A dozen Democrats have filed petitions to run at-large for D.C. City Council. On Sept. 15, Democratic voters will choose one candidate who will face Republican, Statehood, Imoja and independent candidates in the Nov. 3 election to fill two at-large seats. The four-year terms, which pay an annual salary of $80,605, officially start in January 1999.

Incumbent at-large council members David Catania (R) and Hilda H.M. Mason (Statehood) currently hold the two seats that are up for election this year, and both are seeking re-election. The other two at-large seats are held by mayoral candidates Carol Schwartz (R) and Harold Brazil (D), who will continue to serve on council if not elected mayor. Of the four at-large council seats, two are reserved by law for individuals who are not affiliated with the city’s majority political party. That means only one other Democrat, in addition to Brazil, may be elected to an at-large seat in November.

Common Denominator reporters Oscar Abeyta, Rebecca Charry and Lutishia Phillips spoke with the 12 Democrats who are seeking their party’s nomination in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary to find out why they decided to run and what they believe they can offer the city.

The Rev. William H. Bennett II, a resident of the Deanwood neighborhood in Northeast Washington, has been the senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Deanwood for the past five years.

"I want to lift the spirit of the city in four areas," Bennett said. "Education, economic development, better care for our elderly and public safety."

Bennett, 42, sees the church community’s involvement in government workings as vital to the District’s future.

"We believe that we can expand the involvement of the faith community in those areas," he said.

A D.C. native and resident of the Rock Creek Gardens neighborhood in Northwest Washington, he was a co-founder of the Washington Interfaith Network, a coalition of local churches involved in community affairs. He left the organization when he became the director of the Mayor’s Office of Religious Affairs in 1996. Bennett recently resigned from that position to run for an At-Large council seat.

He is the former chairman of the economic development committee of the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the Missionary Baptist Minister’s Conference.

He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from Howard University and did post-doctoral work at Harvard University. He is married to Michele Coleman Bennett, a professor of dentistry at Howard University.

(Candidate did not supply The Common Denominator with a photograph.)

James Chappelle said that , at 21, being the youngest legislative assistant to the D.C. City Council from 1980 to 1984 sparked his interest in politics.

Since then Chappelle, now 40, continues his political career by running for council at-large and as chairman and founder of The Chappelle Group, a nonprofit organization established in 1991 to inform the public about issues of concern and to fund projects for educational enrichment.

Chappelle said the group has conducted tax seminars for the public at police headquarters and at local churches.

The Chappelle Group also founded and sponsored the Webb Elementary School Summer Enrichment Program in 1996 and 1997.

"I picked Webb because it was the very first school I ever went to and it didn’t have a summer program," Chappelle said.

Chappelle, who was director of the first Ward 5 Talent Search and consultant for the Metro Talent Search, said relating to youth and education are two issues he knows well.

"One of my ideas is to have small businesses more involved in assisting D.C. Public Schools with repairs and job training," Chappelle said.

Chappelle, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5B chairman for two years, said if elected the biggest issue he wants to focus on is restructuring some local laws.

"For better legislation, we need to merge business and politics more," Chappelle said.

Chappelle said he would set up a committee the first six months in office that would focus on the internal problems that are going on in the District.

"As a lawmaker, you have to know how to listen more in order to relate to people," Chappelle said.

Chappelle said he’s been actively involved in the D.C. community for 24 years.

He has been an ANC commissioner for eight years and was involved with the development of the first crime watch program in the District, which was the model for the current Neighborhood Watch Program.

Chappelle, a lifelong Washingtonian, is president of Chappelle Inc., a real estate investment corporation he started in 1984. A former delegate to the D.C. Democratic Convention, Chappelle earned his bachelor of arts degree in politics and government from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1979.

Chappelle resides in the Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast Washington with his wife Rhonda.

Former D.C. City Council chairman and Anacostia businessman Arrington Dixon, 55, makes a second attempt to return to council. He was defeated in a similar attempt last year by Republican newcomer David Catania. A member of Washington’s first elected city council in 1974 under the Home Rule Charter, Dixon served two terms as Ward 4 representative and two terms as chairman, leaving council in 1982. He declined to comment on his time on the council.

Over the course of his political career, Dixon served as chairman of the Statehood Compact Commission and of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. He served on the board of directors of the National Capital Planning Commission, served as chairman of the D.C. Taxicab Commission and was a member of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corp. He is a member of the Committee of 100 and of the D.C. Democratic State Committee. He was appointed to city council at-large for three months in 1997.

In spite of his vast experience and connections to the movers and shakers in the city, Dixon said he is not part of the political machine responsible for the city’s current problems.

Among his goals as a council member would be to overhaul the child welfare system, reduce the size of government and bring tools of the business world to bear on government.

Dixon is chief executive officer of ADAI, a technical engineering and consulting firm. A lifetime D.C. resident and father of two, Dixon holds a law degree from George Washington University.

Regardless of who is elected, D.C. residents have to become more engaged in the political process for the city to improve, he said.

"The people have got to learn they’ve got to participate," he said. "They are turned off and have been lulled into not dealing with substantive issues. The politics here have been to give people a lollipop and say, ‘Vote for me.’ Well, they got exactly what they voted for — a lollipop."

Native Washingtonian Charles Gaither, 31, said he is running for council at-large because "if you want something done, you have to do it yourself."

He recently quit his job as community outreach coordinator for the D.C. Chief of Police to campaign full time.

Elected to the Democratic state committee in 1992 and re-elected in 1996, Gaither ran unsuccessfully for an Advisory Neighborhood Commission position in 1988 and for Ward 4 school board representative in 1994. He currently serves in a mentorship program for boys in the Shaw neighborhood.

Some of the city’s troubles have come from lack of accountability of public servants, he said.

"Our employees are not being held accountable," he said. "We need to make sure they understand their duties. We need to train them. If they can’t be trained, we’ll have to replace them."

Gaither holds a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from the University of the District of Columbia.

As a member of city council, Gaither said he would serve on the education, public works and judiciary committees. He also would try to lure new businesses into the District.

"Montgomery and Fairfax Counties would not exist as they do today if it were not for the District," he said.

"We have to provide tax incentives to lure (businesses) into the city to increase the tax base and provide jobs."

For 23 years, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C chairman Phil Mendelson has been a neighborhood activist and at the forefront of tax reform and workers’ rights, say members of the AFL-CIO.

Recently, Mendelson received endorsements from the Metropolitan Council of the AFL-CIO and the D.C. Tenants’ Advocacy Coalition. Mendelson said the AFL-CIO’s support distinguishes his candidacy from others by showing the broad support for the themes of his campaign.

"Those endorsements show my support to the entire District," Mendelson said.

Mendelson, 45, has spent 18 years as an elected ANC commissioner and was active in tenants’ struggle to preserve McLean Gardens on Wisconsin Avenue NW in the 1970s. McLean Gardens became one of the first and largest ever tenant purchases of rental housing in the city.

In 1990 Mendelson sued the District government to collect all under-assessed taxes from the city.

As a staff member of the council budget committee, he helped craft legislation creating the D.C. Tax Revision Commission.

Mendelson, who has lived in the District for 28 years, said that besides making a difference in tax reform, he wants to make the police department a model for the rest of the country and get a handle on public schools.

"I plan to use the council oversight skills and position to focus attention and put pressure on school officials," he said.

Mendelson is a political consultant who earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science from American University. He resides in McLean Gardens with his wife Connie.

Linda Moody, 49, Ward 8 representative on the D.C. Board of Education since 1990, is running for an at-large seat based on many years of public involvement.

Formerly constituent services director for council member Betty Ann Kane and Ward 8 coordinator for Mayor Marion Barry, Moody also worked in the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, served as president of the Board of Education in 1994, was an ANC commissioner and chaired the mayor’s task force on homelessness.

Her background and long involvement with the school system and its employees will help her make education one of her top priorities, she said.

"We need someone on city council who understands the inner workings of the school system," she said.

Moody said she also would focus on economic development, including promoting homeownership, rental housing, and new large and small businesses. Providing transportation, health care and housing for the elderly also is important, she said.

"A lot of the problems of the city come from lack of communication among government agencies," she said. "No one’s communicating with each other. You have to get to know the people within the agencies and find out what they perceive to be the problems. We also need a complete computerization of the system."

At a time in the city’s history when residents’ faith in government may be at an all-time low, Moody said she would try to build confidence by being accessible. That starts with her campaign.

"I’m out there all the time, in person," she said. "Once they elect me they will have direct access to me, not just my staff. All they have to do is call."

A native Washingtonian, Phyllis Outlaw currently lives in the Brightwood neighborhood. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Howard University and her law degree from Howard University, where she served as the first woman president of a graduating class.

"If I can bring the citizens back into the process, we can fix the system," Outlaw said.

The 47-year-old was elected to serve as one of the at-large committeewomen for the D.C. Democratic Party. She was also elected a delegate to the National Demo-cratic Convention as a delegate for presidential candidate Jesse L. Jackson.

She is a member of the Coalition of 100 Black Women, the National Council of Negro Women and the Council of Women Ministers. She also served on the Shaw Community Task Force, the D.C. Democratic Women’s Club and the National Political Congress of Black Women. She has also worked for various candidates for office in the District, including John Ray, Sandra Butler-Truesdale and twice for William Lightfoot.

She is a lawyer in private practice and is a member of the bar associations in the District and Maryland as well as the National and American Bar Associations.

Kathryn Pearson-West, a lifelong District resident, said she envisions a city with excellent schools, safe and clean streets, and quality service delivery.

She said that with the right mix of new and returning legislators on the city council combined with a progressive, determined mayor, this vision for D.C. could become a reality.

"I am needed to help fulfill this vision because I am able to think outside of the box," Pearson-West said.

She said she would mainly listen to what D.C. residents have to say.

"D.C. needs people like me on the council that have a ‘can-do’ attitude and who can work together to make things happen," she said.

Pearson-West served as an ANC commissioner in Ward 5 for three terms and was elected to an at-large representative to the D.C. Democratic State Committee, where she started a newsletter. Pearson-West also served two terms as president of the North Michigan Park Civic Association.

Pearson-West, 41, is a senior policy analyst at a computer firm. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University and her master’s degree at Howard University, both in psychology.

She lives in North Michigan Park with her two children, Jason, 18, and Dominique, 16.

Don Reeves is well known to many Washingtonians as the outspoken former president of the D.C. Board of Education.

On November 15, 1996, when the control board stripped the elected school board of its authority and established the Emergency Board of School Trustees, Reeves became the first elected school board member to hold a seat on the trustees board as president of the elected school board, a position he assumed in January 1997. Since then, he has become an outspoken foe of the appointed trustees.

The trustees were "more or less commentators as opposed to involved participants," he said. "Most people in D.C. don’t realize their school board is a board by name only."

Reeves, 44, said education will continue to be his top priority whether he is elected to council or not. He said he has advocated for improvements in D.C. Public Schools for the last nine years. Since his two daughters entered Murch Elementary School in North-west Washington, Reeves, like other parents, has been active in his children’s education.

Along with the other parents, Reeves who is an English professor at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Md., worked on a plan for the public school’s curriculum and building repairs.

After the parents finished the plan, the promised support from the administration never materialized. As a result Reeves decided to run for president of the school board while elected to represent Ward 3.

"I think I had good ideas that were put through a rigorous test," Reeves said

Reeves said the trustees’ tactics to minimize his impact on the school reform effort also led to his candidacy for an at-large city council seat.

"My authority was taken from me the night I got elected," Reeves said describing the shift of power from the elected Board of Education to the appointed trustees.

After he revealed to the public the names of candidates being considered as the new superintendent of schools, Reeves said the board of trustees censored him.

During his five-month tenure on the board of trustees, Reeves said he stood up to the trustees when he offered a plan to avoid the 3-week delay in opening schools last year.

Reeves advised the trustees that students at schools currently being repaired could temporarily occupy available corporate and private space.

"They were so busy worrying about the lawsuit from Parents United (over delayed school openings), they neglected these schools getting open on time," Reeves said.

Although the state of D.C. public schools is Reeves’ top priority, improving public housing for senior citizens and terms and conditions for employment of all workers also are important, he said.

Reeves’ experience in labor includes serving as labor specialist for the D.C. Public Employee Relations Board and as the labor relations officer for the Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining.

As a child, Reeves moved from a boarding school in Jamaica to live with his mother and younger brother in New York City, where he eventually attended the High School of Music and Art in Harlem.

Years later he enrolled at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Ithaca, N.Y. While there Reeves wrote a book about his experiences as a student activist, titled "Notes of a Processed Brother" published in 1971. Reeves earned a master’s degree in English from Cornell and a law degree from George Washington University in 1981.

In 1994, Reeves ran unsuccessfully for mayor in the Democratic primary against Sharon Pratt Kelly, Marion Barry and John Ray.

Reeves resides in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Northwest Washington with his wife of 18 years, Ingrid, and daughters Rachel, 6, and Alanna, 3.

Greg Rhett has been a resident of the Eastland Garden neighborhood in Southeast Washington for eight years. He is married to Candace Clemons Rhett and has two daughters, Britni, 11, and Alexis, 7.

"As a parent, taxpayer and citizen I have grown very frustrated with the way the city has been managed in the past few years," Rhett said. He is also concerned that District regulations make it difficult for businesses to move into the city.

"We have to make it easier to do business in the District," he said.

He received his bachelor’s degree in history from Duke University and works for the Marshall Heights Community Development Corp. as a community organizer and special assistant to the president. In that capacity, he works to help stimulate housing and economic development in Ward 7. He also serves as the organization’s spokesman and community liaison. The 40-year-old Rhett has also served the Northeast Boundary Civic Association for the past three years. He is also board president of the Washington Area Community Investment Fund, which helps provide below market-rate housing loans to nonprofits and community organizations. He is also a board member of the Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Rink.

After 25 years covering D.C. politics, journalist Bill Rice hopes to cross over into elected office. Best known for his work at The Northwest Current, a weekly newspaper covering several Northwest Washington neighborhoods, Rice, 54, recently plastered 10,000 cars in the city with bright pink leaflets the size and shape of a parking ticket to lambast the city’s parking enforcement policies.

He said he would restore council’s oversight responsibilities, noting that no nomination for appointed office has been rejected by council in recent years. He supports rent control and said he prefers the new convention center be built at a site other than Mount Vernon Square. Rice holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife Myrna live in Ward 3.

Sabrina Sojourner is the U.S. "shadow" representative for the District of Columbia. As shadow representative, she said she has traveled to more than 30 communities in the nation to educate other Americans about D.C. residents’ lack of congressional representation.

She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, served as a legislative aide to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and currently serves as the chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Regional HIV Health Services Planning Council.

"For America to develop as a nation where all of her people live happy, healthy, safe and productive lives, the people of D.C. must have full federal representation and autonomy," she said.

She is also a writer whose work has been published in numerous anthologies, magazines and newspapers and has published a collection of her poems and narratives called "Psychic Scars and Other Mad Thoughts."

Sojourner has lived in the District for seven years and currently resides in the Brookland neighborhood with her life partner.

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator