Gary Imhoff reported in his DCWatch newsletter on Wednesday that Jonathan Rees, failed D.C. Council candidate, former DCist commenter and unstable creep, has died after a long illness. more ›

As you, faithful DCist reader, should know, today is the day that you can take action for District voting rights. And if you haven't already, why not take your lunch break to call the toll-free number the folks at D.C. Vote have set-up (1-866-346-3008) and lobby a senator? If you're a District resident, you'll get patched through to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). If not, you'll get your home senator. On top of the handy... more ›

It sounded just like the political intrigue that makes for a good scandal. While running for office, a candidate for the D.C. Council accepted reduced rent for her campaign office from a local developer and allowed an unregistered political action committee to funnel money from developers to her campaign's coffers -- up to and beyond $100,000, in fact. The only problem? None of it seems to be true. more ›

Most everyone who has ever commented on a messageboard or blog has used some sort of alias. There's not really anything wrong with that. Well, unless you're the mayor's press secretary and you get caught using multiple aliases to defend your boss on a popular city blog. more ›

In recent years, various neighborhood listservs have popped up across the District, serving as hyper-local sounding boards and electronic community forums. There's NewHillEast, WoodleyFriends, cleveland-park, HillcrestDC, AdamsMorgan, columbia heights, FriendsOfSligoCreek, gloverpark, MPD-1D -- you get the idea. So much commentary is exchanged on these many listservs that the City Paper's blog, City Desk, has taken to publishing twice-weekly excerpts of the best and weirdest that gets exchanged. But one new listserv is looking to fight... more ›

Dear readers: Just like Mike, Rob, and Ryan before me, today I'm stepping down as DCist's Editor-in-Chief. Sommer is going to continue to shepard the site for the months to come, and given the work she's done so far, I know she'll do an excellent job. I'm not going away altogether, though -- I'm hoping to start writing longer pieces on issues that escape from the immediacy of day-to-day news blogging. more ›

We're barely getting over the September 12 Democratic primary and already we're hearing whispers of the 2010 election. Jonathan Rees, the Ward 3 candidate known for his, let's say, "creative" use of online resources to run his campaign, may be smarting from his trouncing on Tuesday (he mustered 29 votes for the council seat, or 0.21 percent of the total votes cast), but he's not out. Not at all. more ›

It was on April 27, 2005, that we took our first of many stabs at the District mayoral race. And it's tomorrow, some sixteen months after we first tried to guess who would throw their hats in the ring, that voters will finally have their say. Voters in the District and Maryland go to the polls tomorrow to vote in primaries for everything from senators to council-members to ANC representatives, with more than 800 candidates... more ›

Even blogs take vacations, you know? Well, that'll have to do to explain why D.C. Wire, the Post's local politics blog, took an extended leave of absence from July 13 until yesterday. more ›

While a number of states continue to debate or enact bans on gay marriage, the District, long a progressive-minded town with an active gay population, has steered clear of the debate. Until now, it seems. A ballot initiative to define marriage as a union between a man and woman is set to be introduced before the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, DCist has been told. Lisa Greene, a 40-year-old Republican activist and founder of... more ›

It's been a year since Jonathan Rees launched his quixotic campaign for the Ward 3 seat on the D.C. Council. And what a year it has been. For those of you new to the Rees saga, here's a brief recap -- Rees has existed primarily online, running his campaign by using numerous online aliases (28 on DCist alone; upwards of 80 on other blogs, listservs, and messageboards) to promote his qualifications and attack those of... more ›

Today the City Paper's Loose Lips column draws our attention to something we have suffered for far too long -- comment spam. And no, it's not the Jonathan Rees and his inane ramblings (or those of his curious aliases). It's the real stuff. According to LL, At Large D.C. Council candidate A. Scott Bolden's blog has been quite popular with comment spammers, so much so that the comment sections of some entries feature little else... more ›

The Post has long pushed its online boundaries, putting more stock in their website than most of their competitors and launching blogs for pretty much everything. Now they're taking the next step -- they're allowing comments on articles. more ›

D.C. Wire, the Post's blog on local politics, hasn't had it easy in recent months -- after a promising start, posting became somewhat sporadic, leading us to question whether or not the blog would survive or not. It has, and its contributors have been active as of late. Now it has another problem -- comments. It's not that there aren't enough -- it's that there are far too many. And beyond the sheer numbers, D.C.... more ›

Washington Times columnist Tom Knott uses his column inches today to address the curious commenting habits of certain Ward 3 Council candidates. The piece (which magnanimously mentions this site and quotes my co-editor) focuses on alias-in-chief Thelma Roque and, I think it's safe to say, teases the inspiration behind her and her grammatically-challenged siblings. Mr. Knott, we hope you know what you're doing. Many have trod this ground before and suffered the consequences. The Post... more ›

While the Post has been busy throwing blogs at pretty much every issue out there (their most recent addition being Bench Conference, a legal blog), one blog seems to be losing momentum, and fast. more ›

When you're facing six opponents for a local political race, getting attention and the necessary funds can be a bit of an uphill battle. What better way to overcome such a climb than with political gimmickry? more ›

When is a race for elected office too crowded? If you live in Ward 3, never. more ›

Notorious political spammer and Ward 3 candidate Jonathan Rees has found himself a new soapbox -- the City Paper's blog, City Desk. A comment linking to Rees' campaign website was posted yesterday on a post that had little or nothing to do with city politics, and while that commenter remained anonymous, DCist received the exact same text in an email directly from Rees late yesterday. more ›

Blogs may not be worth a damn in the larger scheme of things, but at least we can chalk this one up to having some influence on the mainstream media -- WTOP has added a comments feature to their stories. more ›

Today, the Wonkettes have answered reader requests to take on the struggling Post effort to chronicle local political news, blog-style. It seems that the Post's D.C. Wire has been on an unintentional hiatus for over three days, and their commenters are letting them hear about it. Wonkette reposts this excerpt, from the comment stream of the Wire's latest post (on February 17): 3+ days and counting. They manage to put out a paper every day,... more ›

Courtesy of our media-obsessed friends over at Fishbowl DC, today we find that the Post has been struggling with commenters on their official blog, so much so that yesterday they resorted to shutting down comments altogether. In a message posted yesterday afternoon, Jim Brady, Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com, wrote: Great journalism companies need feedback from readers to stay sharp. But there are things that we said we would not allow, including personal attacks, the use... more ›

DCist is throwing a Happy Hour, and you're all invited. This is our chance to prove we're not just Internet dorks, speaking in binary as we hatch nefarious blogger plans in smoke-filled rooms (what will become of the smoke-filled room in smoking ban DC? Will tomorrow's Abramoffs operate out of hookah bars?). It's your chance to put faces to names and drinks to lips, to tell us in person how much we do or do not suck, and to see the interweb's finest stumble around in an effort to find the loo. Will there be lots of vaguely familiar names from the local media? Absolutely. Will you see John Roberts rubbing elbows with Gilbert Arenas? I mean, it's possible. But it's going to be a great party, complete with half-price Coronas and five-dollar Jack drinks, music spun by reputable DJs, and a no-holds barred dance off between Martin and Jonathan Rees. more ›

In proving that blogs are still all the rage, Sam Brooks, a candidate for the Ward 3 seat on the City Council, recently launched a blog of his own. Born on December 5 and updated for the first time today, Brooks' "idea blog" is presented as a means for the young candidate to exchange views with the voters. Writes Brooks: The basic idea is simple: to begin a substantive discussion about public policy that will... more ›

EVERYBODY LOVES WARD 3 CANDIDATE REES! more ›

Politics can be dirty. And with the advent of the internet and its power to spread messages far and wide at almost no cost and at surprising speed, politics in these times can be anonymously dirty. While in decades past candidates and political activists had to act under cover of darkness and under threat of being caught red-handed, today they benefit from the ability to post and publicize information, rumors, and accusations with no... more ›

After college, most twenty-somethings move their way into the working world of offices and cubicles for the first time, alternately laboring furiously, scouring the internet for entertainment during slower hours, and attending any number of post-work happy hours. Sam Brooks bucked this trend -- at 24, he ran for public office. Surprising the District's political establishment, Brooks jumped in the race for an at-large seat on the City Council, coming in third to challenger and... more ›