jonetta rose barras: Elissa Silverman — always gloved
At-large DC Council member Elissa Silverman has been described as both an irritating politician and an enigma. “She has an edge about her that is hard to deal with,” one of her council colleagues told me. Others asserted that she presents herself as morally superior, believes she is the sole “protector” of poor people and won’t compromise, which “is a real failing.”
Tom Lindenfeld, a political consultant who calls Silverman a friend but is not an adviser to her campaign, said she is “an interesting combination of outside agitator and inside operator. That’s unusual in one person. That makes her, perhaps, more effective and harder to categorize.”
“She has her own niche platform edge,” said Terry Lynch, a civic leader who has been active in DC politics for decades.
“I do have a different style,” admitted Silverman, one of two independents on the council. “I don’t betray people. I have compromised on some stuff, but I’m not going to horse-trade on things I think are important.”
Bill Lightfoot, a lawyer and former council member chairs Mayor Muriel Bowser’s re-election committee, compared Silverman to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. “Many other council members try to find the compromise. That’s not the case with Phil, and it’s not the case with Elissa. They are going to adhere to their principles. And the voters recognize that.”
Political campaigns always involve a hint of psychology. Don’t believe the hype, however.
There are palpable tensions and differences between Mendelson and Silverman. Further, many voters still don’t know her; she won her council seat in 2014 with only 15.14 percent of the vote — less than half of the support for Democratic nominee Anita Bonds in the same election.
In a general election, voters can choose two candidates for the at-large seat. Bonds, the Democratic Party nominee again this year, is likely a lock for re-election.
Silverman’s odds are less definitive — although, as Lynch pointed out, “Unless you have a unified opposition, it’s hard to knock off an incumbent that is not tainted.”
All things are possible. In 2004, Kwame Brown stomped incumbent at-large Council member Harold Brazil. Adrian M. Fenty beat political giant Charlene Drew Jarvis in 2000 to win the Ward 4 seat.
Aside from personality and name-recognition issues, Silverman faces other challenges: There are valid concerns about whether her far-left public policy agenda may be more harmful than helpful to the District. And, there is the race issue.
Considering civil rights retrenchment nationwide, some African-Americans in DC have argued the council needs another black woman to guarantee protection of their interests. Bonds is the only African-American female. There are three white women, including Silverman.
Lightfoot, whose wife is supporting Silverman, acknowledged he has heard that argument. “It’s economic forces that are at play in the city,” he countered.
“A lot of class and race tensions get played out in politics,” said Ron Lester, a Democratic pollster who has conducted polling for three DC mayors. “Race is much less a factor in 2018 DC than it used to be 20 years ago. But anyone who says race is not an issue in DC politics is very naïve.
“It’s very much a factor, particularly with the over-50 voters,” added Lester.
“I don’t disagree that black women are underrepresented on the council,” said Silverman. “But look at who’s behind my opponent and why they want to take me off the council.
“I want to make sure District residents have a city that is responsible to residents, not just big money,” added Silverman.
Six challengers are seeking the at-large seats held by Silverman and Bonds. Much of Silverman’s attention, however, is focused on S. Kathryn Allen, a small-business owner and former DC banking commissioner. Unsurprisingly, many business leaders have rallied around one of their own. Silverman and her supporters have sought to brand Allen as a “tool” of big business because of her opposition to the Universal Paid Leave Act.
The danger in Silverman’s use of a single issue to trap her opponent is that Silverman also could find herself locked in that same box, prompting people to assess her by a complex and controversial law that will benefit more suburbanites than District residents.
Hasn’t Silverman accomplished more?
“Some themes I ran on four years ago are still relevant: making the city more equitable, focusing on accountability and making a DC poised to take advantage of the future,” said Silverman, after debating me, yet again, on universal paid leave.
Silverman said her oversight, as chair of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, inspired improvements at the Department of Employment Services that got the city removed from the federal Department of Labor’s at-risk list. She helped usher changes to DC’s summer youth-employment program. She has been active around affordable housing, advocating greater usage of the law that allows the government to purchase troubled apartment complexes to preserve low-cost rental units. Her intense scrutiny of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs prompted the introduction of legislation to reform that agency. “I do think we need a leadership change” at that agency, said Silverman.
She also has probed the plethora of training programs, funded with public dollars. “We need to make sure when [participants] get certification or degrees that they are employable. Now there is a disconnect.
“We give millions of dollars to people who aren’t able to prove results,” Silverman said, adding she is determined to stop that waste. “That’s why there is a target on my head.”
Can presenting herself as a fighter against inequity and a protector of DC’s poor and working-class win the irritating, uncategorizable, uncompromising Silverman re-election?
Maybe … Maybe not.
This post has been updated to correct the number of challengers running for the at-large DC Council seats in the November election.
jonetta rose barras is a DC-based author and freelance writer. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.
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