My Endorsement: Adrian Fenty for Mayor
Being one who usually shies well away from politics, especially local politics, let me be the first MBDC writer to endorse a mayoral candidate. And let me have the best reason too.
I advocate voting for Adrian Fenty because of Fleet Feet in Adams Morgan.
Fleet Feet is the best shoe store I’ve found in Washington DC.
Moments after you walk in, even on a super busy Saturday morning in the spring, you are greeted and asked if you need any help. If you say no, you are left alone to browse or buy.
If yes, you are attended on then and there, or if crazy busy, politely asked to wait a second. Never do you get the surly big store sales person or the Foot Locker over sell. Fleet Feet also sells swim goggles, needed for my triathlons, and you can try test pairs on before you buy.
Why does Fleet Feet matter? After eight years of buy shoes from Fleet Feet, which just happens to be my neighbourhood shoes store too, I say whoever is affiliated with it knows how to treat customers, and voters, right.
And Fleet Feet is run by Adrian’s parents and Adrian worked there growing up. He knows people and he’s not afraid to get down at the sweaty, dusty end of them and find a good fit.
And in this age of TV politics, I don’t believe a word the candidates say pre-election. I look to their pre-politics roots to find out who they are. Fenty comes from a working family, and he’s not afraid to roll up his sleeves.
Add to that the poor choices we have. Cropp, a politician so long, you have to look at her record and ask: what was she doing in the Barry days? Johns, she’s a Verizon stooge, and I have no love for unresponsive monopolies.
The choice is clear: I say Adrian Fenty for Mayor.
I’d wager my life savings that he wins this election, however I wish the following people were running:
– Bill Clinton
– Ralph Nader
– Marty Moose
– George Carlin
– Bill Mahr
– George W Bush
– Michael Jordan
– Jesus H. Christ
Dude, don’t tell me you’re basing your vote on a shoe store! Adrian Fenty is a joke.
A Bethesda title company sued Fenty and his wife last year, alleging that it was owed $62,310 from the Fentys’ mortgage refinancing in 2003. I just read this Washington Post article from August 26, 2006. Is anyone, other than me, baffled that this guy wants to be mayor?
The title company, Vision Settlements, said it filed the lawsuit in March 2005, after it failed to work out a payment arrangement with the Fentys. The lawsuit alleged that the Fentys “knew or should have known” that they had an outstanding debt that had not been paid.
I have even heard that Fenty’s lavish home is worth $1.13 million, but DC government only taxes him on a total value of $393,242, according to DC tax records. What a nice hook up!
Sure, Linda Cropp has been in politics for a LONG time, but at least she has integrity and leadership abilities. Come next Tuesday, I’m voting for her.
Kyla: All you have is one lawsuit, settled out of court already? That’s your dirt on Fenty?
Cropp has been cutting deals in Council chambers for years, and recently started kicking out reporters who tried to open up the council’s backroom actions.
I have one name for you:
SINCLAIR SKINNER
This man is the picture of racial division in Washington, DC. He is also Fenty’s Field Operations Director … basically his campaign manager.
Read a little more about him here and tell me you want a guy like this in an Administration post in the City government …
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/cover/2006/cover0811.html?navCenterTopImg
Kyla & WPKII, I call you out as astroturf.
I had that feeling when I read “Kyla’s” post, I even Googled “Kyla Cropp” to see if the name was part of her crew. Giveaway? The politican-speak “she has integrity and leadership abilities”.
Fake astroturfers, reason Number 238 why I think Cropp = Crap.
Kyla is an astroturfer, Wayan. “she” and the other comments that have come from that one single IP Address in Maryland (Comcast cable, natch) are Pro-Cropp Goons, and nothing more.
Posting under different names and email addresses, it’s all the same person.
Ok guys, I don’t know what astroturfing is, but not everyone out there who is weary of Fenty is a Cropp supporter or affiliated with her candidacy. Why do you assume that? I think there are some folks who legitimately want to make sure that everyone knows the facts about this guy before they elect him into a very important position.
I, for one, have MAJOR doubts, and no one asked me to post this, and I’m not affiliated with any campaign.
Astroturf is a riff on ‘grassroots’ – when it purports to be real people raising their voices, but it is in fact fake, it’s astroturf. Looks like the real thing (to some extent) but is FAKE FAKE FAKE.
I’ve never heard of astroturfing, and I’ve never posted on this site before.
But I’ve got to comment on the fact that you’re supporting Fenty because he’s “a hard worker.” That may work for a mayor in Wichita, but in DC a successful mayor needs to know the people and the political machinery. I’m supporting Linda Cropp because she’s served for long enough to know how to get things done for her constituents.
Several of the Anti-Cropp comments have come from the same IP address in Maryland over the past couple of days, each posing as different individuals, when it’s just one IP address in Maryland (a Comcast IP, I might add), so it’s entirely likely that it’s one individual making up different names and email addresses.
I am willing to grant that are those weary from Fenty and Jeff and Rebecca each appear to be that way, and on different IP addresses even! Not all comments are astroturf, but several have been.
Someone like Fenty who has parents running a business and has worked with them in the store, understands both the concerns of business owners and the concerns of the people, the customers who come into their business.
Someone like Cropp – who knows “how to get things done for her constituents” – I would be weary of. Too often those who know that system too well, knows how to benefit most from it.
P.S. Thanks for doing your part, Wayan, in supporting your local business! That’s one way of staving off those big box businesses.
Astroturf? Not quite. Never heard of it, but it appears that Wayan is more clued into everything than, well, anyone.
Actually, I know WPK3 and can vouch that he isn’t astroturf. Sometimes people just disagree on viewpoints…
By the way Tom, great sleuthing on the IP address stuff. Too bad you can’t vote in DC.
Take a look at my website http://www.DumpSkinner.com before making your decision on Tuesday.