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…

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? Robert Gordon, who is running for the Ward 3 seat on the D.C. Council being vacated by Kathy Patterson, may have just found his ticket to victory — The West Wing. In an email sent to DCist, Gordon announced…

When is a race for elected office too crowded? If you live in Ward 3, never. An addition today to the roster of candidates seeking to replace Council-member Kathy Patterson, who is running for council chair, brought the total to seven, among them DDOT spokesman Bill Rice, Sam Brooks, Cathy Wiss, Mary Cheh, Erik Gaull, Robert Gordon and Jonathan Rees. There are even rumors that another three candidates might join the race, leaving a crowd…

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,…

Just a heads up, people — over the next few days, you’ll be hearing a lot about money. Today was the first of multiple deadlines for the many candidates running for public office in the District to publicize their fundraising totals and account for their campaign-related expenses. Essentially, it’s the first chance they’ll get to intimidate their opponents with the size of their war chests or, conversely, blithely claim that money isn’t all that matter…

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…

Yeah, we didn’t much want to come back to this either, but this is mildly amusing. Jonathan Rees, the mercurial candidate for the Ward 3 council seat, recently posted the following gem on Craigslist concerning his candidacy and his opponent, Sam Brooks: EVERYBODY LOVES WARD 3 CANDIDATE REES! On Thursday, November 17, 2005, Ward 3 candidate Rees and not his rival Brooks will be attending the prestigious 2005 DC Hospital Association Annual Banquet at the…

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…

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…

It wasn’t long ago that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and police chief Charles Ramsey were celebrating a murder rate that looked to be falling relative to years past. Oh, how they must be pining for those optimistic days now. Yesterday marked the unceremonious day during which the District’s murder rate came to match that of the same time last year — 156 dead. And it came after a spate of killings that left four dead…