not OP, but oh please. For anyone who actually pays attention to DC politics, this is spot on. She doesn't hire smart people, except for Nina Albert, whose hands have been tied. She's trying though.

I know the Mayor and have worked in DC government in the past (not under Bowser). I have never been impressed. She was not ready for this moment.

I am OP and I have never worked for Muriel nor have I ever wanted to for many of the reasons listed here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never liked any DC mayor, but the current one isn't worse than the others. She's in a lose-lose position vis-a-vis the White House, so not to blame for this particular mess.

How could you not like Anthony Williams?

PP you replied to. They were all corrupt and incompetent. As is this one. But again, not worse than the others. I have given up hoping for an effective DC mayor. The entire city is apathetic to its problems. Maybe the current situation is what's needed to wake them up and put them in front of their responsibilities.

How long have you lived in Washington, DC? You sound uninformed about Anthony Williams.

NP- Anthony Williams was the best thing to ever happen to DC. Moved here in 1996 and what a difference he made.

Also I agree with OP, she should have hired some republican lobbyist who have the presidents ear. He needs to have his ego massaged constantly she could have hired someone for that.

Lastly, all her key appointments and hires are insiders only who have worked on her campaigns or as favors. Period.
If you aren’t part of the green team machine the you have no chance as certain positions.
I have been on the inside, it’s frustrating to say the least.

And we only got Williams because the Control Board hand picked him to be Mayor. The city would never pick another mayor like him if given a choice.

Your point being that democracy is a bad idea?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never liked any DC mayor, but the current one isn't worse than the others. She's in a lose-lose position vis-a-vis the White House, so not to blame for this particular mess.

How? DC has been blue forever? Is it just that you want to campaign and hold power but never fix anything as you hold orifice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really struggle to understand why anyone supports her. Maybe some infer from her opposition to the RCC that she represents some kind of vanguard against the “woke” council, but even that is a tellingly blinkered viewpoint. After all, it was her own Office of Racial Equity that determined that no further measures should be taken against drivers with fake temporary plates because it would have a “negative impact on people of color”. She also took no issue with the Council allowing drivers with thousands of dollars in outstanding fines renew their licenses and registrations.

My issue with her, though, is that she has demonstrated general ineptitude in managing the city, which arguably has lost ground under her leadership. If you look back to where this city was in 2015 and where it is today, you can only wonder where things might be today if we’d had a better mayor.

One of her biggest problems has been hiring competent people to run city agencies. We got a relatively early warning on this when her first DCPS chancellor exploited his position to get his daughter into DESA, but the trend has only continued through her appointment of Pamela Smith as MPD Chief, who by all accounts has lost her department. Kershbaum, who makes snap decisions to tear up road infrastructure many years in the making on the basis of a phone call from a real estate developer, is just awful.

Time and time again, I’ve seen her agencies develop proposals and then initiate multi-year consultation processes that divide communities and cause a huge number of people to waste a tremendous amount of time and then for her to upend all of that consultation with a diktat that makes little sense and is never really explained.

After all the progress that was made by her predecessors, she has been a colossal disappointment.

This is because having intelligence or the courage to tell the mayor that she’s wrong are the opposite of the qualifications that she looks for in candidates - she looks for yes men/women and people that can be controlled. And lord help us if she wins a fourth term - can you imagine the people that would be advising her four years from now if these are the best we have now?

[Anonymous]

Anyone paying attention for the last decade plus is not surprised. No vision, petty, probably corrupt. List goes on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never liked any DC mayor, but the current one isn't worse than the others. She's in a lose-lose position vis-a-vis the White House, so not to blame for this particular mess.

How could you not like Anthony Williams?

PP you replied to. They were all corrupt and incompetent. As is this one. But again, not worse than the others. I have given up hoping for an effective DC mayor. The entire city is apathetic to its problems. Maybe the current situation is what's needed to wake them up and put them in front of their responsibilities.

How long have you lived in Washington, DC? You sound uninformed about Anthony Williams.

NP- Anthony Williams was the best thing to ever happen to DC. Moved here in 1996 and what a difference he made.

Also I agree with OP, she should have hired some republican lobbyist who have the presidents ear. He needs to have his ego massaged constantly she could have hired someone for that.

Lastly, all her key appointments and hires are insiders only who have worked on her campaigns or as favors. Period.
If you aren’t part of the green team machine the you have no chance as certain positions.
I have been on the inside, it’s frustrating to say the least.

And we only got Williams because the Control Board hand picked him to be Mayor. The city would never pick another mayor like him if given a choice.

Your point being that democracy is a bad idea?

Only when the wrong people make the wrong choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone paying attention for the last decade plus is not surprised. No vision, petty, probably corrupt. List goes on

Muriel E. Bowser is the Kindest, Bravest, Warmest, Most Wonderful Human I’ve Ever Known in My Life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone paying attention for the last decade plus is not surprised. No vision, petty, probably corrupt. List goes on

Muriel E. Bowser is the Kindest, Bravest, Warmest, Most Wonderful Human I’ve Ever Known in My Life.

This MUST be a joke. I don't know a single person, even those close to her, who would EVER say this about her. She is about the most petty person on the planet. I wouldn't say corrupt but definitely petty with no vision.

[Anonymous]

PP - this is a joke a la the manchurian candidate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone paying attention for the last decade plus is not surprised. No vision, petty, probably corrupt. List goes on

Muriel E. Bowser is the Kindest, Bravest, Warmest, Most Wonderful Human I’ve Ever Known in My Life.

This MUST be a joke. I don't know a single person, even those close to her, who would EVER say this about her. She is about the most petty person on the planet. I wouldn't say corrupt but definitely petty with no vision.

She’s a life-ruiner. She ruins people’s lives.

[Anonymous]

She's been a terrible mayor for years. And now she's selling out democrats by kow towing to Trump and believing that will save us.

She's done a crap job for several years now, and her poor job has trickled out into the best parts of town and into the suburbs. Nothing has gotten better -- only the good parts of town have gotten worse so that makes things even? It's a shame there's no way to get rid of her.

All that said, Trump is pure evil and this is not the way to change the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never liked any DC mayor, but the current one isn't worse than the others. She's in a lose-lose position vis-a-vis the White House, so not to blame for this particular mess.

If you had kids in public schools, you would know that she is worse than the others. She is mired in mediocrity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When Trump was elected, I posted that the Mayor needed to hire a more seasoned staff, in addition to hiring a Republican lobbying firm to help her navigate this administration. The amateurs she has at the helm, like Chief of Staff Lindsay Parker (smarter than Muriel but does not have gravitas or much of a personality), the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel (MOLC), which is full of inexperienced attorneys and led by a Deputy Director who often appears woefully intellectually inferior to the much more seasoned DC government attorneys, but who loves to hog the camera (see the disastrous Falcicchio press conferences), are not equipped to meet this moment. They never were and the Mayor had enough of a runway to realize this. Muriel needs lawyers with the legal acumen of the current DC AG and his senior staff actually working FOR the Mayor.

I am really disappointed with this administration, its responses to this debacle and its hiring choices. Just such a mess. Constantly looking like a deer in headlights, stumbling over her words, contradicting herself - is anybody advising her?

Most thought it was just going to be like T1.0