February 2, 2006
Vincent Orange's Pricey Sign
As we noted on Tuesday, campaign finance reports for candidates running for office have been made public, allowing us to see who has raised the most money over the last six months and what that might mean for their candidacy.
The Post reports today that, somewhat predictably, mayoral front-runners Adrian Fenty and Linda Cropp led the pack in the size of their war chests, with Cropp taking in $821,000 and Fenty $692,000. Longshot candidates Marie Johns and Michael Brown claimed $230,000 and $106,000, respectively, while Vincent Orange drew in $151,000.
But as the filings indicate, some candidates are a little more spend-happy than others. Fenty leads the group in cash on hand with $616,000, trailed by Cropp ($442,000), Johns ($119,000), Orange ($70,344), and Brown ($24,853). And while most candidates were spending large on yard signs, flyers, campaign schwag, and political consultants, one outdid the competition.
Many residents were surprised a few months back when a once empty storefront along H Street in Chinatown suddenly sprouted a huge, hard-to-miss sign advertising "Orange for Mayor 2006." Passers-by couldn't help wonder, "What the hell did that cost?" Well, now we know. Orange dropped $12,000 on the sign, on top of $12,500 for the office space so far. He's looking to spend $2,500 a month more on the prime location office.
It kinda makes sense -- Orange is a theatric character who tends towards the big, the bombastic, and the attention-grabbing stunts. He may not have much of a chance of winning, but if he's going down, he's going down in style.
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Now, if only Orange would tend to his current job as Ward 5 Councilman....
Seriously: the fact that he put his office smack dab in the middle of Ward 2, rather than in his own Ward, speaks volumes. I've not heard much positive spin coming from my Ward 5 friends, who wonder where their Councilman is.
Of course, setting up shop in a "foreign" Ward isn't necessarily a bad thing - after all, Marie Johns' HQ will be in Ward 5, and Fenty's HQ is in Ward 1. But it sometimes seems like Orange, in his quest for the limelight, short-changes his own constituents. He should've set up shop in the H Street corridor, like Johns - looking to the future.
Just my $0.02.
I just wish Michael Brown would spend less on lawn signs. His people have littered my neighborhood with signs placed in every vacant patch of land and on the telephone poles. These are not signs on supporters lawns, these are just eyesores. It makes him look pathetic and shows me he has no support from actual voters.
Rudi is right - at least from my experience as a Ward 5 resident for the past 7 months. While he wasn't really a contender in my eyes, Orange definitely lost my vote when he didn't appear at the DCPL Listening Session at the Woodridge Public Library (Ward 5) last Wednesday. But when part of his platform is based on bringing Home Depot and Giant to the Ward (in a manner that clearly shows no consideration was taken for the landscape of the surrounding neighborhood), why bother with the libraries?
If the sign is in Chinatown, isn't Orange required to display the Chinese translation up there, as well?
Just $2,500 for the office rent? That seems ridiculously cheap. It's in a great spot and is pretty big. What gives?
I wonder how much the shout out from James Brown during the show in Dec. cost.
Brown also has a big sign (though on a banner, not a fancy one like Orange) on a building at 7th and New York NW. I guess that is the neighborhood for guys whose last names are colors.