I was on the corner of Kalorama Road and Champlain Street NW when I saw George. I’ve known him for over a decade. When we bump into each, we often talk politics.
So, he asked who I intended to endorse for mayor. Before I could respond, he was slinging expletives at incumbent Adrian M. Fenty.
He and his Caribbean buddies had “worked hard to get [Fenty]” elected. “But you know what he did when he got in office?” George said. “He forgot all about us. He even created an [expletive] Office of African Affairs.
“I won’t vote for that [expletive] if he were the only person on the ballot,” George added, before walking away.
Actually, Fenty didn’t create any Office of African Affairs; the D.C. Council did. He wanted to dissolve such special interests agencies. The legislature reinstated them. That bit of truth probably wouldn’t have persuaded George. He already had a serious case of HFF (Hate Fenty Fever).
Over the past few months, I’ve talked with lots of people, many of them African-American, who aren’t supporting Fenty. Some had been fired or knew a friend or relative who had been terminated; their animus is partially understandable. Since being elected, Fenty has reduced the city’s payroll by more than 2,500 positions — though some of those jobs were already vacant.
Others, like George, supported Fenty in 2006 believing they’d get something out of the relationship. They didn’t. Now they’ve soured on him. Then there are those who were mild supporters; they never became passionate about him or his governing style.
Philip, another D.C. voter, told me he hasn’t had even “a 10-minute conversation” with Fenty. Nevertheless, the Ward 8 resident said he was disturbed that, among other things, he “could not get the mayor of the city to write a letter to businesses to ask them to stop selling drug paraphernalia.” (I don’t make this stuff up. Rather than flaying the mayor, perhaps residents should work on stopping drug usage; then there wouldn’t be a need for a letter.)
Philip also said the mayor hasn’t attended “a single black gay event” during his entire term. Then, there was the time soon after Fenty took office that he vetoed the idea of having bands in a march and rally for D.C. voting rights near the Capitol.
“The mayor did not want that type of atmosphere,” Philip said. “So what were the young people going to do?”
Couldn’t they have joined the rally without music and teen girls dancing in sheer tights?
Some of the grievances I have heard seemed downright trivial. Few people ever mentioned any harm they believe Fenty’s inflicted on the city as a whole — beyond the unsubstantiated charges of contract steering being thrown around recklessly by Vincent C. Gray’s campaign.
Maybe that old adage should be “all politics is petty.”
I almost forgot: Earlier this month, Gray’s campaign announced the Caribbean Association has endorsed him. Is an Office of Caribbean Affairs coming to the District government?
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
