Washington being the government town that it is, it’s almost inevitable that political adversaries would live in the same neighborhood, sharing in the duties of civic life while battling in the marketplace of ideas and policies during the work week. Most famous for being out of his element may be Karl Rove, whose District home sits squarely in a city that overwhelmingly voted against the man for whom he campaigned and advised.

But when do those differences in opinion begin to affect neighborhood cohesion? If a particular resident dislikes a neighbor’s politics, how far is too far in airing those sentiments? Over the weekend, DCist got a taste of how national politics can infect domestic tranquility.

On a quiet walk through the Eastern Market section of Capitol Hill, this DCist spied an understated flyer on a car’s windshield. Simply written, the flyer stated the following:

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

Dear Neighbor,

I wanted to let you know about a man who is living among us. Robert J. Cabelly…is getting paid to do public relations work for a genocidal regime.

The message, which was unsigned and included Cabelly’s home address (redacted here), went on to quote from a recent Post article describing a $535,000 lobbying contract between C/R International — a firm founded by Cabelly and where he serves as a managing director — and the Government of Sudan, which has been accused of perpetrating genocide against the residents of the country’s Darfur region.

Was this message a step too far in attempting to air a disagreement over political opinions and employment choices? Why did the flyer’s author go as far as to produce the material anonymously? More importantly, why did they choose to publicize Cabelly’s address? Is his work odious enough to merit such treatment? If so, will Democratic neighborhoods start outing their Republican neighbors? Should recently-indicted Scooter Libby expect similar treatment from his McLean neighbors?

DCist would hope that politics could stop at 5 p.m., but this being the town that it is, we’re not holding our breath.

Picture of houses snapped by dangerbird.