"I’m 21 years clean and sober, and I’m part of a 12-step recovery program here in Adams Morgan," the Ward 1 Democrat said during a recent interview.

Jim Graham sees effective substance abuse treatment and education as one of the most important and necessary steps in treating the many social ills that plague the city. He decried the city’s cuts in its substance abuse programs in recent years. He said the budget has shrunk by 30 percent to about $30 million a year.

"The first thing we have to do is restore the (budget) cuts," Graham said. "The second thing we have to do is say, ‘no more cuts,’ and the third thing we have to do is spend the money we do have wisely."

The executive director of Whitman-Walker Clinic, which helps patients afflicted with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, said the wisest way the District can spend its substance abuse treatment budget is to funnel it through private nonprofit organizations like Whitman-Walker.

"I’m not going to surprise anybody with this," he said, laughing, "but I believe in the community-based response." He noted that nonprofit organizations tend to employ volunteers who bring compassion and zeal to their work. Graham said Whitman-Walker currently has about 2,000 active volunteers.

"I will be an advocate for funneling the maximum amount of money for drug treatment into the private sector," he said.

Graham said he has known many people whose lives have been ravaged by drugs and alcohol who could have benefited from drug-dependency treatment on demand.

"We’re so far away from drug treatment on demand," he said. "If you wanted to get treatment in the District and you didn’t have insurance, you’re going to have hard going."

He said substance abuse is directly related to public safety issues, particularly in neighborhoods like the Georgia Avenue corridor, where drug trafficking often leads to violence.

"The numbers tell me that we’re good at arresting people," Graham said. "And the numbers tell me that we’re very good at putting people in jail....Part of the answer has to be preventing crime before it happens."

Graham said he has been encouraged so far by Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey’s efforts to reform the community policing system in the city. He cautioned that there is still a lot of work to do but said he is looking forward to working with Ramsey.

He said he wants to help put more officers in the neighborhoods and create "a better police presence on the street, both on foot and on bicycles."

One of Graham’s campaign crusades was cleaning up trash where the Department of Public Works hadn’t. He said he is still committed to using the council’s oversight functions to ensure DPW becomes more efficient. He said aggressive oversight of the department’s budgets and operations are necessary to turn the troubled department around.

"I’ve picked up trash up and down Georgia Avenue," Graham said. "I want DPW to pick up the trash."

When asked which council committees he would like to serve on, he listed the Public Works Committee first. He said the trash, recycling and rat problems in his ward were concerns he heard countless times during his 21-month campaign.

Graham also said he would like to serve on the council’s Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Committee, noting that he taught a university course on federal regulations for eight semesters.

Graham said he thinks his first term on the city council will see changes in the structure of the D.C. government, possibly away from the strong-mayor form of government.

He said he has been in communication with Mayor-elect Anthony Williams and his transition team, and he said he is looking forward to working with the new mayor.

"I want for Tony Williams to see this as a partnership," Graham said. "He’s not the chief financial officer, he’s the mayor now."

But he added that some conflicts between the executive and legislative branches are sure to arise.

"I think some tension between the mayor and the council is a good thing," he said.

Graham said he has resigned his position as head of the clinic he helped create effective Dec. 31 in order to devote full-time attention to his part-time council job.

"It’s a full-time job," Graham said of the council seat. "I’m not capable of doing two full-time jobs."

He said he will have some smaller role at Whitman-Walker but could not say what that would be, only that it is still "under discussion."

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator