The Ugly Heart of the Matter
Dear Witnesses:
As you know, on Friday the DC Board of Elections and Ethics made a
decision on Mayor Williams's forged and fraudulent nominating petitions.
I won't comment here on the Board's decision, except to say that
speaking truth to power always requires courage and strength. The
members of the Board are already suffering the consequences. Tony
Williams claims that he repudiates his campaign's fraud and forgery, but
he still wants to profit from it, and he has begun an attack on the
Board for denying him the benefits of it. But today I want to write
about something else.
On Wednesday, the first morning of the Board's hearings, a woman rose
from the audience and asked to speak. She said she had been listening to
the Board's chairman, Ben Wilson, explain the purpose of the
circulator's affidavit that must be signed on each petition sheet, and
that she was afraid she had done something wrong that she wanted to
tell. That woman, Ann Lewis, was finally allowed to testify on Friday
morning. Ann Lewis is a pleasant, friendly woman in her mid-sixties who
works as a security guard at the apartment building at 800 Southern
Avenue, SE. She had signed four Williams petitions as the circulator,
and had been promised that she would be paid a dollar for each signature
on the sheets, although the campaign has paid her for only two sheets.
She had been called by the Board to testify about the many other
petition sheets on which the Williams campaign forged her signature. But
when she heard the law explained, she realized that there was a problem
with one of the four sheets that she herself had signed. She told the
Board that she had only circulated three sheets herself, and that Robert
Yeldell had given her the fourth sheet after it had already been filled
in, and asked her to sign it. She wanted to come clean, and to explain
to the Board what had happened.
Then came the lowest, ugliest moment of the Board's hearing. Mayor
Williams's lawyer, Vincent Mark J. Policy, pulled a paper from his
briefcase and proceeded to cross-examine Ms. Lewis about it. It turns
out that the Williams campaign, or its lawyers, had written affidavits
for its petition circulators, affidavits in which they were to swear
that all of their petitions were valid. The campaign asked them to sign
those affidavits. And Mr. Policy took Ms. Lewis' affidavit, the false
affidavit that the campaign had written and induced her to sign, and
proceeded to try to impeach her with it. He put her in a perjury trap.
She had done nothing wrong except to trust the Williams campaign and to
sign documents that she didn't fully understand. She had testified
truthfully when she did understand that she had broken the election law.
And her reward from the Mayor's lawyer was that he tried to put her in
the greatest criminal jeopardy possible, all the while oilily claiming
that he meant her no harm.
Tony Williams can claim, and many can believe, that he had no
oversight over and no responsibility or accountability for his own
reelection campaign. But he cannot repudiate the actions of his own
lawyers on his behalf. In that moment, at that hearing, his lawyers did
something that was as shameful and as disgraceful as anything that the
Williams campaign had done in committing the wholesale fraud. And Tony
Williams is responsible for that.
Gary Imhoff and Dorothy Brizill
themail@dcwatch.com
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I'm still irritated that the DC Council overturned a citizens
initiative on term limits. I was wondering if you could E-mail me the
names of those three council members who voted to keep the initiative.
I've forgotten who they are, and my E-mail to the Council get bounced
back as an “unrecognizable address.” (Ironic, isn't it?)
[It would be interesting to start a scorecard of Councilmembers'
votes, comparing those who favor power, privilege, and perquisites
against those with a more democratic bent. Three recent key issues could
be the vote to overturn the citizens' initiative on term limits, the
vote to exempt Councilmembers from parking laws, and the vote to
establish a Mayoral palace. Does anyone have any other issues to add to
the scorecard? And just who were those three? — Gary Imhoff]
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Do You Need to Get a Business License?
Star Lawrence, jkellaw@aol.com
Everyone on my freelance writing lists is buzzing about a regulation
to make writers and other consultants (among others, including those
from the 'burbs who do more than $2K of business a year in DC) to obtain
a business license. The story broke in the Post. Check out http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38278-2002Jul20.html.
Penalties are theoretically $500 a day after August 31.
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Discussing WPFW on PostingBoard.Com
Charles Stevenson, anjinsan@his.com
There is an independent, free board on the web for discussions and
messages on a number of topics; as I understand it, people are also free
to start their own threads. One of these threads is Pacifica Radio. To
get to that board, go to http://www.postingboard.com/. Then click on
“Public Discussion Forums,” then “Community/Democracy,” followed
by “Pacifica Radio.”
WPFW has entered an interesting phase of its life, with interesting
new programming (Try “The Three Hours of Power” on Sunday evenings)
and, hopefully, stronger and more diverse bonds and communications with
the community. Discuss the role of such radio in our community on this
message board — and come to the monthly, public Local Access Board
meeting on Wednesday evening, August 14, 7 p.m.
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What a Great Deal
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
If you want to make some money at the expense of the DC taxpayers,
just become a sports promoter and come up with an event that mayor
Williams will think enhances the image of DC. It worked just great for
the promoters of Mike Tyson. He got his license then took his marbles or
whatever rattles around in his head and fought(?) in Memphis. The along
came the Grand Prix race promoters. They convinced the District that it
would be a great image enhancer to host a three-day Grand Prix event
right in the District. What, you have no race track? Well, just build
one and they will come.
Not to worry, we will pay you back for the money you spend making us
a viable venue. Such a deal. The District spends $5.1 megabucks of
taxpayers money and in return they get back $3.5 M over the next ten
years. In real-time oriented dollars the District will actually get just
about $1M for the $5.1 they have already laid out. Ah, but the District
has the use of that track for three events each year. Local neighbors
near the track have already signed up for the Lawnmower Grand Prix.
They'll likely get fined by DC for making too much noise.
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The Mayor’s Home
Richard Worthington-Rogers, Strngman20001@aol.com
Are the mayor and his wife ever gonna find a home in the District of
Columbia to purchase, or is there some sort of problem that prevents
this from happening? Three people in a small apartment can be very
stressful. Just my two cents.
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Signatures or Services
Jon Desenberg, JonDes@hotmail.com
I renewed my plates at the busy Georgetown Park DMV yesterday. Walked
in, 2:24; walked out, 2:29. I heard another man tell a clerk, “I've
never been so happy with the city.” All the mayor's petition
signatures could have read “John Hancock” for all he or I cared.
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Look on the Bright Side
Gregory Diaz, Zaidmot@aol.com
I must say that I see a bright side to our troubled city's continuing
downward spiral into levels of malfeasance, misfeasance, and corruption
that I have seen only in small countries far away. Yes, things could be
a lot worse. For example, the mayor's official minions do not yet
actually burst into our homes with AK-47s and take our money by force.
Oh, gosh, now I've done it! Will this give them ideas?
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Thanks and congratulations to our dedicated citizen activists whose
vigilance and persistence helped defend the District's election law. The
petitions scandal is an embarrassment for our city, but not as great as
it would have been if the fraud had succeeded.
For another account of the public interest being ill-served by
mayoral office politics, see this item on GLAA's website: http://www.glaa.org/archive/2002/ohrholman0716.shtml.
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Consider Jackson for Mayor
Daniel Swann, Jr., dswann459@aol.com
In a previous edition of themail, you asked about other possible
candidates for Mayor. My choice is the political outsider member of the
DC Democratic State Committee, Arthur H. Jackson, Jr., a former Maryland
City Councilman with an impressive 30 years experience in government,
human rights, labor, business and community organizing. I heard him
speak at Freedom Plaza several weeks ago, and he is the kind of
compassionate, caring and exciting leader our city needs as a Mayor. The
media has not covered him, like they covered the Mayor, but his support
is strong.
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Friendship Heights Development: Dense Is
Better
Natalie Hopkins, nehopkins@hotmail.com
I agree entirely with Richard Layman regarding the Friendship Heights
Organization for Reasonable Development. Transit-oriented multi-housing
units make the utmost sense. My husband and I live in Dupont Circle and
we share one car, which we rarely drive. He walks to work and I take
Metro, so we don't contribute to those "code red" days in DC!
I look forward to well planned pedestrian friendly mixed-use development
replacing the current pedestrian-unfriendly Friendship Heights
development and traffic flow (admittedly, the conversion of the shopping
strips from "inward" focusing to a "main street"
feel with facades and doors opening to Wisconsin Avenue has helped). The
Friendship Heights Organization for Reasonable Development should focus
on participating in the planning process, having a say in the
scalability of the project and the design of the final products, and
maximizing the green space and pedestrian accessibility of the new
development, which will only enhance their property values (see Dupont
Circle and Arlington as Mr. Layman mentioned and basically the entire
Red Line in NW. There are huge apartment buildings all along Connecticut
Avenue which certainly have not diminished the values of their
neighborhoods as in Kalorama, Woodley Park, Forest Hills, Van Ness,
etc.) instead of trying to stonewall a sensible development which will
happen with or without their consent.
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We need a Target store in Washington. Have the ANC and Zoning
Commission demanded that they include parking within the store as Fresh
Fields has done on 14th Street? That would take care of the parking
problem.
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Target
John Whiteside, john at logancircle dot net
Sometimes I think we're our own worst enemies. The state of DC retail
is appalling, but when a store offering useful, quality merchandise at
good prices talks about moving into an underserved neighborhood, people
in DC worry that it's a bad thing. Yes, a lot of issues need to be
worked out, but I suggest that people take a few trips to other cities
to see what happens when you have retail. Start in New York, where
Manhattan is crammed with stores for all ends of the economic spectrum,
from the discount chains to boutiques. Go on up to Boston, and see
Downtown Crossing, where people will ride the subway or pay to park in
garages to shop at a huge variety or stores, from hunting down discounts
at the original Filene's Basement (the real one — if you've been there
you know what I mean) to DSW, Barnes and Noble, Macy's, and a ton of
little shops.
Take note of two things. First, many of the stores you find in other
cities are the same national chains that you see popping up in
Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda . . . anywhere but DC. In retail terms,
downtown DC is outside the District line. Second, when you have that
many people coming into an area to shop, it's great for the small
businesses in the area. It means customers are around, and ready to
shop. No, you won't succeed competing head-on with Target, but you will
with a niche. I don't have much sympathy for local business owners who
will lose their opportunity to charge $3 for toilet paper because no one
has an alternative if they don't drive.
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Reliable Postal Service? Count Your Blessings
David Sobelsohn, dsobelsoatcapaccessdotorg
In the July 24 themail, Phil Carney complained that the mailbox in
his building (I assume he means his apartment building) used to have
weekday collections at 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., but is now down to just one
collection at 3 p.m. And no notice! Well, no notice other than changing
the posted time. He should count his blessings. The mailbox in my
apartment building has had one pickup per day for at least the last ten
years. There is no posted time. Pickup happens whenever the postal
carrier leaves after the daily delivery. Daily delivery varies from 2-7
p.m. I've found no way to tell whether delivery on any particular day
will come closer to 2 or 7 p.m. Even Saturdays are sometimes after 3 or
4. I'd be thrilled to know in advance the time from day to day.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC Candidates Forum at UDC
Joe Libertelli, jlibertelli@udc.edu
Meet all the candidates for citywide and ward races. Ask your own
questions, share your own experience, make up your own mind! Wednesday,
July 31, 6:30-8:30 p.m., UDC Student Lounge, Building 38, 2nd Floor,
University of the District of Columbia, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Van
Ness UDC Metro (Red Line). Parking off Van Ness Street under campus.
Sponsors: just friends and concerned citizens. Hosts: UDC David A.
Clarke School of Law; WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio. Questions, call
248-9643 or 529-0003.
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Stand Up for Democracy Invites You
Karen A. Szulgit, kaszulgit@ilsr.org
Please join Stand Up! for Democracy in DC Coalition in our Fifth
Anniversary Toast on Wednesday, July 31. On July 31, 1997, known as the
“Thursday Night Massacre,” the US Congress (led by former Sen. Lauch
Faircloth (R-NC), staged a shameful coup and seized almost all powers
from DC's democratically elected local government. The very next day
outside, the Hart Senate building, those citizens who would become Stand
Up! staged their first protest! And we are still standing! As the
Congress begins its annual review of our local budget, join Stand Up! in
a toast to citizenship power and to a recommitment to obtain full
democracy for all the people of Washington, DC.
Wednesday, July 31, 6 p.m.-7 p.m., outside the Hart Senate Office
Building, at the Constitution Avenue, NE, entrance (five blocks from
Union Station — Red Line subway, 96, D2 or D4 bus lines). Call
232-2500 for more information and see our website at http://www.standupfordemocracy.org.
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Healthcare Campaign Forum 2002
Neil Shah, nshah@dcpca.org
We at the DC Primary Care Association are taking on an initiative to
educate voters on the importance of health care as they prepare to vote
in the upcoming elections. We will be preparing a healthcare voter's
guide, planning a candidate forum for sometime in National Primary Care
Week, Oct. 21-25, and discussing what other activities to undertake. You
are invited to help us in this effort.
We are having a planning meeting on Thursday, August 15, from 9:30 to
11:00 a.m., at the DCPCA office meeting room, 1411 K Street, NW, Suite
400. For more information, call 638-0252 or E-mail nshah@dcpca.org
for a fax-back response form.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
To Soak and Not Get Soaked
Phil Greene, pgreene@doc.gov
We're considering the purchase of a backyard hot tub/spa/Jacuzzi, but
are entirely new to the game, know nothing about good brands, reputable
local dealers, etc. If anyone has any recommendations or horror stories
to share, we're all ears.
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I'm looking for a reliable place to leave my cat when I'm on
vacation. If some knows a good boarding place I will be grateful
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