Graham Roth: Why is the DC Council less progressive than the national Democratic Party?

The DC Council’s 2018 voting record demonstrates that too many of our local elected officials are not on board with the real policy change that is necessary to make the District a place where every resident can thrive.

On issues such as taxes, housing, the minimum wage and criminal justice reform, the council’s decisions leave major questions unanswered: Who is DC’s future designed for? Who will share in the District’s prosperity? Who can afford to stay in the city, raise a family, and expect fair treatment under the law?

Last week, the Jews United for Justice (JUFJ) Campaign Fund released a legislative scorecard based on the DC Council’s key votes related to racial, economic, and social justice in 2018. The scorecard shows that many council members too often vote for the status quo, handing taxpayer dollars to corporations and campaign donors while slapping Band-Aids on persistent inequity.

The council did make some real progress on key issues last year, including:

• decriminalizing Metro fare evasion,
• closing a rent control loophole that allowed egregious rent hikes,
• passing an ambitious — if imperfect — clean energy law,
• passing sweeping campaign finance reforms, and
• supporting a broad array of early childhood support (though lacking dedicated funding).

But on other issues, legislators are falling short. The council narrowly voted to hand over $20 million in new revenue from online sales taxes to multimillion-dollar commercial landlords rather than use that money to increase funding for programs aimed at breaking cycles of homelessness. In 2018, 54 people experiencing homelessness died on our streets. Redirecting this new tax revenue was a major failure.

Some of our leaders apparently believe that online sales tax revenue paid by DC residents belongs in the pockets of the largest real estate owners, including out-of-state and international developers. This upward redistribution of wealth to the rich has no place in a city with increasing income inequality and an affordable housing crisis. It also has no place on a council made up entirely of Democrats (aside from two progressive independents), running counter to a key plank in the national party platform, which states: “At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we believe the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations must pay their fair share of taxes.”

Our council members further rejected the principles of the Democratic Party’s platform — and undemocratically rejected the will of their constituents — when they repealed Initiative 77 and denied raises to DC’s tipped workers. The party specifically supports “creating one fair wage for all workers by ending the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and people with disabilities,” yet seven Democrats and one independent voted to preserve the two-tier minimum wage system that is rife with abuse of workers and systemic wage theft.

Despite the outward appearance of unified Democratic leadership in our local government, the JUFJ Campaign Fund Scorecard demarcates significant ideological differences among our elected officials.

But the scorecard is not a complete picture. Of the 15 votes included, half of the measures received unanimous final support, covering up the all-too-common legislative process of watering a bill down on the way to garnering undivided votes. For example, the landmark Clean Energy Act was peppered with last-minute amendments that benefit Pepco, the utility company that provides electricity to the District. At the behest of lobbyists, an additional 10 percent rent increase was allowed for certain units in an important bill protecting new tenants in rent-controlled housing. And, while the council unanimously passed a bill that will make it harder for debt collectors to take money out of the paychecks of low-income workers, an amendment was only narrowly defeated that would have protected fewer people.

As the DC Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser get to work this year, lots of critical issues are on the table: policing and criminal justice, affordable housing and homelessness, support for young children and families, what to build at RFK Stadium, and more. On all of these issues, we need more elected officials to put the needs of poor and working people first — not the whims of the well-connected or the largest corporations.

Ward 2’s Jack Evans and Ward 4’s Brandon Todd, who received two of the lowest scores on the scorecard, will seek re-election next year. Each of them is currently under investigation and relies heavily on lobbyists and city contractors for campaign contributions. Todd is under scrutiny for possible campaign finance violations and misuse of government resources. Evans is reportedly the subject of a law enforcement investigation stemming from receipt of shares in a billboard company that he attempted to help with emergency legislation.

Todd has already been fined for campaign finance violations during his brief tenure on the council — especially notable since he previously ran Mayor Bowser’s fundraising operation. He was one of two council members who initially declined to vote for a sweeping campaign finance reform package to limit the pay-to-play culture that has dominated political fundraising and contracting in the District for a long time. The legislation passed without the mayor’s signature.

We can do better. Let’s live up to the inclusive Democratic ideals we purport to espouse in this city. We must expect and demand that our council advances our DC values of racial, economic and social justice for all.

Graham Roth lives in the Petworth neighborhood in Ward 4. He is a volunteer member of the Jews United for Justice Campaign Fund Core Team.

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