September 3, 2008
Primary Update: Mara Gets Washington Post Endorsement
D.C.'s primary elections are less than a week away, this coming Tuesday, Sept. 9. By now you should have received your sample primary ballot, and, if you're a registered Democrat, are likely still trying to determine exactly what all those Democratic Party slates are -- stay tuned to DCist for plenty more primary election countdown posts to help you sift through it all in the coming days.
The big news on the local primaries front this morning is on the Republican ballot, however, as challenger Patrick Mara continues to gain big endorsements in his bid to unseat At-Large Council member Carol Schwartz. The Washington Post published its endorsements in the D.C. Council primaries today, and the newspaper gave the nod to Mara. Here's what the paper had to say about dropping its support for Schwartz
Unrelentingly negative, Ms. Schwartz opposed no-smoking laws, open-meeting reform and, most notably, the mayoral takeover of the schools. No more urgent issue faces the District than the improvement of its public schools, and as much as we salute Ms. Schwartz's past contributions to the city, we fear the consequences of her continued presence on the council.There are other hopefuls looking to topple incumbents on the D.C. Council this year (Cary Silverman in Ward 2, and a handful of names in Wards 4, 7 and 8), but none of them have proved to be as much of a horse race as this Republican At-large contest. Mara has also picked up endorsements from several key business groups, like the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and and the Greater Washington Board of Trade, while Schwartz has continued to enjoy the support of many key neighborhood groups as well as the D.C. GOP establishment. It's kind of a shame that since only registered Republicans may vote in this primary, the most interesting Council race this year is also the one that the fewest District residents will get to decide.
Apart from Mara, the only other Council incumbent not to get an endorsement from the Washington Post was Ward 8 Council member and former mayor Marion Barry. In a much, much less strongly worded rebuke, the paper just says "a better choice" would be Charles Wilson, a consultant and president of the Historic Anacostia Block Association. The Post acknowledges that Barry appears to have a lock on re-election, however.
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And yet with all these potential shakeups, Councilman Phil "Dingleberry" Mendelson remains firmly entrenched in his seat, probably due to the suction caused when the massive gas buildup created a vacuum. Good thing there's no smoking allowed in the boy's room, otherwise an open flame would blast everyone including the surviving members of Brownsville Station and Mötley Crüe out the bathroom window and into the alley.
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monkey: think about mendelson's opponent last time he was up for reelection. a. scott bolden. i mean, if ever there was a lower form of life than a human-snakehead hybrid, that guy is it. thank goodness the voters were intelligent and voted mendelson back in with a vast majority.
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It's kind of a shame that since only registered Republicans may vote in this primary, the most interesting Council race this year is also the one that the fewest District residents will get to decide.
Now you know what it feels like to be an independent. If only we got rid of primaries and just had a free-for-all general election with ranked voting, nobody would have to feel left out simply because they don't believe citizens should have to join political parties to have an effective participation in the democratic process.
Re: Mara. I'm not sure this endorsement is exactly what he wanted. His whole raison-d'election is that Carol is no longer toeing the Republican line. The Post seems to be annoyed that she's not acting enough like a Democrat. Of course, you could get all conspiracy minded and conclude that the Post figures that Mara won't beat the Democrats-in-independent's-clothing in the general election so backing him now is a way to get rid of the last elected Republican.
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Kinda lame endorsements all around. Not much more than two or three sentences for most of the endorsements.
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And since we're on the subject of elections, why isn't anyone running against crazy Frank Winstead for the ANC seat up in Ward 3? Freaky Frank is currently running unopposed. Which would mean lots more creepy YouTube videos of him stalking different businesses.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2008/09/anti-ping-pong_commissioner_to.html
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Hey, we R's only get meaningful local elections once every decade or so -- so let us enjoy this one!