Carol Schwartz Mayoral Announcement Speech
September 26, 2002
Deciding to run this time has been difficult - terribly difficult.
Last time, when I lost to someone people barely knew, I became reconciled - albeit sadly - to the fact that this job of Mayor that I wanted so badly and had worked toward for 30 years was not meant to be mine. And I said at the beginning of that campaign if I lost a third time, that would be it. And when people asked me to run a year ago, six months ago or even six weeks ago, I never wavered. "No" was the answer - the constant, consistent answer.
But recently, just saying "no" started filling me with a sense of regret - regret for me personally, regret for the sake of our city, regret for the sake of democracy.
Therefore, I am here today to accept the nomination of my Party for Mayor of the District of Columbia. I have always believed that political competition improves the quality of government for all the people. It is the essence of democracy. And the citizens of this city - the capital of the greatest democracy on earth - need a choice. They deserve a choice. So, after a great deal of soul-searching and with great humility, I announce today that I will offer District voters that choice to lead this great city forward.
There is no question in my mind that this will be an uphill battle.
My opponent offers a record which shows some progress. Washington is, in some respects, a better city today than it was four years ago. But this is still a deeply troubled and divided city. Tony Williams' stewardship has been marred by ethical lapses, questionable judgment and a cold lack of compassion for our poorest and most helpless citizens.
If you don't believe me, ask the members of the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics about my opponent's outrageous and illegal efforts to get his name on the ballot…or about the consultants' fees he took from companies doing business with the city while he was running for Mayor the last time … or about the three times that he has been fined - more than any public official in our history.
Ask the voters in Wards 7 and 8 about the last four years under the Williams Administration. Ask them if their lives have improved, if their schools have improved, and ask them if they have better hospitals and health care than they did four years ago.
I say to you today, we can - and we must - do better!
The tangible difference between Anthony Williams and myself is my vision for the city, my commitment to this city, my passion for all the people of this city and the quality of leadership I have demonstrated over the course of my long public career. As all of you know, I have never been afraid to say what I believed should be said, nor to fight for those whose rights were in jeopardy or for those whose needs were not being met. I have a true, demonstrated history of fighting for the rights of all our people - black, white, Latino, Asian, gay and straight, rich, middle class and poor … fighting for good government, for honesty, for compassion and for competence in the public life of this city long before it became fashionable to do so - and long before our present Mayor was forced to leave Arlington, Virginia, in 1996 to take up residency in D.C. as a job requirement.
In fact, I have spent an adult lifetime working for this city - paid and not paid, with publicity and without. I have been here. In the 1970s, I was on the School Board, here in the District of Columbia, and test scores went up.
In the early 1980s, I was an active public school parent raising three children here in the District of Columbia.
In the mid-1980s, I was on the Council here in the District of Columbia, speaking out against and casting votes against those bloated budgets which ended up causing us bankruptcy and the loss of virtually all the little home rule we had.
In the early 1990s, I was here in the District of Columbia, serving as the first woman President of the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Clubs in its 62-year history and as Vice President of the Board of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, and working for a host of other charitable organizations benefiting the people of this city.
In 1994, I was running hard here, in the District of Columbia, against the return of Marion Barry to a fourth term as Mayor.
Throughout my career, I have fought for better government, for better city services, for democracy … and for all the citizens of this special city.
And we must take a closer look at those in our city whom Tony Williams has ignored, those whose needs his administration has forgotten. Even during the recent time of economic boom and prosperity here, the poor in our city have gotten poorer. The statistics are there, unfortunately, to prove this. And I believe it is the obligation of all of us to focus our intelligence, our goodwill and our resources on those parts of this city where there is the greatest need-- and where good government, coupled with strong, competent and compassionate - and engaged - leadership, can make a difference.
Keeping our home values up is a worthy goal. In fact, the Council's tax-reduction policies helped get those values up. I am a D.C. homeowner, and have been since 1968, and I share that goal. But there must be more. There must be affordable housing for those who hung in there with us during the tough times and are now being priced out.
You can take care of business and, at the same time, take care of people. We can do both with competent, compassionate leadership. We can do both.
If I am elected Mayor - and let me tell you, I'm in this to win - I promise you with all my heart and all my soul that I will work to encourage the best in all our citizens…to find creative new ways to bring the immense talent and wealth of knowledge that exists in Washington to bear in improving the lives and futures of all our people…those in Brookland and in Deanwood, in Washington Highlands and in Mount Pleasant, in Trinidad and in Foggy Bottom, in Ivy City and in AU Park, in Anacostia and in Georgetown. These are neighborhoods in Washington whose citizens are our brothers and sisters, our hermanos and hermanas, whose schools and whose health care and whose jobs and aspirations deserve our closest attention.
I stand here today and say again, we can - and we must - do better!
Now let's deal upfront with the Republican issue in this town, where 77% of the voters are Democrats and only 7% are Republicans. As I said in my announcement speech in the 1986 Mayoral race and have repeated each time I have run, "There is no Republican or Democratic way to pick up trash; there is no female or male way to do something about our housing shortage or to stimulate economic development in our neglected neighborhoods; there is no white or black way to fix our potholes or create jobs." And that has certainly proven to be true.
Since I have chaired the Committee on Public Works and the Environment starting four years ago, I (not Tony Williams) put money in the budget to purchase the new trash trucks that are giving you better trash service. And I (not Tony Williams) had the cable companies' rights-of-way fees directed to a local roads maintenance fund, which is fixing your potholes.
But yes, I am a registered Republican, one you have watched and trusted for years, one who has never been partisan and is not about to start now. One who has and will continue to work hard to get us full voting rights in Congress, and our just due from the federal government for land we cannot tax and services we provide, and whose voter registration may even be helpful to those causes. In these areas of injustice with the federal government, we can - and we must - do better.
And now let's talk realistically about this Mayor's record. Numerous major appointments to critical posts have turned out to be major disappointments. Our foster care system is still plagued with deeply troublesome and sad and too frequent occurrences, and I fear that another disaster is just waiting to happen. Our public school system shows improvement only at a most sluggish pace. Homicides are up and families of the victims wait too long for closure in those cases, if it ever comes at all. And a bloated and very expensive bureaucracy is back. Big time.
And of great concern are the appalling ethical lapses that have occurred under Mayor Williams - lapses that, in my opinion, have been too easily forgiven. We oftentimes expect too little of our leaders and we get too little as a result. We can do better, and we must do better.
Now, our Mayor - much touted as an ace bean counter for his credentials and his experience as Chief Financial Officer - has evidently miscounted a few beans. Try 323 million beans. For three years the Council has been asking this administration for budgets based in reality, but all we keep getting are budgets based on false assumptions, tax hikes and overspending. The $323 million shortfall that our government must now painfully tackle is certainly something that should not have surprised "budget-expert" Williams right at Primary time.
And I can assure you that accountability (fiscal and otherwise) and high ethical standards - coupled with competence, compassion and creativity - will be the hallmarks of my administration.
We can do better.
We must do better.
And with your help and your support, I pledge to you that WE WILL DO BETTER to make this the world's greatest capital city and beloved home to so many of us a model for competent and compassionate good government serving the needs and aspirations of all our people. And I mean all our people.
This race may be an uphill battle. It may even be a long shot. But if all the people who voted for me before, vote for me; if all the people who asked me to run, vote for me; if all the people who have said over the years that they regretted not voting for me, vote for me; if all the people who say they like me but have problems with my being a Republican get over it, and vote for me; and if all the people who want me to win, but who are afraid I won't win, vote for me … I can win - we can win. But regardless, I am here. I offer you a choice, a good, dependable, tried-and-true choice. I am reminded of one of my heroes, Winston Churchill, who, by the way, lost five elections. "Never, never, never give up in nothing great or small," Churchill once said. I am obviously following that advice.
I would like to close today with a portion of the prayer book I was reading last week during High Holy Day services - a portion that reflects some of the thoughts that brought me here today to make the fourth announcement of my candidacy for Mayor of the District of Columbia.
Birth is a beginning
And death a destination.
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity and youth to age;
From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing;
From weakness to strength or strength to weakness-
And, often, back again;
From fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat-
Until, looking backward or ahead,
We see that victory lies
Not in some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey stage by stage,
A sacred pilgrimage.
Thank you. |
