What is going on here?  Less than three weeks before the Democratic Primary, the D.C. Board of Elections is being asked by Mayor Fenty’s campaign officials to make drastic new rules changes, governing the election of officials from the mayor on down.  Under the proposed change, Republican and Independent voters would be shoe-horned into the Democratic Primary, and allowed to vote as Democrats, never mind that the deadline for switching parties was Monday, August 16^th.  Fenty campaign operatives are asking for an eleventh-hour “emergency switcheroo” in the rules.  Apropos of that old saying, “Timing is everything,” this timing smells pretty bad.  It strongly suggests that the only real “emergency” here is an “emergency” sensation in his camp that Fenty is about to lose the election, and that any gimmick or move circumventing long-held electoral rules to his benefit is fair game.  Elections are not “games,” however, and proposals by Fenty people are anything but “fair.”  Let the Republicans vote in their own primary and let the Democrats have theirs.  There is no hardship to anybody under the present rules.  Adding last-minute categories of voters to the Democratic Primary in an attempt to influence the election in your favor is like “watering stock.”  You fatten up the herd and then watch it “leak” away.  It is a thoroughly corrupt gambit and should be dismissed by the Elections Board with prejudice.

SO, WE URGE ALL TO CALL THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS AND THEIR COUNCILMEMBERS TO STOP AND PROTEST THIS UNDERHANDED MOVE.  AND VIGOROUSLY TO RESCIND IT IF IT PASSES!

…AND IF YOU CAN, WE ASK YOU TO HELP PACK THE HEARING ROOM TO SEND THEM A MESSAGE!

DATE:  Wednesday, August 25, 2010
TIME:  8:30 PM
PLACE:  The D.C. Board of Elections, 441 4th Street, N.W., Room 280N (One Judiciary Square, right off the Judiciary Square red line metro stop)…

For the pertinent Post article:  
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2010/08/fenty_campaign_trying_to_inclu.html?referrer=emaillink

YOU MIGHT ASK WHY OUR CONCERN, AND WHY SHOULD YOU CONTACT THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS AND YOUR COUNCILMEMBER?   Because he who can control the rules can often control the outcome.  Our concern comes also for the integrity of the process, which they are trying to undermine if not taint.

On the practical politics side, it is no secret Fenty has walked lockstep, hand in hand with the big, pro-business special interest groups, including developers, in direct contravention to the will of the people, his being elected by a vast Democratic majority in an overwhelmingly Democratic town.  Now he wants to change the rules to infiltrate his own party with those opposed to the interests of the vast majority of the Democratic party (and correspondingly, this city) -- by packing the primary with conservative pro-business, Republican, independent, and other voters.

This attempt to dilute the Democratic will of the majority and the Democratic party must be defeated! We strongly urge that all citizens attend the board hearing designed to steal the election. 

A  look at the Fenty record may help motivate you and your neighbors to realize much is at stake, including the destruction of rent control in order to recast the entire city Georgetown-made over, and why TENAC has endorsed Vincent Gray for mayor.  The mayor and his administration has

-had a hand in firing Grayce Wiggins, the Rent Administrator who actually made her decisions based on the law’s intent to protect tenants’ rights, not on loopholes to expand developers power;

-Attempted to cut more than half of the budget of the Office of Tenant Advocate (OTA), tenants’ first line of defense. This might have left tenants thoroughly defenseless against large interests’ excesses.

- Attempted to balance the budget on the backs of those who could least afford it by making severe cuts to social and other services needed by the District’s diverse population;

-Refused to reappoint members to the Tenant Advisory Council (TAC) and the Rental Housing Commissions (RHC).  Another tenant line of defense, the RHC posts were left open in order to sidestep pro-tenant decisions and pack the commission originally designed to render fair, impartial decisions with pro-developer  appointees;

-sought appointment to the Office of Peoples Counsel someone whose not only lacked any meaningful qualifications for the position, but someone who would  be an arm for the utilities, with a pro-big business and pro-Fenty agenda.  And this for an agency whose statutory mandate is to act as an advocate for the consumer against the big utilities!

Need we bring up his disrespect and circumvention of the checks and balances of our system and the rule of law, by-passing, ignoring and insulting the legislature (the Council) and the constitutional and statutory rights of many groups, many times over, from closing Franklin Shelter by loophole (which the Council voted to keep open) to firing employees without due process?