DC Council chairman has legitimate shot at unseating incumbent Fenty in Washington mayor race
By: JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press
09/02/10 4:30 PM PDT
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Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, right, joins his campaigners outside a Washington polling center, during an early voting Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. Early voting for the September primary election in Washington began Monday with a number of changes for voters, including new voting machines that create a paper record and more lenient registration procedures. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (AP) |
WASHINGTON — The man who runs Washington is in danger of losing his job in a hotly contested election, but the post that's up for grabs isn't president. It's mayor.
The winner of the election will have to deal with the city's serious problems: high poverty rates, high unemployment and epidemic numbers of people with HIV or AIDS. And because Congress oversees the city there's always an extra layer of bureaucracy.
"The mayor of the District of Columbia is a governor, a county executive and a mayor all in one," said former Mayor Marion Barry, who ran the city from 1979 to 1991 and again from 1995 to 1999. "It's an excruciatingly difficult job ... A lot of the solutions to your problems are out of your control."
This year's contest has turned unusually nasty, with accusations flying between the two Democratic front-runners: Mayor Adrian Fenty, who is seeking a second four-year term, and Vincent Gray, chairman of the 13-member D.C. Council. Still, the
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/politics/ap/dc-council-chairman-has-legitimate-shot-at-unseating-incumbent-fenty-in-washington-mayor-race-102110809.html#ixzz0yURd3in6