http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/08/second-straight-poll-spells-trouble-for-d-c-mayor/
Is it the economy? The schools? Crime? Something else? From all I’d read he’s a good guy, and I would’ve thought his reelection was in the bag.
General shadiness.
Huh. The top lawyer for the District has the title “Attorney General”? Seems a bit hifalutin’. I guess it’s as if D.C. were actually a state. Most American cities have a “law director” or the like.
I disagree that this is the main issue, but it does contribute to people’s negative opinions of him personally. Clearly, the main issue is that Fenty has done a terrible job of connecting with people and the press, and has generally acted quite arrogantly, even though there is a general sense of support for his policies on education, crime, and development. As the Washington Post endorsement states:
ETA: He has also come under criticism from African-Americans that he has not appointed enough African-Americans to high positions within his Administration, and that he has paid too much attention to building dog parks and bike lanes which are used by the more affluent (read: white) areas of DC. One example of the criticism: WaPo oped.
Certainly. But it’s Gray’s main weapon against him. And frankly I still trust him more than I trust Gray; at least I already know what Fenty’s deal is.
DC is not a city – Washington is a city. DC is more like a state than it is anything else.
It’s called a synecdoche
:dubious: Washington and D.C. are the same thing. There may have been some distinctions in the long-ago past (Georgetown was a city at one time though I don’t know if it was considered part of D.C. at that time) but today there is no distinction between the District of Columbia and the city of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., has a unique status but is more like a city than anything else. Important differences between D.C. and other cities are they have non-voting representation in Congress, and Congress exerts a lot of control over the city. The only similarity to a state is that they have votes in the Electoral College, [ETA:]and they have their own DMV and auto registration (and the plates say “Taxation Without Representation”).
On the other hand, they have their own National Guard, which makes them more like a state: http://states.ng.mil/sites/dc/Pages/DCNationalGuard.aspx
Fenty was elected after going door to door to every house in the city. His persona was a man of the people reformer. The perception since he took office is that he thinks he is better than the people who elected him. Most agree that he has done a good job, but that he is disliked personally and has almost no chance of being reelected.
is it possible to be mayor of DC and not get into political trouble?
He is Mayor in Washington. That is a losing combination for anyone.
Is it possible for any elected official anywhere to actually try to accomplish something and not get into political trouble?
If that’s a real question as opposed to a dig at DC, Anthony Williams was a pretty well respected mayor who accomplished quite a bit.
He should smoke crack, go to prison and then he can win. It worked for Marion Barry.
The basic reason as I can see is that Fenty is a jerk, and people are tired of him being a jerk, and the political and journalistic elites he’d normally have in his corner are the ones he’s most directly been a jerk to, so they’re willing to let him twist. The corruption issue is present, albeit seemingly overblown (it’s not like this city isn’t used to it) – but in general, I’ve heard very little from anyone who finds fault with particular Fenty policies, they just can’t stand the guy.
As for D.C.'s status, as noted upthread, it’s basically a state in terms of its jurisdictional status, budget, and legal authority. (It’s a little weird because it’s not actually a state, but someday it will be.) For instance, it has legalized same sex marriage, which is something municipalities can’t do on their own – only statelike entities have the authority to do so.
Note also that “Washington” does not exist. There used to be such an entity, but 140 years now the only jurisdiction in the federal enclave is officially “The District of Columbia.”
–Cliffy
Yeah, but Barry had to get shot first.
–Cliffy
Fenty is also strongly associated with efforts to reform the school system. I haven’t followed the details enough to have an opinion on whether that has gone well or not, but any effort at major reform constitutes a disruption of a well-established and widespread power structure in the city, thereby making enemies.
I think that the problem is that Fenty is kind of a jerk. I like a lot of what he has done, but everyone that I know who has met him says he comes across as cold , aloof and uninterested in the event that he is attending. When you translate this into a city like DC where personal connections are important and glad handling is a must, his attitude doesn’t sell him. A lot of these issues could have been avoided had he met with people and simply listened to their grievances prior to acting. Note that the Chamber of Commerce didn’t endorse him either, and I would think that he has made DC a better place to do business than before. He managed to make a bunch of enemies on the City Council as well often over incredibly stupid shit such as the tickets to the Nationals baseball games.
Michelle Rhee, his school Chancellor, is a polarizing figure in DC. Her approval ratings are high with white voters, but low with black voters.*Cite I agree with a lot of what they have done with school reform in that they got rid of a lot of dead weight and are trying new things. Fenty improved the DMV greatly and made the car inspection process a lot smoother than it was. DCRA has gotten better but still has a lot of room for improvement.
- This figure is compromised of registered Democratic Party voters, but in DC these are the only votes that count. I have no idea who is running for the Republican Party since it doesn’t matter. I even know who is running on the DC Statehood Green Party ticket. Hell, the Republicans don’t have anyone on the City Council and are politically irrelevant in DC.
That’s one heck of an important difference, though. How many other cities have representatives of any sort seated in Congress? None. Every other city in the US has to use lobbyists, and none have direct elected representatives who can speak on the House floor or sit on committees, etc. Every entity that does is either a state or organized unincorporated territories (Guam, USVI, PR, etc.) that in all internal respects operate as states.