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“I don’t need to hold sessions to hear what the community wants,” declared independent mayoral candidate Rhonda Hamilton during a Sept. 22 debate sponsored by the DC Office of Campaign Finance’s Fair Elections Program. “I’ve been on the…

When MedStar Washington Hospital Center in DC announced the closure of one of its two postpartum maternal units over the summer, alarms understandably went off throughout the government and advocacy community. In the District and in many…

DC residents who want an honest and ethical government should aggressively advocate for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to retry Ward 8 DC Councilmember Trayon White Sr. on federal bribery charges. Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge…

The DC Council is expected to meet next month, just weeks before the general election, to hear testimony on a bevy of taxes and other revenue-raising mechanisms, including a wealth tax, a business activity tax, a pied-à-terre tax, and…

Technically, as chair of the DC Statehood Green Party, Darryl Moch is the leader of the city’s oldest progressive political organization. That should give him a leg up in the race for an at-large DC Council seat in the November general…

The promise ranked choice voting (RCV) proponents made nearly two years ago was that new people would get elected to more offices with more votes. If the June primary is any indication, that was all talk. For the most part, the winners…

“The council is bringing this on itself,” Jack Evans, a former Ward 2 legislator and expert on District finances, said earlier this week during an interview with me about yet another congressional encroachment into the local government’s…

It could be, as some people have suggested, that Elissa Silverman's arrival back to the John A. Wilson Building as an at-large councilmember is karma's work. She might claim otherwise, saying that hard work and determination are what…

Since 2020, when Mayor Muriel Bowser and her deputy mayor for health and human services, Wayne Turnage, decided to reorganize the city’s multibillion-dollar Medicaid managed care program in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic,…

Between the DC Council’s first budget vote on June 9 and its second earlier this week, its proposed spending jumped by $50 million — ultimately exceeding by nearly $500 million Mayor Muriel Bowser’s initial proposal. That add-on…

DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson may not seem a Yoda doppelganger: He lacks pointy ears; he is also considerably taller and much younger than the Star Wars Jedi Master. What’s more, compared to the Galactic Republic, DC’s government is…

On Sunday, just two days before the DC Council voted unanimously to give initial approval to the city’s nearly $22 billion Fiscal Year 2027 Budget and Financial Plan, I asked Chair Phil Mendelson whether it would be fair to say that he and…

Next week, the DC Council is expected to take the first of two votes on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed $21.2 billion Fiscal Year 2027 Budget and Financial Plan. Don’t expect a smooth landing. The budget, combined with concerns…

“While change is good, prepared leadership is better,” Kevin Chavous said as he introduced himself during the DC Office of Campaign Finance’s at-large primary debate late last month. He is one of nine Democrats hoping to hit the lottery…

“It’s nice to see everyone so willing to work together,” journalist Michael Brice-Saddler quipped while moderating the recent debate sponsored by the DC Office of Campaign Finance principally for candidates certified under the Fair…

At a recent mayoral forum, moderator Dwayne Lawson-Brown asked the candidates to use three words to describe their political style. “Principled. Resilient. Effective,” said Ward 4 DC Councilmember Janeese Lewis George. “Bold.…

Earlier this week, Wesley Williams, operations and policy officer for the DC Office of Campaign Finance, confirmed that his agency has opened an investigation into whether the relationship between Janeese Lewis George’s mayoral campaign,…

A diverse crowd of nearly 300 people squeezed into the auditorium at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Monday evening; it was a standing-room-only setting at the latest DC mayoral forum, one sponsored by The 51st, The…

It was a breathtaking revelation: In a clear violation of local ethics laws, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson used government resources, including equipment and staff, as he engaged in prohibited political campaign activities in his office…

One of the more fascinating races in the June 16 Democratic primary may be the contest for DC Council chair. Incumbent Phil Mendelson is pitted against his former colleague and friend, Jack Evans, who represented Ward 2 for nearly three…