Government
Kwame did some good, and voters enabled his wrongdoing
Now that Kwame Brown has resigned as DC Council Chairman in disgrace, he is being called "dim," a "tyrant," and all kinds of other unflattering things. Brown is a flawed man, but we cannot pin this all on him alone. DC voters bear responsibility for ignoring the red flags about Brown early on. At the same time, Brown did some things right that we should give him credit for and preserve for the future.
Photo (from Detroit) by Cave Canem on Flickr.
Perhaps Brown's most significant achievement was his role in elevating the DC Council's budget office from a bean-counting operation to a muscular, policy driven office that identifies priorities and takes a serious and comprehensive approach to budget oversight.
Brown made a good move in hiring Jennifer Budoff as the DC Council's budget director. Budoff's knowledge of DC's budget is actually breathtaking. She not only knows the numbers, but she has a deeper understanding of the programs reflected in the numbers. As a result, she has a clear sense of where the programs work well and where they fall short, and she budgets accordingly.
Budoff and Chairman Brown assembled a very good budget office team. Whoever replaces Brown to run the council Brown also improved transparency and transported the council into the 21st century through smart use of technology. Under his watch, the council's website became easier to navigate. He put resources into digitizing legislation, so even archival bills are online.
All hearings are now available to view online and you can also sign up online to testify. Brown accomplished all this by collaborating with members of the public, and these significant advances make active participation in our government much easier. Brown and his staff deserve much credit for this too.
As residents, as voters, and as taxpayers, we should make good use of these tools Brown put into place to make our government better and more accountable.
Brown is our responsibility
We should also hold ourselves accountable to do a better job of picking our leaders. There were red flags about Kwame Brown from the very beginning of his political career. He wasn't truthful about his voting record, he embellished his resume, and he used politics as a way to employ close family and friends. This was years before his efforts to acquire a "fully loaded" SUV on the public's dime and even before we knew about his "Bulletproof" boat and the debts that ensued.
We should have seen these red flags waving, but Brown got a pass from voters in all parts of the city. We must learn to take a much more active role in the selection of our political leaders and to hold them accountable once they get in office. We shouldn't rely on the US Attorney to clean up the messes we helped make.
I first met Kwame Brown about this time of year in 2003, at a Jamaican restaurant on upper Georgia Avenue. I was then the Loose Lips columnist for Washington City Paper, and I came at the request of then Ward 4 Councilmember Adrian Fenty. Brown had largely adopted the Fenty technique, wearing out his shoe leather knocking on doors throughout the city in pursuit of an at-large seat on the Council. He was energetic and personable.
He was also lucky. The incumbent he was running against, Harold Brazil, had very severe ethics problems of his own that were made the front page of the Washington Post several times. Brown positioned himself as the reform candidate, even though it was a little unclear what he really stood for. Often, when questioned, Brown had a hard time figuring that out himself.
I had concerns he lacked a vision or an agenda. But there were other question marks as well. When questioned by reporters about his voting record Yet, the red flags kept popping up around Brown. Yet again, DC voters kept voting him into office. After the 2004 campaign, reporters revealed unconventional campaign finance reporting from Brown's campaign. Then, in the midst of the 2008 campaign, the Post did a story about how his campaign funneled money to a political consultant, whose address was a shuttered pizza joint in Columbia Heights. Still, Brown ran unopposed.
During Brown's campaign for the council chair, NBC4 reporter Tom Sherwood broke the story about his significant financial debt, but voters largely chose to ignore it.
We're not being honest with ourselves when we say that we are "shocked" or "betrayed" or "disappointed" in Brown. His colleagues and interested voters knew his shortcomings.
We must get involved
Do we need better options on the ballot? Yes, of course. That only happens through the active participation of ourselves in our government.
There are many ways to accomplish this. Several months ago, a group of residents including myself formed DC Public Trust to put a campaign finance reform initiative on the November ballot. Money is a major barrier to getting good people to run for office in our city, and I believe Initiative 70 will help tear down that barrier and level the playing field. I urge my fellow residents to support this effort.
Even if you don't, please take an more active role in local government. DC needs you. Elissa Silverman lives on Capitol Hill near H Street. From 2002 to 2004, Silverman wrote the "Loose Lips" column on local politics and government for the Washington City Paper. She later worked as a Metro reporter for the Washington Post, covering the 2006 mayoral campaign. She only recently has been released from the former DC politics reporter witness protection program and currently works for the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. 
Comments
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What do you mean by "this" or "wrongdoing"? If it's the political culture and apathy that allowed him to be elected and re-elected despite his obviously unsavory character, sure. If it's his criminal activity, that one's on him. And the former is a straw man. Nobody is saying that our flawed political climate can be pinned entirely on Kwame Brown.
by Boomer on Jun 8, 2012 12:49 pm • link • report
by David Alpert on Jun 8, 2012 12:57 pm • link • report
by thestinkykoala on Jun 8, 2012 1:20 pm • link • report
I think articles makes a lot of good points, but I'd suggest the cure "campaign finance reform" in only tangentially relateed the problem (bad office holders).
by charlie on Jun 8, 2012 1:27 pm • link • report
Until we figure out how to educate the public about substantive issues, we have little chance of engaging them.
And the best thing about Initiative 70 is the public education and engagement we must mobilize in order to pass it!
by Kesh Ladduwahetty on Jun 8, 2012 1:38 pm • link • report
Where I would disagree is the idea that voters should've been more judicious because of the red flags surrounding him. I disagree because it assumed that most voters were even aware. I had never read anything about him lying on his resume, employing friends (not that I take issue w/it) and especially lying about his voting record. This is the first and I consider myself rather politically connected.
This is a similar assumption shared by cable news talk show hosts or the Sunday talk shows. That is, well everyone is talking/knows about this or that when in fact, most don't.
I think most people realize that these people are human. What the media does is make them superhuman. Do americans really care that someone lied on their resume or about voting? Only if they aren't inclined to support the person in question.
Good article though!
by HogWash on Jun 8, 2012 1:48 pm • link • report
There are many reasons it's hard to get good candidates, but surely the corporate contributions that flow overwhelmingly to incumbents are part of the problem.
by Keith Ivey on Jun 8, 2012 2:05 pm • link • report
by Ward 1 Guy on Jun 8, 2012 2:08 pm • link • report
by JustMe on Jun 8, 2012 2:10 pm • link • report
Exactly. "The voters bear some blame for picking Brown" sounds good out of context, but if I remember correctly, the race for council Chair was between Kwame and Vince Orange. Even knowing all that has come to pass, I still see Brown as the lesser of the two evils.
Hopefully as some of the old deadwood clears out of DC's political system, we'll continue to see decent candidates step forward so that the voters can make reasonable choices. (e.g. hopefully I won't end up having to eat my words, but McDuffie in Ward 5 seems promising.)
by oboe on Jun 8, 2012 2:30 pm • link • report
by Joel on Jun 8, 2012 2:48 pm • link • report
- When does Mary Cheh take responsibility for being Kwame's biggest cheerleader on the Council when he ran for Chair? I think he used her big time and she gets lots of the blame for helping him to get elected in the first place.
- Both choices for interim Chair (Mendelson and Orange) have taken checks from Thompson. VO took 50 and Mendelson 15. How do we know that whoever ends up as Chair won't be the next to fall considering the investigation into Thompson and his donor network? Mendo is far from squeaky clean and VO...well, is VO.
by leftie42 on Jun 8, 2012 2:59 pm • link • report
by Cheryl Cort on Jun 8, 2012 3:19 pm • link • report
Really? Save for a few, I've always thought we had a pretty good crop. We had a good crop running for At-Large, they just cancelled each other out. The candidates for W5 seemed good.
I believe it's more a matter of perception than a real lack of quality candidates.
by HogWash on Jun 8, 2012 3:29 pm • link • report
by Paulus on Jun 8, 2012 3:46 pm • link • report
This was about dynasty building. But when there is little there there, it's hard to build a dynasty. Anyway, my experience in failed nonprofits has made me come to believe that you are only as strong as your weakest link. When you have a bunch of weak links, you're ultimately going to fail.
So yes, as long as the electorate makes s***** decisions we're doomed.
But at the same time, why is there such a paucity of strong candidates?
by Richard Layman on Jun 8, 2012 3:47 pm • link • report
Hey, brah, you ain't no 'Pac, keep his name out your mouth. Kwame been a scrub since before day one.
His response to some tweet about how he can't even name a go-go band/lead talker other than Chuck shows what you're working with; a clown who was never fit for office.
The writer is right. Kwame's scrubness is on the hands of the voters.
by SE Jerome on Jun 8, 2012 4:34 pm • link • report
by Rain17 on Jun 8, 2012 4:36 pm • link • report
Kwame was accused of playing loose with several hundred thousand dollars of campaign funds and suddenly all his debts got paid. I heard Jack spent $88 per vote he got in his unopposed primary. Now candidates with absolutely no chance of being chair or mayor are talking of running and they'll be able to raise and spend loosely.
If you can raise money it doesn't matter if you can win. It's all about the money in the running.
A lot of the problem in the District of Corruption is there is too damn much loose campaign money raising and spending.
by Tom Coumaris on Jun 8, 2012 4:52 pm • link • report
Don't most voters have to be aware of something in order to ignore it? Let's travel a bit outside our comfort zone and stop assuming that every voter is well-informed. They're not..nowhere in the USA.
I find it ironic that "deadwood" refers to longtime/native DC residents. Ironic because the group who uses such terms swear that there is no animus directed at DC residents but feel victimized when the spotlight is on them. And then they feign shock that there are actually DC residents who don't have warm and fuzzy feelings about them. The "deadwood" comments are exhibit A and B.
Does DC vote on race and rhetoric? Well sure you could say that. It applies to all of DC...we learned that from pro-Fenty supporters who voted on race and rhetoric.
When will the dog-whistling end. Please, when will it!
by HogWash on Jun 8, 2012 5:14 pm • link • report
Thanks again.
Elissa.
by Elissa Silverman on Jun 8, 2012 5:20 pm • link • report
Well done.
by Mark on Jun 8, 2012 7:14 pm • link • report
by The Civic Center on Jun 8, 2012 9:37 pm • link • report
Brown's record on the DC budget may be good but it doesn't reduce his culpability for his own illegal actions.
I hope he will be held accountable by other branches of government, who are themselves duly constituted with the power and responsibility to jail lawbreakers.
by WRD on Jun 8, 2012 10:24 pm • link • report
by N.E. John on Jun 8, 2012 10:46 pm • link • report
Mark Plotkin on the radio today said it was due to (lack of) DC statehood. But then again, that's his answer for any problem that ever happens in/to DC. Because politicians have a glass ceiling and thus cannot aspire to higher state and congressional offices, talented individuals are not attracted to low-level local positions because there is not real career path for them. Thus sayeth Mr. Plotkin, for the millionth time.
by spookiness on Jun 9, 2012 12:27 am • link • report
by Sally on Jun 9, 2012 6:52 am • link • report
Brown's value system, politics and ethical complexities basically reflect the New Urbanist value system which support Gentrification. It was really seen in the ambivalence of the New Urbanist movement toward the Occupy Movement. Similar irony of so-called smart growth being funded by the same banking system that ripped of the economy. They same system Brown took advantage of like many did. We are not responsible for Brown, we are Brown.
by W Jordan on Jun 9, 2012 8:14 am • link • report
As for race, etc., the DC Council is stuck with white legacies like Jack Evans (the developer's friend) and Jim Graham (whose erratic, often ineffectual style mirrors his mismanagement of Whitman Walker) and the soft racism of only focusing on crappy Black pols needs a correction.
If public funding would eliminate developer money and foster competitive races, I'd support it. OTOH, I'm too practical and skeptical to assume that anything (including David's pet "non-partisan" elections) would serve as a panacea. The best form of reform is competitive elections and it is neither an easy or linear path.
The discussion of Gray, etc, here misses something very important about him and his political experience...Gray's major govt experience was as director of social services for Sharon Pratt Kelly. Although different in origins and approach, Kelly was, in many ways, the proto-Fenty and her failure brought Barry back from the semi-dead. Kelly not only failed to reform things, but she (like Fenty) rolled into a cocoon and became impervious, if not paranoid, in the face of criticism. Gray ran a dept whose functions were largely under court supervision because of the Barry-I administration's mismanagement. It was his failure to make headway in getting out from under the courts rather than some dystopian fantasy about the Barry era that led me to reluctantly vote for Fenty, whose "reform" was often less than met the eye (case in point, Michele Rhee). Gray has proven to be the ineffectual leader he was during the Kelly era, which is pretty much what I expected. It takes a long time for political leadership develop and change, and this is likely to lag changes in DC's population, esp. given the transient nature of a big component of the population. Real reform means not only getting rid of people like Brown and Orange, but also people like Evans and Graham. And it's easy to forget that there was a generation of Black pols chaffing under the Barry administration's domination of politics in the 90s--the potential for change was there and undermining local control may actually have undermined the process of reform to some extent. Change isn't a linear process and DC is probably at least a decade away from really strong reformist leadership.
It's also helpful to put this in the context of the shortcomings of leadership in "tiffany" jurisdictions like MoCo. MoCo got rid of developer buddy Duncan (thanks to his higher ambition), only to get the visionless Leggett. Yes, the suburbs are no panacea, either.
by Rich on Jun 10, 2012 1:31 am • link • report
by Geoffrey Hatchard on Jun 10, 2012 5:15 pm • link • report
by John on Jun 11, 2012 7:42 am • link • report
Don't blame me! I voted for Kodos!
by oboe on Jun 11, 2012 9:23 am • link • report
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