jonetta rose barras: A contentious DC Council takes a break, hallelujah

When at-large DC Council member Elissa Silverman publicly challenged Chairman Phil Mendelson last week, asking whether he traded parts of the Committee on Finance and Revenue’s portfolio in exchange for certain members’ affirmative votes for the controversial sports wagering contract, it may have seemed a bodacious act. It was, however, a disappointing display of distrust between colleagues. 

Some DC residents compared that moment with the one in which U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, a North Carolina Republican, shouted out “You lie!” during President Barack Obama’s 2009 State of the Union address. Wilson was admonished and later apologized.

There has been no reproof of Silverman by her colleagues. She also has not apologized, believing there is no need to do so.

“It was unfortunate,” said Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations. “The city’s leadership needs to get on the same page. We’re not here for after-school time. We’re supposed to be a model for the rest of the nation.” 

Mendelson, in an interview with me, acknowledged that several members “got caught up in the moment over the lottery and went too far.” He added that “members have to step back and be more reflective about the proportionality of their responses to the issues before them.”

Mendelson told me during our interview that when Silverman initially asked about trading votes, he specifically said “no” before telling her he was “offended” that he was even asked. Mendelson reiterated that reply in our conversation; he also expressed frustration that multiple media reports said he hadn’t provided a clear answer to reporters and on the dais.

Truth be told, vote trading is the bread and butter of politics. Often that process is how consensus is built for policies, programs and legislation whether it’s at the local, state and national level. “What [council] members don’t trade votes? They do it during the budget process,” Mendelson said. Frequently, money is shifted between committee chairs by mutual consent for favored projects.

“I felt disrespected by the chairman,” Silverman told me, explaining that Mendelson had not consulted her when he decided how to distribute the responsibilities of the Finance and Revenue Committee that had been chaired by Ward 2’s Jack Evans. Silverman argued that she had been on the finance committee for more than four years. She said she had attended more meetings and public hearings than Ward 5’s Kenyan McDuffie, who received significant sections of the finance portfolio. “Now, I have one less committee [assignment],” Silverman said.

Silverman — along with Council members Charles Allen (Ward 6), Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1) and David Grosso (at-large) — have been identified as consistent members of the far-left wing of the DC legislature. Ward 3’s Mary Cheh and at-large member Robert White are considered by many as swing voters in that cadre. Silverman told me that they are all focused on “strong ethics and transparency in government” while the so-called “old guard wants business as usual.” 

“That’s the rift,” added Silverman.

“I see this thing as an issue that Jack Evans has created,” said Ward 7 political activist Greg Rhett, offering that Evans should “step aside. The divisiveness is because of him.”

That’s the easy analysis. The full story is far more complex and complicated, however.

Tensions in the council have been trending upward for more than 18 months. There have been arguments over committee structure and leadership like the one last week that prompted Silverman to essentially accuse the chairman of shady dealings. The divisions have also presented themselves in stark racial clashes, such as one that surfaced in the vote in May on whether to relocate Benjamin Banneker Academic High School. 

They have also presented themselves around public policy issues like whether to hike taxes on upper-income residents. Mayor Muriel Bowser exploited that division in her 2020 budget proposal, snatching for other uses money that was intended for tax relief for commercial property owners. The rift on the council also surfaced in the fight over the Universal Paid Family Leave Act and the repeal of Initiative 77; last year during that vote, Silverman once again broke with tradition, encouraging residents in the council chamber to stand up and rebuke colleagues who supported overturning the ballot-approved measure. 

There will be more to come: Last week, during an appearance on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU, Cheh told co-host Tom Sherwood that she wants “to change how we deal with subcontractors,” although the conversation moved on without her specifying what she has in mind. Some version of a set-aside or preference program for local, small or minority businesses has been part of the District government for more than 30 years. Many of those companies have helped to sustain communities and families. An attempt to weaken or eliminate the Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) program could be perceived as a direct assault on the economic health and wealth of local business owners, many of whom are women or people of color. That would guarantee the fight among council members would spill over into the larger community, creating problems far greater than those caused by issues related to Evans. 

Ward 7 resident John Capozzi and several other political activists who embrace most of the progressive agenda haven’t been overly concerned about the infighting. “I want there to be some tension; it’s a political body,” Capozzi told me during a recent interview. 

“I haven’t seen open warfare,” he added, half-jokingly.

Politics has always been a contact sport; often clashes are between opposing political parties. In the District, with the dominance of Democrats, the fight is an intramural sport. “You have far left, left, middle left. But they’re all left,” Rhett noted. Silverman and Grosso label themselves as independents; everyone else on the council is a member of the Democratic Party.

Local scrimmages have started to track closely to those at the national level. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been battling newly elected representatives, especially outspoken Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who believes among other things that the leadership is out of step with citizens and with the times. Pelosi and her allies are what Silverman might call the “old guard.” More accurately, they are moderate or centrist Democrats, serving as a bridge for competing interests rather than a stick of lighted dynamite.

Mendelson acknowledged some similarities between the local and the national. There is a “very left wing” in the council, he said, adding “sometimes it’s four or five or six.” He said the division between that group and the rest of the council “doesn’t translate to all issues” but is implicated around “social justice issues.”

Some citizens have blamed Pelosi for the dissonance among House Democrats. In DC, Mendelson has been pegged as the culprit. “[He] is the second most powerful elected official in the DC government. He doesn’t act like that,” said government watchdog Dorothy Brizill, noting that performance oversight hearings held earlier this year and the budget process were “a joke.”

“I don’t see [him] setting the goals and direction for the council,” continued Brizill, adding the leadership void has opened the door for “the Grossos and Silvermans.”

“Phil has always been a methodical, minutiae kind of guy,” said Rhett, offering that Mendelson’s approach is appreciated but “can frustrate people.” Silverman’s outburst was “not outside of her personality.”

Capozzi said some council members feel inoculated because they “have a political base.” They and their allies have identified people “they want to get rid of, like Evans and Ward 4’s Brandon Todd. They are focused on how to shape the council to be what [they] want it to be.”

Silverman told me that she is “playing the long game. District voters can’t stand this kind of insider dealing in the Wilson Building. They are going to remember in June 2020.” 

Interestingly, those ambitions of the far-left wing and their supporters helped spur DC Fiscal Policy Institute head Ed Lazere to run against Mendelson in the 2018 Democratic primary; Lazere lost his bid handily. 

The rise in the number of registered independents in DC may have emboldened some in the far left of the city’s political class to strike out against established leaders, but the reality is, as of June 2019, 75.53% of the city’s 521,091 registered voters were Democrats. In the past, winners of the Democratic primary have had clear sailing in the November general election. In other words, any goals of getting rid of the so-called “old guard” and loading the council with progressives who act like Silverman or others in the far-left wing may be harder to achieve than people think.

What’s more important, said Brizill, is this question: With all of this internecine squabbling, “Is the people’s business getting done?” If the failure to provide sufficient funding to educate the city’s low-income children is any indication, the answer to that question is a resounding no.

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jonetta rose barras is an author, a freelance journalist and host of The Barras Report television show. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.