TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010

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From Page One

Council chairman says he’ll challenge Fenty for D.C. mayor’s job

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emerge as a fresh face, siphon votes from the other candidates, or even change his mind and not run at all. Peebles said Gray recently

asked him not to run. A three- way race could make it easier for Fenty because Gray and Peebles could split the opposition vote. But Peebles said he told Gray

that he wanted to offer voters “a clear choice of change” and that he was still planning to run. The developer acknowledged that his own polling has shown him be- hind Fenty and Gray in a three- way race, but the numbers are of little concern. “It’s striking distance, a re-

spectable distance,” said Peebles, 50. “I remember when Obama started off — Hillary was 40 points ahead, and nobody knew who he was.” Gray said Peebles’s interest in running did not sway his deci- sion and confirmed that they spoke over the weekend but would not disclose the details of their conversation. If Peebles en- ters the race, “it makes it more challenging,” Gray said. “I’ve made a decision that’s right for the city and right for me at this juncture.” Gray’s entry into the mayor’s

race also sets up a potentially fierce contest for council chair- man, with council members Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), among others, considering bids.

Formidable record

During his first three years in

office, Fenty amassed a formida- ble record: Test scores improved, the city’s population grew, and new parks and recreational facil- ities were built. The District, once known as the nation’s homicide capital, also logged the fewest number of killings last year in nearly 50 years, a trend that is continuing. As of Monday after- noon, D.C. police reported 20 homicides this year, compared with 31 through the same period in 2009. “The Fenty campaign will take no one and nothing for granted as we head toward the September 14th primary,” the Fenty cam- paign said in a statement Mon- day. “The city has made great progress over the past 3 years from beginning the critical re- form of our public schools to re- ducing crime throughout the Dis- trict and, with the residents’ sup- port, we will continue to work as hard as humanly possible to make the District of Columbia a city that works for everyone.” But Fenty has been dogged by questions about his personality and his ethics, including recent reports that he rewarded friends and contributors with city con- tracts that bypassed traditional procurement practices. A Wash- ington Post poll in January found that Fenty’s approval rating had slipped to 42 percent, off more than 30 percentage points since he took office. “Some people find the mayor to be a little distant,” said Anita Bonds, chairwoman of the D.C. Democratic Committee, who said she is staying neutral. “I think many people feel the city is get- ting better. But they want their leader to relate to them more than anything else.” Gray, who headed the Depart- ment of Human Services in the 1990s during Sharon Pratt’s ad- ministration, will join eight other candidates, including former television reporter-turned-insur- ance sales executive Leo Alexan- der and Sulaimon Brown, an au- ditor, as declared candidates in the Democratic primary. Gray and Peebles, however, ap- pear to be the only candidates with access to enough campaign cash to raise the $1 million that most political observers say is needed to be competitive. Gray, 67, who is African Amer- ican, will try to take advantage of black voters’ unease with Fenty, 39, while still reaching out to lib- eral white voters by noting his leadership role in enacting a same-sex marriage law and a 5- cent tax on disposable bags. But Gray has his own potential troubles. He is awaiting reports of investigations into whether he violated ethics codes in using his council stationery to solicit dona- tions for the local Democratic Party and using friend and mega- developer Chris Smith’s company to do repairs on his home. “I’m absolutely certain that I did nothing wrong,” he said.

Clash over Rhee

Gray and Fenty began to grow distant shortly after they took their respective offices in Janu- ary 2007, clashing over the may- or’s secretiveness surrounding his selection of Michelle A. Rhee as schools chancellor. Gray had rallied a strong ma-

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jority of council members to ap- prove a mayoral takeover of the public education system, but he was unaware that Rhee was the choice for chancellor until the night before Fenty announced her. At that point, Fenty had al- ready made her available for news media interviews. It was a slight that would foreshadow the leaders’ contentious relationship, with Gray resenting Fenty’s solo

decision-making. The race will also be a contrast

in styles. While Fenty moves as fast as e-mail, Gray prefers to pore over documents and build consensus before making a move. Peebles, an African American

native of the District, started his career as a developer in the city in his early 20s. In the mid-1990s, he moved to Miami to expand his real estate fortune. In the past

couple of years, he has refocused his interest in Washington and has shuttled between the District and Florida. As a candidate, he said he would focus on the District’s economy and the disparity in the unemployment rate between poor neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River and the rest of the city. His experience as a de- veloper, he said, makes him well

suited to transforming those con- ditions. “This is an economic emergen-

cy that requires expertise,” he said. “There’s no candidate other than me who brings that kind of skill.”

If he runs, Peebles could also be forced to answer questions about his past ties to D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who was reprimanded by the

council this month after he gave a city contract to a girlfriend. When he was mayor, Barry ap- pointed Peebles to the city’s tax appeals board. Peeble’s first de- velopment project was an Ana- costia office building in which the Barry administration leased space.

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