Voters Guides

Dear Voters and Guides:

Here are the main voters guides available online for Tuesday’s primary election: The Washington Post’s voters guide isn’t on one web page, but the various parts of it are accessible through the main page of the Metro section, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/metro/. The Post’s endorsements are at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13005-2004Sep10.html. The Washington Times hasn’t done a voters guide or endorsements so far. The Common Denominator’s voters guide is at http://www.thecommondenominator.com/campaign2004.html. Unfortunately, the Current Newspapers are not online, and the web site of the Capitol Community News papers (the Hill Rag, DC North, and East of the River) is under construction. Both sets of papers have published voters guides in their free newsstand editions. The InTowner’s endorsements are in Peter Wolff’s editorial, http://www.intowner.com/fr/editorial/September2004.htm. Elissa Silverman, The Washington City Paper’s Loose Lips columnist, makes her endorsements in her current column, http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/lips/lips.html, and Jonetta Rose Barras’s endorsements are on her web site, http://jrbarras.com/article_70.shtml.

The League of Women Voters’ voters guide is hosted on the web by WRC-TV, Channel 4, at http://www.nbc4.com/politics/3710941/detail.html. WRC has also posted an analysis of the race, but not endorsements, by reporter Tom Sherwood, http://www.nbc4.com/politics/3710916/detail.html. WUSA-TV, Channel 9, has an article with biographies of the primary candidates, http://www.wusatv9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=33133. The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless published the "Human Needs First" voters guide at http://www.legalclinic.org/voteguide.pdf. The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance has substantial coverage of the primary campaign, including its candidate questionnaire and endorsements, http://www.glaa.org/archive/2004/election2004.shtml. Smokefree DC’s voters guide is at http://www.smokefreedc.org/materials/flyers/scorecard.pdf. Links to all the candidates’ web sites are at http://www.dcwatch.com/election2004/.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Who Can Beat Harold Brazil?
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso -at- capaccess -dot- org

“Paid for By The Brazil 2004 Committee”: a postcard attacking Kwame Brown sent out by the Brazil campaign. At least Harold Brazil considers Kwame Brown enough of a threat as to merit mass-mailed attack postcards. If you find Brazil unacceptable and want to vote for someone with a reasonable chance of ousting him, Kwame’s your man.

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Endorsements by Local Democratic Party
Delores Anderson, deloresanderson@att.net

The uproar over the District’s Democratic Party endorsing candidates for the upcoming primary does not bother me as it seems to bother a lot of other people. I cut my teeth in a political environment quite different from the District of Columbia. Kirsten Burgard stated in a message that when she lived in Northeast Ohio the local Democratic Party did not endorse candidates. My experience is quite different, although we both lived in Ohio for a period of time. In Northwest Ohio the Lucas County Democratic Party has always endorsed candidates in the primary election as far back as I can remember. I first became involved in Democratic politics in high school, and I am over fifty years old. The big difference I see between there and DC is the fact that candidate development occurs more routinely in Lucas County. People are identified as possible candidates years before they actually run. Party officials invest time and in some cases money to develop candidates for various offices. Such mentorship does not automatically equate to an unconditional endorsement. Party endorsements are voted upon and carry a lot of weight in both primary and general elections. In my opinion candidate development is a hit or miss affair in the District. I am still amazed at the limited participation of young Blacks in the party process as compared to the other cities where I have lived. As a political scientist, I understand the importance of bringing young people into the process to learn the nuts and bolts of electoral politics. I am not upset over the party endorsements. I see the endorsements as one more tool to assist me in deciding who I want to for vote on September 14. Endorsements do not substitute for researching the candidates on my own. I have lived in the District for three years and during this time I watched the actions of incumbents very carefully. Each incumbent has a record in which I can use to determine if they best represented my interests in the past. Selecting who I will vote for on September 14 has been very easy based on information gleamed from various sources.

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DC DSC Endorsements
Douglas Neumann, dbn99@yahoo.com

It is a peculiar characteristic of politics in this city that the Democratic Party elite is not especially democratic. Whether through the exclusion of the public from elected officials’ deliberations or by overturning referenda approved by large majorities of voters, the party elite displays its preference for keeping the practice of governance within a small, select group.

Now the DCDSC sees fit to endorse Democratic Party primary candidates, implying that the voters are unable to select the best candidates and need party guidance. Or, as Kathryn Pearson-West puts it in her E-mail, the Party sees the need to "groom" candidates, as if it were an early twentieth century political machine. If taken seriously, the DCDSC endorsement might discourage candidates from running in primaries in favor of whoever the Party blesses. I, for one, will treat this as the latest antidemocratic nonsense from the Party elite.

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For the Victory 2004 Slate
A. Scott Bolden, abolden@reedsmith.com

As you know I have been Chair of the DC Democratic Party for the last year and a half. I am up for reelection and running for an At Large Male Committeeman seat on the DCDSC. To be reelected as Chair, I must first win this race on September 14th, 2004. I take nothing for granted and have worked hard with the DCDSC members, the Mayor, Congresswoman Norton, DC councilmembers and you to give the District of Columbia a local Democratic Party that it can be proud of. Collectively, we have made substantial progress in our quest for excellence. We have done some incredible things in the last year plus, including building operations, professional full service staff and infrastructure; with your help, we have become financially viable on the local and federal levels and have broken local fundraising records for the Party; hosted a tremendously successful 2003 Kennedys King Dinner; entered into a great “Partnership” with the DNC on several fronts; worked hard with the ward organizations to reorganize and bring stability to them; added eight permanent diversity seats to the DCDSC for Women, Gay, Hispanic/Latino and Asian Democrats — the first state Democratic Party to do so in the nation; led the fight for DC Voting Rights to take center stage at the 2004 DNC Convention through advocacy, the Second Boston Tea Party, Congresswoman Norton’s important speech on Thursday night of the Convention and other efforts; and in 2004, we have run two elections and broken voter turnout records in three DC elections through our GOTV committee work. It is a record that I, the DCDSC members and you should be proud of -- but not satisfied with. We can do even better — our potential is endless.

With the help of the mayor and DC councilmembers, we have put a Victory 2004 Slate together of DC Democrats to continue our drive for excellence and to carry the message of the DC Voting Rights and Winning With Kerry to other battle ground states through the DNC Export Program. But our work is far from over — we need to be even bigger, better and stronger to insure the local Party remains at the new level we have been operating and that John Kerry wins in November. To do this, the members of the Victory 2004 Slate need to be elected on September 14th. I hope you will find time to support me and the Slate for this election effort. Mayor Williams, DC Council Chair, Linda Cropp, the Gertrude Stein Political Club, and the Ward 5 Democrats support my reelection and the election of the entire Victory 2004 Slate. Hence, our Democratic Primary in September is extremely important for the future of the DCDSC and even more important that in November we elect John Kerry as the next President of the United States.

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For the Running Against Bush Slate
Kirsten Burgard, hesternpearl@yahoo.com

In my previous letter I stated: “The Post has its voter guide on line now and no State Committee member is listed.— I wanted to note that the Washington Post has updated its voter information and provided the bios for all of the candidates who sent in the requested information. You can locate the article at this site: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5941-2004Sep8.html. As of right now, the voter guide was not updated, but perhaps it will be soon. Regardless, this article provides excellent information and should help many of you choose your favorite candidates.

On another note, the Running Against Bush slate recently endorsed Hope Tucker Stewart for female at-large. Hope Tucker Stewart is an amazing candidate. She is a small business owner, a long time community activist and she was also recently endorsed by Councilmember Adrian Fenty. She worked to develop an efficient plan to end predatory lending and reduce foreclosure rates in the District. As for the rest of the Running Against Bush Slate, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we look forward to serving the Democratic Party in the District. Please vote for the Running Against Bush slate and our endorsed candidates. If you’d like a copy of our endorsements, please drop me a line and I’ll send you a copy of our slate and endorsements. Or, visit us at http://runningagainstbush.com.

I’d also like to say one last thing. Thanks for your well wishes and positive comments at the events we’ve attended. I know our slate can make the kind of difference that so many of have said you want. Again thanks, and vote on Tuesday, September 14!

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Ward One Primary Election
Chuck Thies, chuckthies@aol.com

Working hard for progressive issues and DC voting rights won us the endorsements of Councilmember Jim Graham and Council Chairman Linda Cropp.

We are your Ward One Democratic State Committee candidates, Sean Tenner and Chuck Thies. We’re also the driving force behind the DC Democracy Fund, which helped to pass the "No Taxation Without Representation Act" through the US Senate Government Affairs Committee. We are dedicated Democrats who are committed to standing up for DC nationally and building a stronger, more active Party at home.

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For the Victory 2004 Slate, Part 2
Kathryn A. Pearson-West, wkpw3@aol.com

Now that we are in the home stretch for the Tuesday, September 14 Primary Election and there is an opportunity to talk about our favorite candidates, let me discuss the Victory 2004 slate, which is a team of 47 candidates vying for seats on the DC Democratic State Committee. A. Scott Bolden is the chair of this Victory 2004 slate and the DC Democratic State Committee, and he along with others on the DCDSC have made incredible contributions to the Committee and it is now on its way. I am a member of the slate and the DCDSC as well. There has been a renaissance of the State Committee through its Reform, Rebuild, Reorganize agenda and that needs to continue. We need good leaders that can work as a team to continue to build the organization. Yes, we still have disagreements, but we haven’t had an outburst to the extent where the United States Vice President went on the sacred floor of the House and cursed. But we do have differences of opinions and we are all strong willed. There are several hard working, visionary people on the DC Democratic State Committee and we have incorporated many of them on our slate. We could not get them all, unfortunately, because it is important to add some new blood and maintain some diversity.

Our slate consists of new and returning members to the DCDSC. Will this be a perfect team for the State Committee? Well, it represents a broad spectrum of people from all over the city. The group consists of experienced, talented, skilled leaders that have proven themselves and have been active in the District of Columbia. They have lived in the District for a while and love it. They didn’t get active in one campaign and then decide that the State Committee was the place to be. They have paid their dues. They have been active for a long time and have been making a difference in the nation’s capital, because the city means so much to them.

Finally, we can do so much more for the State Committee and will do so with a chance, should we be elected. We have a lot of accomplishments under our belt already. I head the committee that is responsible for writing and editing four newsletters, developing brochures and other marketing materials, and developing and maintaining content on the web site. We also developed the DCDSC Information Tour, a PowerPoint presentation to educate the public on what the State Committee is about. Linda Lancaster, Ward One Committeewoman, is the deputy for this committee does great work with the graphic designing and other creative elements for the publications. Vote Victory 2004 for the DC Democratic State Committee. We are winning for Kerry, our presidential nominee, and we are the winning team for the District of Columbia. Victory 2004 is a slate of effective, talented leaders with demonstrated experience. We are on the ballot September 14th. Registered Democrats can vote for the following positions: one National Committeeman, one National Committeewoman, one Alternate National Committeewoman, one Alternate National Committeeman, six At Large Committeemen, six At Large Committeewomen, and two Committeemen and two Committeewomen from each ward. Some seats are uncontested. There will be a Victory 2004 post election party at the Democratic National Committee, following the election. It is located at 430 Ivy Street, SE.

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Fix Our Schools
Marc Borbely, borbely@fixourschools.net

There’s a new web site dealing with DC Public Schools facilities issues: http://FixOurSchools.net. First, I invite everyone who has access to the schools (parents, teachers, students, administrators, concerned citizens) to post photos of areas/things requiring repair. I’ve started the site off with photos taken at Eastern Senior High School (where I taught last year). Second, I invite everyone with authority over the schools (from Council members who set the budget, to DCPS officials who spend the money) to check this site frequently and respond to the photos posted, with real commitments. When will these areas/items be fixed? What are you doing to help? What can we the public do?

While working for DCPS, I found that repair requests receive much more rapid attention when the threat of public exposure and embarrassment hangs over the process. Well, let the public embarrassment flow until we can be proud of what we are providing to our children. Comments on the Web site and suggestions for what else to include are very welcome.

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Department of Planning and Economic Development Is Funding Major League Baseball Effort
Ed Delaney, profeddel@yahoo.com

Baseball hawk Eric Fisher reports in the September 10th Times that “the city is funding its pursuit of baseball largely through the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission and the mayor’s Department of Planning and Economic Development” http://www.washingtontimes.com/sports/20040909-115706-1217r.htm.

We know about the comedy of spending errors the DCSEC has had during their baseball efforts, but wasn’t the spending on the baseball effort -- already a substantial figure — supposed to stop at the DCSEC, since they at least use funds generated from their events?

The matter of throwing more time and effort of city employees after baseball in closed-door meetings with Major League Baseball and reworkings of bad stadium site plans and financing plans a la Banneker Overlook was already troubling enough. But are we now talking about wasting city funds dedicated to Planning and Economic Development, now that the DCSEC cash cow has dried up, following its spending spree that spawned the multiple city and federal investigations of the body? And if so, what are the details? I’m sure the baseball brigade, including the mayor’s office didn’t want this out in the open, but now that it is, they’ve got some questions to answer.

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Puzzler
Peter Orvetti, orvetti@gmail.com

Does anyone know why, after a three-day weekend, trash collection is delayed a day, but street sweeping is on the regular schedule? I was surprised last Tuesday to find my trash collection on a Monday schedule, but parking prohibitions on a Tuesday schedule.

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September 2004 InTowner
Peter Wolff, intowner@intowner.com

This is to advise that the September 2004 on-line edition has been uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com. Included are the lead stories, community news items and crime reports, editorials (including prior months’ archived), restaurant reviews (prior months’ also archived), and the text from the ever-popular "Scenes from the Past" feature. Also included are all current classified ads. The complete issue (along with prior issues back to March 2002) also is available in PDF file format directly from our home page at no charge simply by clicking the link provided. Here you will be able to view the entire issue as it appears in print, including all photos and advertisements. The next issue will publish on October 8. The complete PDF version will be posted by the preceding night or early that Friday morning at the latest, following which the text of the lead stories, community news, and selected features will be uploaded shortly thereafter.

To read this month’s lead stories, simply click the link on the home page to the following headlines: “Stead Park Continues to be Eyed for Transfer to Private Group While Other Groups and City Working on Upgrade Plan”; “Shaw Tenants’ Fight to Forestall Their Ouster Gains Major Allies”; and “Non-Traditional Design in Woodley Park OK’d For Stanford Univ. Center.”

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Events
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov

Tuesday, September 14, call for time, Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library, 4450 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. Local author series featuring Margaret R. Drucker. Adults. Public contact: 282-3090.

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National Building Museum Event, September 15
Brie Hensold, bhenhold@nbm.org

Wednesday, September 15, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Envision Utah: Lessons from the Front. Before joining the leadership team at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Natalie Gochnour served on the Envision Utah Steering Committee and managed technical work for the group, a public/private partnership formed to guide development and implementation of a growth strategy for the Salt Lake City area. Gochnour will report on the key lessons that Envision Utah offers to other regions seeking to tap local citizen expertise to create a shared vision for quality of life. Free. Registration not required. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, between 4th and 5th Streets, across the street from the Judiciary Square Metro (Red Line). Wheelchair access is available through the G Street entrance.

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Chevy Chase Citizens Association Meeting, September 21
Sarah Pokempner, azepo@aol.com

The next meeting of the Chevy Chase Citizens Association will be held on Tuesday, September 21. The topic is “Senior Living Opportunities in the Neighborhood,” a topic that affects people of all ages. Whether you are contemplating a move to a senior facility yourself, or have aging parents or other relatives with retirement needs, you will benefit from the program. We have assembled a distinguished group of senior living experts from our community to speak to the association, and then be available for one-on-one conversations with individuals. The meeting will be led off by Steve Gurney, publisher of Retirement Living magazine, who will give an overview of the different levels of retirement living available and some suggestions on how to look for solutions that can work best for you or your family. In the second portion of the meeting, more than a dozen representatives from local organizations will briefly describe the services they offer. After these presentations, each representative will be available at separate tables with literature to meet individually with attendees and answer specific questions not arising in the group remarks. The meeting will be at the Chevy Chase Community Center, 5401 Connecticut Avenue, NW (at McKinley Street) from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

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