Anthony Williams
On-Line Chat Session on American Online
Cosponsored by DCWatch
November 1, 1998

Williams doing America Online/DCWatch on-line chat in Washingtoniana Room of DC Public Library

Anthony Williams: Hello to everyone. Hi. I'm ready to answer all your questions, well, almost all.

Question: Do you expect to maintain your 5 to 1 lead over Carol Schwartz?

Anthony Williams: Who says I have a 5 to 1 lead? I do think that we will have a solid victory tomorrow. Future over the past, performance over promises. Wait a minute! That's Tuesday! The days are blurring together. Folks, this is YOUR nation's capital. Let's have some questions. Come on!

Question: Have you ever served as an elected official before? What have you learned from your first political campaign?

Anthony Williams: Yes. I served on the New Haven Board of Aldermen when I was an undergraduate. I learned to listen, act and succeed. In other words, work with people, put in place operations, and produce results.

Question: How are you planning to get your voters out to the polls on Tuesday?

Anthony Williams: We have developed a very good GOTV (get out the vote) operation for Tuesday. I believe it will be effective in reaching voters through phone banking and driving folks to the polls when needed.

Question: What are your priorities as the new mayor of DC?

Anthony Williams: My priorities are resumption of home rule, education, management reform, and economic development. I will conduct sessions on education during a transition.

Question: What are your reasons for running?

Anthony Williams: I'm running as the result of a real phenomenon; an actual citizen draft. Three months ago a group of citizens drafted me to run, and the number grew to 500. At this point we have over 4,000 contributors/volunteers in our campaign. They wanted me to provide leadership, a record of accomplishment, and a real vision for our city.

Question: What do you plan to do for the people that others don't?

Anthony Williams: Well for one thing, actually get it done. Chat sessions are good for the web, they're lousy in running a government. People want a real impact in their neighborhoods and I have a proven record. I've done economic development, neighborhood planning, housing, human service management and financial management.

Question: What is your take on the economic situation of the city? What do you plan on doing?

Anthony Williams: To use an analogy, we are a business with promising potential, but a lousy capital situation. First, the capital situation because we are treated differently from other similar cities. We don't have a state transfer, the ability to tax, and we have lots of tax exempt property. Therefore, we are "behind" in our fiscal relationship with the feds 400 to 500 million dollars. I will fight to get a larger federal "investment" in the District, every year. Now, we do have strengths that other cities don't have. We are the second largest technology center on the planet. We are the international capital of the world, and we have 23 to 24 million tourists a year. We also have incredible neighborhoods. Like any business, we've got to improve production, get an additional investment, and exploit our market potential.

Question: What are you going to do for education?

Anthony Williams: My education plan is threefold: one, strengthen accountability, two, work on neighborhood schools, focusing resources where they are most needed; and three, using the mayor's office to bring together the resources of our entire city government and private sector to create better conditions for children outside of the school, after hours, pre-school, and during the summer.

Question: How do you feel about the possibility of a downtown baseball stadium to complement MCI Center?

Anthony Williams: Entertainment and retail is a big part of our economic potential. A baseball stadium, in the context of a good planning process with citizen involvement, is a great idea.

Question: Do you have a firm belief that you will come up strong in this election?

Anthony Williams: Yes, I do have such a belief, based on my contacts with voters.

Question: What made you go into politics?

Anthony Williams: Immediately speaking, in response to a citizens' draft. I responded positively because I believe in making government work for all of us.

Question: Mr. Williams, as a manager, what is the hardest decision you have had to make?

Anthony Williams: Unquestionably, the decision to terminate 300 workers over the period of a year for poor performance. I recognized the human consequences, but something had to be done to bring the District from the brink of bankruptcy.

Question: What do you feel are the attributes needed for DC's mayor at this time?

Anthony Williams: The attributes are leadership, demonstrated commitment, courage, commitment, performance, real accomplishment, not just talk, and a vision for our city that is at once expansive and detailed that matches our real potential.

Question: What skills/talents do you feel Ms. Schwartz has that you do not have, and vice versa?

Anthony Williams: The Washington Post put it well in an editorial strongly endorsing my candidacy. She's a better politician. I'm a proven, effective manager. The Washington Times took a different tack. I've accomplished what I've set out to do. Carol has been willing to stand alone against the status quo, I'll give her that. I'm a doer, Carol's a talker.

Question: If you were elected, would you consider giving Carol Schwartz a position in your administration?

Anthony Williams: In general, I believe we should have a non-partisan approach to returning home rule and restoring hope and confidence in this government. At the beginning of this campaign, my answer would have been an enthusiastic yes, but I have hesitation now. I think Carol is digging deep in the barrel with the charge that I targeted my terminations to African-American women, saying this on one part of town, and in the other part of town, condoning a rumor campaign, completely false, that I have "cronies" of Marion Barry directing me. The voters want from us a vision and a route to get there, not more name calling.

Question: Doesn't Ms. Schwartz have a performance record? Explain yours?

Anthony Williams: Carol's performance record in the community is real and I respect it, but she has never managed a large, complex, enterprise. I have managed organizations with budgets ranging from 65 billion dollars to local non-profits. I have created and established organizations and projects that have produced jobs, housing, and economic development. I have turned around weak and/or failing organizations. This is not just a matter of number crunching. It's a matter of building coalitions, putting in place operations, and producing results for people.

Question: So what do you think will happen to the president?

Anthony Williams: Whatever happens should be soon. I think the inquiry should be focused on the matters immediately in dispute and a conclusion reached ASAP. It's not as if the facts are really in dispute here.

Question: New Haven was a long time ago. What are the most important lessons you have learned in the last five years in any capacity? And how does one prove that?

Anthony Williams: First, public management and political office are not as different as one would think. In both, one must build support, focus on operations, and keep one's eye on the ball. Over the last few years as CFO I've learned to love this city, having nursed it back to financial health.

Question: How does one "produce" results? And how does one prove that?

Anthony Williams: The answer to both questions is one and the same. You achieve something that the customer — citizen — can see, touch, and feel; like sending back over 160 thousand tax refunds in under 30 days. Taking the District from a junk bond rating to real respect on Wall Street, saving the citizens of the District millions in borrowing costs; like producing 1,500 units of housing without resorting to federal subsidy.

Question: Would you ever consider running for president in the future?

Anthony Williams: I'm running for this office in response to a draft. This is the ultimate office for me.

Question: How does it feel to be in the public eye after being more of a behind-the-scenes man?

Anthony Williams: Behind the scenes in taking credit, on the front line in making decisions, and taking heat for them. On the front lines in attending hundreds and hundreds of community meetings throughout my time as a public official a.k.a. bureaucrat.

Question: I agreed with and liked what the papers said and your use of the quotes, but no need to say you're a doer and she's a talker. Hard to substantiate in either case.

Anthony Williams: We disagree, what can I say?

Question: What is your opinion of the recent attacks on abortion clinics?

Anthony Williams: Horrible. Full cooperation and resources of every level of government should be deployed to prevent them before they occur, and bring to prosecution the culprits who have caused the pain these attacks bring to families and communities.

Question: If elected, how would you make a difference, while in office?

Anthony Williams: On the doer, talker thing, all I can say is you have to be in a debate and absorb 1 to 2 hours of attacks, with little merit, from your opponent to appreciate the feeling.

Question: Do you think you'll have a good relationship with Tom Davis? (Republican Chair of the DC Committee in Congress.)

Anthony Williams: I believe I will stand fast for the citizens of our city while working well with the Congress, including Chairman Tom Davis.

Question: What does management reform mean to you?

Anthony Williams: Short term, achieving meaningful results for citizens in 6 months to a year. Medium to long term, changing people and culture problems through solid, productive labor negotiation and competition that results in our employees performing better in well paying jobs while costing our government less overall.

Question: And home rule, how do we resume that? Congress seems to have its own agenda.

Anthony Williams: You're right. But I think we need to think of a progression; home rule, voting for our representative in Congress, and full representation, in the Senate, for instance. My goal is to restore full Home Rule, responsibility with the resources to meet it as soon as possible. A number of political strategies must be pursued while working to improve the performance of our government and economy in such a way as to command the respect of our country.

Question: How do you feel about this new DC visitors center proposed for Mount Vernon Square?

Anthony Williams: Have to check on this one. Not up to speed on the visitors center. E-mail me at www.williamsdc98 and I'll check for you.

Question: Agreed, so what IS good for running government? 

Anthony Williams: Don't understand the last question.

Question: You've mentioned working closely with Eleanor Holmes Norton. What is your opinion of her tax proposal?

Anthony Williams: I support her tax proposal. I think it was an ingenious approach to getting help from a Republican Congress. Yes.

Question: How do you feel about the job done by Mayor Barry in his political career?

Anthony Williams: Good question. Mayor Barry's tenure is a Shakespearean tragedy in three acts. Act One: great development, inclusiveness, City on the ball. Act Two: destruction of the leader, horrible role model for kids. Act Three: the mayor atones, good, runs for re-election, OK, gets in office and comes up with a good reform plan, OK, but never delivers. This final failure to deliver reform, despite enormous political skills and technical know how, is the ultimate tragedy. One the other hand, he's left a legacy of commitment to youth, senior citizens, and higher education that I would build upon.

Question: I like your assessment of the "capital" situation. How can these things be addressed?

Anthony Williams: We have to, while fiscal times are good, get the feds, Maryland and Virginia together with the District to look at a second stage to the revitalization plan for the District. This could come in the form of a grant(s), taxing ability for the District, or added support in other areas, such as transportation.

DCNYAbby: Thank you so much Mr. Williams for joining us today from the Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library.

Anthony Williams: It's been a pleasure.

DCNYAbby: Good Luck.

Anthony Williams: Thank you all very much for this opportunity! And if you live in DC, PLEASE VOTE!

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