Smokefree DC » fenty

A chat with Fenty

Angela Bradbery — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 03:31:20 +0000

On Monday at lunchtime, as I was walking down Connecticut Ave. NW toward Dupont Circle to have my sandwich outside, I saw none other than Mayor Adrian Fenty standing outside Starbucks, campaigning.

“Great!” I thought. An excellent opportunity to finally get a response from the mayor to the request we sent him many months ago to veto really bad”emergency” legislation sponsored by Councilmember Jack Evans (Ward 2) that would carve out an exemption to the smokefree workplaces law. Fenty not only ignored our letter and e-mail, but he signed the bill into law.

This was particularly disappointing because Fenty had been such a big proponent of the smokefree workplaces bill when he was on the Council.

He recognized me and said hello. I asked him how he was doing, then dived right in. “We were quite disappointed that you didn’t respond to our request to veto that Jack Evans bill that weakened the smokefree law,” I said. Fenty looked at me blankly. I tried to jog his memory a bit more. “Not only did you not respond to us, but you signed the bill.”

He looked as though he was grasping to remember. I can understand that – the man sees a lot of bills cross his desk, and this was quite a few months ago.

He responded with something along the lines of — and I’m paraphrasing here — I signed what my staff gave me. My staff gave me a bunch of bills, and it must have been in the stack.

I persisted. But this was controversial, I explained. It was written up in the papers. We sent you a request and you didn’t respond.

“That shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “I apologize.”

I can just imagine how many times he has said that recently, given that every time I turn on the TV or look at news stories, it seems that he is apologizing for one thing or another.

I told him that I hope that if Jack tries to pull the same stunt again next year (as he does pretty much every year) that we can count on the mayor to veto the bill.

“I have always been a strong supporter of smokefree,” Fenty replied.

He might not get the chance to decide. As I write this, election results are rolling in. Council Chair Vincent Gray is ahead.

Gray, by the way, has also been a longtime and strong supporter of the smokefree movement. He voted against the Evans bill.

D.C. candidate forum: entertaining, informative

Angela Bradbery — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:41:46 +0000

I just got back from D.C. for Democracy’s candidate forum. It was quite an entertaining show. D.C. for Democracy did a great job running the forum and luring candidates – most of the people running for local offices showed up, including the Mayor Adrian Fenty, Council Chair Vincent Gray and five Councilmembers (Kwame Brown, Jim Graham, Phil Mendelson, Harry Thomas and Tommy Wells). Oh yes, Eleanor Holmes Norton showed up, but she was late and missed the delegate segment. She said she was held up at the House of Representatives, which is curious, since Congress is not in session this week. She was allowed to give her opening statement but she missed all the questions.

I was standing outside by the entrance talking to Doug Sloan, candidate for D.C. delegate to Congress, when the mayor approached. He moves quickly – it took just a split second for him to glide inside One Judiciary Square, at which point I realized that I have a question to ask him: What happened to his principles? Why didn’t he veto the really bad Jack Evans cigar exemption bill? Hopefully I’ll catch him at the next forum.

Questions for the candidates focused on economic development, schools, marriage equality, income inequality and the nuts-and-bolts of city governance.

Not surprisingly, incumbents focused on their records and experience in office, sometimes seeming a bit irked by criticism from their opponents (think Fenty and Councilmember Jim Graham of Ward 1, whose opponents were particularly ascerbic). (Graham has always been a huge smokefree supporter but we were disappointed in his support for the Jack Evans bill.)

The council chair race features Kwame Brown, currently an At-Large councilmember (and a strong smokefree supporter), who deftly answered questions and showed that he has gained a lot of knowledge during his years on the Council. His opponent is Vincent Orange, who did vote for the smokefree workplaces legislation in 2006 but was a latecomer in voicing support for it. Orange’s stated reason for jumping into the race: The district is headed to disaster and the financial control board is about to take over if he doesn’t come back to straighten things out. Not exactly a positive, upbeat message.

In the contested At-Large race, Councilmember Phil Mendelson (also a huge smokefree supporter) provided thoughtful and straightforward answers. He said he would like to do away with earmarks, while his opponent Clark Ray defended them and said they were necessary; Mendelson also said he is for streetcars, but spending money on them before planning for them is folly.

Very little came up in the way of health, save for some questions about HIV prevention; hopefully we’ll hear more about tobacco control efforts, childhood obesity and other health matters at future forums.

Fenty disappoints: He signs cigar exemption, condemns workers to smoke-filled rooms

Angela Bradbery — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:33:17 +0000

We just got word that Mayor Adrian Fenty has signed “emergency” legislation that will allow cigar smoking at two upcoming hotel events.

Shame on the mayor for letting down the hotel workers who will have to breathe toxins on those nights. And shame on the mayor for forcing workers to choose between their health and a paycheck. This measure places the health and safety of hotel employees at risk, as well as that of all attendees.

By signing this bill, Mayor Fenty has given in to Council cronyism (Jack Evans sought this exemption for his own club, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick) and tells the electorate that the city does not take seriously its own laws.