THE Industrial Areas Foundation, the premier institution training professional organizers and community leaders, may indirectly affect this year’s presidential election in one of the country’s swing states. Working with residents in Northern Virginia counties, the IAF helped to create V.O.I.C.E.—Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement. The group--boasting 1,800 members from 40 institutions in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax and Prince Williams--officially launches Oct. 5 at the First Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dumfries. It will focus on affordable housing, immigration and health care among other issues.

For some idea about what this means for the political landscape, TBR readers can review V.O.I.C.E’s sister organization in the District, the Washington Interfaith Network. With more than 25,000 individual and institutional members, WIN helped elect Anthony A. Williams mayor and pushed the government to pledge $1 billion for neighborhoods.

While IAF affiliates are don’t endorse political candidates, they use their muscle to get their members to the polls and remind them of the politician who has pledged to advance the groups’ agendas.

Several elected officials, including VA. Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, Alexandria Mayor William Euille, Arlington Board of Commissioners Chair Walter Tejada and Prince William Board Chair Corey Stewart, are scheduled to appear and/or speak at the V.O.I.C.E. launch.

TBR is willing to bet that Stewart will begin to back away from his aggressive immigration enforcement efforts. Any takers?

REBUILDING DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS

OKAY, everyone take a deep breath. It’s round—what? TBR has lost count of the rounds in the continuing battle in the fight to reform D.C. Public Schools. The latest skirmish was last week when Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray held a public roundtable on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s plan to renovate school buildings, many of which are more than 40 years old.

Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee were not present at the roundtable. Allen Y. Lew, head of the newly created office of facilities modernization, did attend. Gray and other council members seemed disturbed that Rhee and Reinoso were not in attendance.

Hold that point.

During the past year, the executive and legislative branches have clashed chiefly because a) their respective leaders really don’t seem to like each other, b) the mayor and council chairman’s ambitions have taken priority, or c) there have been slights that were magnified by “a” and “b.” 

There also have been occasions when neither seems to have understood each other’s boundaries: The executive either doesn’t understand or doesn’t respect the rights and prerogatives of the legislature; and the legislature doesn’t respect the rights and prerogatives of the executive. These tensions have meant that District residents aren’t always well served.

Now back to Thursday’s meeting: Council members were frustrated that questions about the potential academic use of buildings could not be answered because Rhee and Reinoso were absent. Lew couldn’t fully enlighten them. Well, the roundtable was on the master facilities plan—which to TBR means a look at what will happen to the physical plant. The reconfiguration of the DCPS special education program and where those programs will be located is not a Lew question. Maybe it’s not even a council question.

The mayor and his team rightly continue to resist the council’s efforts to serve as a local board of education, micromanaging far too many aspects of the school administration. While oversight is a critical function performed by the legislature to ensure that laws are being implemented as intended and yielding favorable results, when the council probes too often and too deeply it can create more problems than it intends to solve.  In other words, the legislature has to give the executive sufficient space and time to implement, without constantly breathing down its neck. The executive could help prevent the overreaction by the council, if it provides the legislature with information that rightly should be shared.

There is one more reason for the skirmishes between the executive and the legislative branches: an absence of trust.

Residents don’t care whether one branch trusts the other; they don’t care what officials’ ambitions are; and they don’t care who likes whom—running a municipality isn’t a popularity contest. What residents want and deserve is a government that puts aside its own self-centered issues to properly serve the city.  They want the mayor and the council to stop whining and start working together.

SIDESHOWS AND SOUVENIRS

Patrick Mara continues to push ahead in his fight to win an at-large council seat. The Greater Washington Board of Trade restated its support for the young Republican. The DC Log Cabin, a Republican group comprised of mostly gay and lesbians, also has endorsed him.

“Patrick will bring energy, dedication and Republican common-sense to the Council. We support his positions in favor of restoring fiscal responsibility and strengthening our schools in Washington, and we applaud his inclusive vision on issues that directly affect gay and lesbian Americans, which are important to us as Log Cabin Republicans, “ said Chris Scaliest, chapter president.

"Michael Brown has only shown that he quits on voters, and we don't need him to quit on our community," concluded Scalise.

Brown will serve only himself, if he wins a seat on the council. As the General Election nears, District voters may want to learn more about Mara, Mark Long and incumbent at-large Council member Kwame Brown. That’s where TBR intends to focus her attention.

Stay tuned.

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