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Taking note . . .

Observations about public affairs in the nation’s capital
by the editor of The Common Denominator

FARCE IN THE MAKING? Shhh.… If we make sure the national media don’t find out, maybe the District’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary on Jan. 13 won’t become the next election fodder for late-night comics after California’s recall campaign ends Oct. 7.

The Common Denominator inadvertently reported the wrong information on Sept. 8 when we told readers that candidates are required to get petition signatures to place their names on the District’s ballot for the Democratic and Statehood-Green presidential primaries. (The GOP has decided to sit out the D.C. primary, in favor of a convention to select its local delegates to the 2004 Republican National Convention.) Our mistake resulted from erroneous information supplied by the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.

While you might expect the elections board to keep up with the law as election deadlines approach, the quiet manner in which the D.C. City Council slipped through the "emergency" procedural change in July – as members rushed to begin their summer recess – might have something to do with the confusion.

Elections board spokesman Bill O’Field called Common Denominator reporter Melissa Ferrara to fess up to the error before official paperwork became available Sept. 12 for candidates to get on the primary ballot. (Technical difficulties kept us from including this information in our last issue, which was delayed by a Hurricane Isabel-related power outage.)

The council’s emergency legislation, introduced by Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans and passed unanimously July 8 on a voice vote, replaced the District’s petition requirements for presidential primary candidates with a simple "Affidavit of Consent."

That means anyone – ANYONE – can now get on the D.C. presidential primary ballot if he or she meets the constitutional requirements to become president of the United States: a natural born U.S. citizen at least 35 years old who has been a U.S. resident for at least 14 years.

So how much could the presidential primary end up costing D.C. taxpayers if hundreds of candidates – who all would need to be listed on the ballot – decide to run for president in the nation’s capital? It’s an open question at this point.

Maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone that the deadline for filing is Nov. 14. Shhh….

SECOND THOUGHTS: Standing up the speaker of the House is probably never a good thing for a mayor of the District of Columbia to do, particularly on the first day of a new fiscal year when the District is still waiting for Congress to approve the local government’s budget.

But the political damage for Mayor Anthony A. Williams, whose loyalty to the Democratic Party has long been under question, may have been far greater had he followed through Oct. 1 with his scheduled appearance at a U.S. Capitol press conference called by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. The press conference, which went on without the mayor’s participation, lauded House passage of the Bush administration’s "American Dream Downpayment Act." The legislation provides funding to extend a $5,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit – similar to D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s successful federal initiative for D.C. homebuyers – to low-income and minority purchasers across the country.

The official line explaining the mayor’s no-show was a "scheduling conflict." But the mayor’s official schedule for the day listed his planned participation in the 3 p.m. press conference – at which he would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Bush administration’s HUD Secretary Mel Martinez, Hastert and four other Republican members of the House – followed only by his 6:30 p.m. departure for Detroit to attend a meeting of the Homeland Security Advisory Committee on Oct. 2.

Both Tony Bullock and Sharon Gang, the mayor’s top two mouthpieces, initially blamed the mayor’s cancellation on a "scheduling conflict," but would not immediately explain what event could have trumped an appointment with the speaker of the House.

"It sort of was a late request from Hastert…[the mayor] just didn’t have time to do it," Bullock began the explanation, noting the mayor’s planned departure for Detroit. "It was added on [to the mayor’s schedule] before it was fully vetted."

Bullock may have made that statement on Oct. 2 without being aware that Gang, when asked Sept. 30 about the mayor’s inclusion on a media advisory issued by the speaker’s office, had told The Common Denominator: "I don’t know who invited people [to the press conference], but I can tell you what the mayor plans to say." Gang characterized the mayor’s planned statement as supportive of the Bush administration initiative and suggested that questions about Democrat Norton’s exclusion from the event be directed to Hastert’s or Norton’s office.

When pressed on his explanation, Bullock acknowledged that "there was a concern that this [homebuyer initiative] had been associated with Mrs. Norton for many years…and he’s not going to do something on this issue without her involvement."

Norton press secretary Doxie McCoy said Norton’s office was unaware of the mayor’s planned participation in the speaker’s press conference when the media advisory was issued. But she later said Norton, while not pleased with the mayor’s plan to help promote the Republican Party’s appeal to African-Americans, did not attempt to dissuade the mayor.

Sources told Common Denominator political columnist Diana Winthrop that new D.C. Democratic Party Chairman A. Scott Bolden may be responsible for cracking the whip on the mayor to keep him from again stepping out of line with his party. Sources said Bolden, upon learning of the planned press conference, called Williams to explain the ABCs of politics and that Williams, who often ignores the advice of others, actually listened this time.

FOOTNOTE: Aside from the politics involved in Mayor Williams’ no-show, it’s difficult to understand why the mayor would prominently support a congressional effort that flies in the face of his stated goal to attract 100,000 new residents to the District. While Delegate Norton has been working to get a congressional extension of the $5,000 credit for D.C. first-time homebuyers, the Republican effort to extend the credit nationwide would eliminate an incentive for people to buy in the District rather than its suburbs.

Copyright 2003, The Common Denominator