Fiona Greig

Call Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) lucky, or call him devilish — either way, he’s running unopposed once again.

Fiona Greig, who only formalized her plans to run against the 20-year incumbent two weeks ago, announced this morning that she was dropping out of the race.

Greig explained:

But working inside DC government didn’t prepare me for what I faced when I launched an underdog challenge for the Ward 2 seat. Perhaps I was naïve, but I didn’t expect to face an intimidation campaign by a 20-year-incumbent and his supporters. At home, I received muffled phone calls telling me about the “dirt” my opponent had on me. Someone wanting to hold a Meet and Greet for me received nasty emails from the opposing campaign. And I learned from a city agency that a well-known private investigator whose firm does “surveillance” and “domestic investigations” had requested my records. Maybe that explains the man who repeatedly walked past my house one night, looking in the windows.

Her surprising announcement was further explained by her campaign chairperson and Greater Greater Washington contributor Ken Archer, who accused Evans of hiring a private investigator to dig into Greig’s past, which resulted in a mildly embarrassing fundraising find last week.

Archer also claims that the private investigator delved into Greig’s husband’s prior divorce, followed her to her home and that the chairwoman of the D.C. Democratic State Committee wouldn’t return their calls so they could purchase voter information and lists from the party. Archer concludes:

Should she have expected these hardball tactics? Probably. But ask yourself this. How many other talented young individuals in DC have made the same decision to avoid politics? DC residents complain all the time about our councilmembers. But we can’t complain about our representatives while defending the process that keeps better people from running.

Tom Lindenfeld, a campaign consultant for Evans, vehemently denied that the campaign had hired a private investigator. “Absolutely not,” he said. Ken Cummins, a former City Paper writer and current private investigator who Archer named as being the person who likely dived into Greig’s history, denied any links to the Evans campaign and said that they hadn’t followed Greig, as Archer claimed. Cummins did say that he had requested public documents related to Greig’s exploratory campaign at the Office of Campaign Finance, but that he does that as a matter of habit with anyone running for office.

Whether her campaign’s allegations are true or not, Greig’s announcement has provoked a brisk debate over whether these sorts of tactics are par for the course in any political contest, or if Greig is right in thinking that well-meaning residents shouldn’t be subjected to such barbs by well-funded incumbents. This wouldn’t be the first time that Lindenfeld’s name was floated in connection with such claims — in the run-up to the April 26 Special Election, during which he worked for former councilmember Sekou Biddle, Lindenfeld was accused of trying to knock Bryan Weaver off the ballot using similarly aggressive tactics.

Evans is hosting a campaign kickoff at his Logan Circle headquarters on November 14. As for Greig, though she is no longer a candidate, she thinks that the way the District elects its representatives has to change.

“We need to change the nature of the local DC politics to welcome more residents to take part in our political process—not spend time and money to shut them out,” she wrote in her statement.