There can be no democracy unless all voices are raised, heard and included. The D.C. Republican Committee demonstrated this year its understanding of that philosophy, advocating for greater citizen involvement and demanding elected officials maintain higher ethical standards. Democrats and their sympathizers, meanwhile, spent the year acting like schoolyard bullies, often using the legislative process to abuse political minorities. But the 100-member DCRC, headed by Robert Kabel, proved a scrappy fighter, willing to challenge an entrenched political bureaucracy and the sometimes corrupt culture advanced by the D.C. Democratic State Committee.
Some folks have asserted the DCRC can never win and characterized the struggle with Democrats as Quixotic. Back in the seventh grade, when I stood up to Big Ruthie — a girl who towered me in size and was known for her ruthlessness — I learned victory has many faces.
The DCRC’s battle to bring real democracy to the District deserves residents’ gratitude. It has earned the organization my annual political salute.
Kabel and the executive committee crafted the group’s political vision and strategic plan. But Paul Craney, the DCRC’s executive director was “Implementation Man.” A 29 year-old, whose mother is a native of Mexico, Craney cut his teeth on campaigns in Massachusetts and New Jersey.
“When I came [to the District], I thought there was so much opportunity for Republicans to be an agent of change,” Craney told me recently.
This past year, the DCRC made its presence felt in public policy debates; instigated investigations of questionable officials; and fielded candidates for the state board of education election and ward-based D.C. Council races.
“It was the first time a Republican knocked off a sitting Democratic incumbent. Patrick [Mara’s education board] victory broke the ceiling, ” Craney said.
While Republicans failed to gain a foothold on the council, they generated interest around the general election — normally a sleeper. They elevated the conversation in Ward 3 and created heat in Ward 5, putting a spotlight on incumbent Harry Thomas Jr. and his work with a family operated nonprofit organization — Team Thomas. That group and Thomas currently are under multiple investigations.
Mara’s victory and the DCRC’s banner fundraising year — more than a quarter million dollars — notwithstanding, its greatest contribution to the District was its ceaseless demand for good, transparent government. That theme permeated nearly everything it did — from challenging council Chairman Vincent C. Gray’s use of his office stationery to raise funds from Comcast on behalf of the Democratic State Committee, to its campaign against government fees that were surrogate tax increases and its push to have a minority political party representative on the three-member D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, as required by law.
Craney described 2010 as a “building year.” The DCRC is geared up for more intense fighting in 2011 and 2012. This much is certain: It won’t be intimidated and District residents can expect, once again, to be beneficiaries of its actions.
Jonetta Rose Barras can be reached at [email protected]
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
