August 27, 2008
Mayor Fenty Misses D.C.'s Roll Call Vote at the DNC
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton read the District of Columbia's nominating votes into the record in Mayor Adrian Fenty's absence.
Drama during the roll call! As head of the D.C. delegation, Mayor Adrian Fenty was supposed to be the one to read the District's vote into the record at the Democratic National Convention -- but Fenty didn't turn up until at least 10 minutes after D.C. was called upon to cast its votes. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton subbed for the absent mayor, giving impromptu remarks harkening back to the voting rights themes from her speech on Tuesday while doing so. (In fact, since a lot more state delegates were actually here during the roll call, Norton got many more cheers from the crowd than she did when she was at the podium yesterday).
Norton submitted 33 votes for Barack Obama, and six votes for Hillary Clinton.
When Fenty finally showed up to the delegate section, he told Norton she did a great job, and then promptly headed down to walk through the crowded arena floor.
D.C. Democratic Party Chair Anita Bonds said that the roll call had gone much more quickly than she had expected, which she argued helps to explain why the mayor was tardy. Also tardy: superdelegate and Shadow Sen. Michael D. Brown, the last D.C. delegate to sign the official vote tally sheet. Bonds had to delay the Democratic Party official who came by to collect the vote tally from D.C. until Brown signed.
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is this the same michael brown who ran for mayor and then council, or is that michael brown the shadow senator?
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What was so important that Fenty couldn't show up in time?
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WTF? CP time tragic.
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IMGoph, thanks for asking that, sorry that was vague. It was Michael D. Brown, the shadow senator, who is a superdelegate. What's weird is now that I think about it, I saw him inside the arena before the roll call -- maybe about 20 minutes before. I'll ask him about that the next time I see him.
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FYI, I've gone ahead and updated the post to prevent any confusion.
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How the hell....?
Was he taking a huge dump or something?! Roll Call FAIL, Adrian. Set your wrist watch alarm next time.
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Shame on them for giving Fenty a task that can't be completed via blackberry. Real congressmen learn to show up to the floors of Congress promptly, lest they miss their chance to vote. If we ever do get voting rights these clowns need to be replaced post-haste.
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Mayor Show Up Late & Leave Early. What else did anyone ecpect?
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*reads Sommer's Twitter feed*
Advice for Thursday: See if you can find a store that is selling these.
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Was he taking a huge dump or something?!
Maybe Phil "Dingleberry" Mendelson was in there making the bathroom uninhabitable. He is something of a potty hog.
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C'mon, people. The way the roll call was yielded from delegation to delegation like a hot potato, any time estimate was approximate. You don't see enough of Mr. Fenty on local TV?
The real work at any convention goes on in the coridors and bars, not in the meeting rooms. I'd rather have Hizzoner schmoozing for DC in the coridors than in the ceremonial TV crowd shot.
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Hasn't the mayor missed a bunch of events with the local DC delegation?
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Typical Fenty. One-term Fenty, I might add.
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Was there any other reason he was in Denver in the first place? Maybe he was getting ready for the Kayne show.