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[quote=jsteele]I'm not sure that DC's history is worse than most places. As everyone keeps pointing out, Illinois currently has two former governors in jail. Two former Speakers of the Pennsylvania House are not only in jail, but cellmates. Just look at this list of state and local politicians convicted of crimes and you will see this is a widespread phenomenon:

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

But, I think there is something to your suggestion that we don't have a decent slate of candidates. The 2010 Council Chair race was classic: Brown or Orange. It made you wish both could lose. The mayor's race was only marginally better.

There are several reasons we don't attract better candidates. One is that incumbents are able to raise so much more money that challengers know they will start at a huge disadvantage. Nobody even bothered to challenge Jack Evans and he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars anyway. Also, the career patch for a DC politician is very short. In most cities, you can go from city council to state rep to state senate to US Rep, maybe US Senate. In DC, you can go SBOE to Council and that's pretty much it. The truly ambitions and able are unlikely to settle for that.

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