We recently joined forces with Greater Greater Washington and PoPville to launch Let’s Choose D.C., a website dedicated to exploring the candidates vying for the At-Large D.C. Council seat in the April 23 special election and their stances on the issues. Every week we’ll pose a question to the candidates, post their responses and allow readers to judge whether they were on point or evasive.
This week, we asked the candidates to take a stand on six ethics-related proposals that were discussed by the D.C. Council last year: ban or limit outside employment, eliminate or constrain constituent service funds, ban corporate contributions to campaigns, ban “bundling” from multiple entities controlled by the same person, ban contributions by contractors and/or lobbyists who do business with D.C., forbid free or discounted legal services, travel gifts, sports tickets for councilmembers.
We asked the candidates to explain whether they were for or against each proposal, along with any explanation they wished to give and any other proposals besides these 6 which they would push for if elected. Perry Redd, Elissa Silverman, Matthew Frumin, Michael Brown, Paul Zukerberg, John Settles, and Patrick Mara submitted responses. Anita Bonds’ campaign manager expressed interest in responding but did not yet submit something.
The candidate responses are here. See the past responses on growth, schools, crime, what D.C. should look like 20 years from now, how to spend the city’s $417 million surplus, and how to deal with the conflicts between drivers and cyclists.
Martin Austermuhle