The John A. Wilson Building remained largely silent Tuesday, with only the occasional sound of furniture being movedhours after the 17th D.C. Council was quietly sworn in.
Seven council members, including three new faces, took the oath of office along with Mayor Adrian Fenty to little fanfare early in the day while the nation’s capital mourned the death of former President Gerald Ford. A public swearing-in ceremony, originally planned for Tuesday, was re-scheduled and will begin at 10 a.m. today at the Washington Convention Center.
Though District law dictates that council members take their oaths of office before noon Jan. 2, the change of power was hardly obvious at City Hall.
In a first-floor office Tuesday afternoon, the chief of staff for Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, answered a phone call from a constituent looking for Kathy Patterson, the Ward 3 Democrat who left her seat after losing her primary bid for council chair to former Ward 7 Democrat Vincent Gray. The D.C. Council Web page had yet to be updated to mark its new leadership and the two vacant seats that will be filled in a special election planned for May. With District government closed Tuesday, candidates for that election were unable to file their papers with the Board of Elections and Ethics.
Ward 5 Democrat Harry “Tommy” Thomas Jr. on Tuesday was joined by his wife, Diane, his son and several staffers in the renovated first-floor office once used by his father, former Council Member Harry Thomas. The son of the new council member, also named Harry, watched the Cartoon Network on a flat-screen television placed in one corner.
“We’re planning on making that a weight-lifting area,” Thomas said, pointing to another empty corner.
On the fourth floor, Linda Lamone, a staffer for Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, searched for keys that would work in the front door. Today promises to be anything but quiet at the Wilson Building, with a council organizational meeting and an open house scheduled in the afternoon, all in advance of Saturday’s inaugural ball.
