Carol Joynt, right, interviews D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier in 2009.

It wouldn’t be a Washingtonian interview with one of the District’s powerful types without nudging the subject toward weighing in on their potential mayoral chances. Harry Jaffe has been pushing the Evans-for-Mayor and “Bring Back Fenty!” memes hard.

Now Carol Ross Joynt is raising the prospect of D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier as the District’s next chief executive. In an interview posted today, Joynt asks Lanier all the usual questions about police work, but then arrives on the fact that Lanier is quite popular among D.C.’s population. (A Clarus poll last year found that 78 percent of residents approve of her job performance, the highest mark for any citywide official.)

Lanier demurred from the political talk, as she’s done before, when Joynt asked her to weigh in on the goings on at the John A. Wilson Building:

You know, I kind of jokingly say I pay no attention to the politics, because if I started paying attention to the politics I wouldn’t be doing the policing. But I try to pay no attention. Quite frankly, I spend so much time focused on the day-to-day operations that I don’t let that stuff distract.

And then Joynt pops the big question: Does Lanier—given her popularity—intend to run for mayor either in 2014 or perhaps sooner?

I have a lot of people who have asked me about that, a lot of people who said they are interested in helping me go that way. You know what? I have a job for the next five years. I really don’t have an interest in it. I’m flattered there are so many people who would support me doing that.

It’s nice to be liked, but this seems like a pretty firm denial on Lanier’s part. And barring total disaster, she’s comfortably ensconced in her job through 2017 after signing a new five-year contract in May.

So now that Washingtonian has rifled through Evans (who is running next time the mayoralty is open), Fenty and Lanier, who will be the glossy mag’s next fantasy mayor?