Run for Office
Dear Candidates:
A lot of DC citizens are feeling discouraged and disheartened about
political conditions in the city. There is a simple way to feel better;
it is to change those conditions by changing our politicians. Would you
be a good city councilmember? Do you know someone who would be a good
councilmember, either at-large or in your ward? Will you run for office
yourself, or support someone who will run for office?
Be sure to be selective in whom you support; it’s just as important
to discourage bad candidates from running as it is to get good
candidates to run. Bad incumbents stay in office largely for two
reasons. First, they get the financial support of special interests who
don’t care whether politicians are good or bad, but just want
politicians that they can buy. Second, in many elections too many
opponents enter the race, so that the incumbents run against a fractured
field, and win a plurality of votes simply from having better name
recognition.
Get started yesterday. Because next year’s primary election has
been moved up to April 3, 2012, the Board of Elections and Ethics will
release nominating petitions for the primary election on November 14,
2011. That’s only a little over three months away. (The full calendar
for the primary election is at http://www.dcboee.org/popup.asp?url=/pdf_files/nr_760.pdf.)
This year the conditions are ripe for a wholesale turnover in city
government. There should be a strong, credible, reputable candidate
running against every incumbent who’s up for reelection in this
election cycle. There’ll never be a better chance to run for office
— every incumbent is vulnerable, and few incumbents can make a good
case for why they deserve reelection.
Start your campaign by announcing your candidacy in themail. It’s
not too early to let people know you’re running, or that you’re
promoting a candidate. In fact, it’s almost too late. Get that name
out there.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Why should you play by the rules if not doing so means you get what
you want? That appears to be exactly what Tommy Wells did to get his way
with the city’s budget. Rather than impose a higher tax rate on high
income earners, he turned to retirees’ municipal bond investments,
which had been ruled exempt from DC income tax. He maintains retirees,
some of them elderly, have had a free ride long enough, even though a
former DC council recognized the city has little to offer in the way of
bonds and so exempted out of state municipal bonds from DC income tax.
And, who was standing shoulder to shoulder with Wells — Councilmembers-for-Life
Phil Mendelson and Marion Barry and their good friend, Jim Graham. Of
course Vincent Orange was there with his hand out, and so were those
chips off the old political block Michael Brown and Harry Thomas.
For all the criticism he has received, Kwame Brown has his hands full
with this cohort of “leaders.” Keeping the kids playing nice in the
council’s sandbox has proven to be a full-time job, even though Wells
got his hands slapped pretty hard when his transportation toys were
given to Mary Cheh. Don’t be fooled, Wells gave up bicycle lanes in
return for Office of Planning oversight and Wells is very eager to
attract more development for Ward 6. If he feels a zoning regulation is
standing in the way of progress, Wells will find a way around it. He’s
already proven he’s an accomplished player in this arena and the
Akridge Development firm was happy to give Mr. Wells all the support he
needed to get the Union Station air rights development approved by the
Zoning Commission.
Perhaps the council’s recent vote of no confidence will change Well’s
belief that rules are to be broken, otherwise it’s a long time until
his term is up. Meanwhile seniors on fixed incomes are going to be
paying more taxes if they own out of state municipal bonds.
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Thursday HHW/E-Cycling Drop-Off Schedule
Updated
Kevin B. Twine, kevin.twine@dc.gov
On August 3, the Department of Public Works announced that in
addition to monthly household hazardous waste/e-cycling collection
events scheduled on the first Saturday of each month, DPW will now be
accepting household hazardous waste and electronic items on the Thursday
before the first Saturday of the month. Several people pointed out that
if we follow this schedule, one of the dates would conflict with a
religious holiday. DPW apologizes for this scheduling error and has
rescheduled that weekday collection date to avoid the conflict. The next
few dates for Thursday household hazardous waste collection will be
September 1 and 22. The next few Saturday collections will be August 6,
September 3, and October 1. We thank those who notified us so that we
could make this adjustment.
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DPW Residential Trash and Recycling Collection
to Start at 6:00 a.m.
Linda Grant, linda.grant@dc.gov
The DC Department of Public Works announced today that its trash and
recycling crews will begin their collections an hour earlier, at 6:00
a.m., the week of August 8, due to predicted 90° and above temperatures
and the effect of the 90° plus heat index.
Residents may put their trash and recyclables out for pickup starting
at 6:00 p.m. the day before their collections so they do not have to
change their morning routine and to make sure these materials are
collected.
Throughout the summer, when the temperature and heat index are
predicted to be 90° or higher or the Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments announces unhealthy air quality (Code Orange or Code Red
days), DPW collection crews will begin their work at 6:00 a.m. to avoid
health or environmental issues.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Workshops, August 8-17
Moshe Adams, moshe.adams@dc.gov
Change the world through art. We’re here. Impact the world, one
idea at a time. First time grant applicants, please join us at one of
our grant writing workshops. Grants-in-Aid, Monday, August 8, 1:00
p.m.-2:30 p.m. Community Arts Grants, Monday, August 8, 6:00 p.m.-7:30
p.m. East of River, Wednesday, August 10, 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Cultural
Facilities Grant Program, Wednesday, August 10, 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
General, Monday, August 15, 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. General/Reporting,
Wednesday, August 17, 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. All workshops at DCCAH, 1371
Harvard Street, NW. For more information, visit http://dcarts.dc.gov.
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