Sekou Biddle: The Best Choice for the At-Large DC Council Seat

On April 3, the District of Columbia will hold its primary election. In addition to Democratic and Republican candidates for President, DC voters will select candidates for a number of local offices. One of the most important seats being contested is the At-Large DC Council seat currently held by Vincent Orange. Orange is opposed by Sekou Biddle, who briefly held the seat last year, and Peter Shapiro, a former member of the Prince George’s County Council. Two of these candidates are committed to true governmental ethics reform and accountability. Similarly, two of the candidates have the experience in DC politics necessary to challenge entrenched interests. But, only one of the candidates has both experience in DC politics and a commitment to bringing the highest ethical standards to the DC Council. That candidate is Sekou Biddle, who is the best choice to move the city forward.

Orange, Shapiro, and Biddle provide voters with three distinct candidates. Orange is an old school DC politician. He held the Ward 5 seat for two terms, sandwiched between Harry Thomas, Sr. and Harry Thomas, Jr. He then ran for Mayor, and lost, and then Council Chairman, and lost. During that time, he worked as a lobbyist for PEPCO. Last year, propped up by large contributions from corporations and individuals from outside the District of Columbia, Orange outspent his rivals to win a special election for the At-Large seat he now holds.

Orange's most notable act since returning to the Council was a blatant display of self-serving dealmaking. Ward 3 Council Member Mary Cheh believed that she had the votes to revoke a recently-approved tax on out-of-state municipal bonds. But, as it became clear that the Council was nearly evenly divided, Orange started negotiating. In return for a commitment to provide $500,000 for holding Emancipation Day festivities at the Lincoln Theater, on whose board he serves, Orange provided the crucial 7th vote to defeat Cheh's amendment. Orange got money for his party, DC residents got a tax increase.

Orange continues to be heavily funded by deep-pocketed individuals and corporations who do business with or in the city. For instance, Russell C. Lindner, who controls Colonial Parking and has real estate interests in the city has contributed at least $4,000 to Orange's campaign (either personally or through corporations). The individual limit is $1,000 but Linder and others use LLCs to get around contribution limits. Companies linked to Joe Mamo, the DC gas station king, have provided $9,000 to Orange's campaign according to WAMU. Businessmen don't hand over that kind of cash as a "contribution." Rather, it's an investment and Orange will be expected to deliver on that investment.

Peter Shapiro is probably the most surprising candidate in this race. While he grew up in DC, he moved to Maryland in 1990. From 1998 until 2004, he served on the Prince George’s County Council, briefly serving as Council Chairman. He moved back to DC in 2009. His campaign still relies heavily on Maryland residents for financial support. His fundraising efforts have not been particularly successful and Shapiro has personally loaned his campaign $50,000, more than he has raised otherwise. Shapiro is certainly an experienced politician and likely would bring a number of good qualities to the DC Council. But, he simply doesn't have much of a footprint in DC.

Shapiro's chance of winning this election appears to be extremely limited. To put it bluntly, Shapiro has lived in Maryland for 19 of the last 22 years. In a city which is already divided between relative newcomers -- referred to by some as Myopic Little Twits -- and longtime DC residents who proudly call themselves "Native Washingtonians", Shapiro and Orange are the embodiment of that division. Given current demographics, this is simply a battle that the Twits can't win.

Biddle shares the progressive qualities of Shapiro, but has a strong track record of achievement in the District. He grew up in Columbia Heights and devoted much of his career to improving schools in DC. In 2007, he was elected to the Board of Education, a seat he held until being elected in a vote by the DC Democratic State Committee to fill an empty At-Large seat on the DC Council -- the very seat for which he is now running. In a race between Orange, who represents "too much" involvement with the DC political establishment, and Shapiro, who represents "too little", Biddle is the Goldilocks candidate. He is just right.

The fact that Biddle stands with one foot solidly in the Native Washingtonian camp of DC tradition and another foot in the new territory of Myopic Twits is best understood by a closer look at Biddle's experience regarding the At-Large seat last year. With many years of involvement in DC politics, Biddle had good relationships with most of DC's leading politicians. Among others, DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown was instrumental in Biddle's filling the At-Large seat vacated by Brown when Brown became Chairman. As Brown found himself embroiled in "fully-loaded" Navigators and campaign spending controversies, many -- including this writer -- took the position that Biddle was compromised by his ties to Brown.

However, despite his links to the establishment, Biddle has always demonstrated a reformist side. After his loss in the special election, he focused intensely on building good government alliances. Most notable is his support for his former campaign opponent Bryan Weaver's initiative to ban direct corporate contributions to candidates. This, along with a clear "good government" campaign platform, has earned Weaver's endorsement in this race.

I have long felt that corporate contributions that make a mockery of DC's contribution limits -- Joe Mamo's $9,000 in contributions to Orange being a good example -- are one of the most corrupting influences in DC politics. Biddle's fundraising has been focused on relatively small contributions from a broad swath of DC residents. To the extent that he ends this campaign owing favors, it will be to a large number of fairly average DC residents.

Whereas the current Council is focused on an abundance of motion but little actual progress when it comes to ethics, Biddle has made cleaning up government the centerpiece of his campaign. In addition to campaign finance reform, he supports abolishing constituent services funds. Originally designed to provide emergency support for constituents, the funds have become little more than Council Member slush funds. For instance, Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans used $135,897 from his fund to purchase professional sports tickets.

District voters are faced with a stark choice on April 3. They can vote for business as usual in the form of Vincent Orange. They can vote for Peter Shapiro, a candidate whose experience in DC politics might better qualify him for an ANC bid, or they can choose Sekou Biddle who combines experience with a commitment to making DC the best city it can be for all of its citizens. I am pleased to give my support to Sekou Biddle.