Vote for David Catania for Mayor

For the first time in decades, us D.C. voters have a genuinely competitive race for mayor on the general election ballot this November. And GM strongly recommends that you choose David Catania for your vote.

David has been a councilmember serving all of D.C. since 1997. In that election, he faced a veteran Democratic pol who probably underestimated Catania and overestimated the value of simply being a Democrat. A precedent we may be seeing repeated next month.

The simple fact is that despite not being a member of the majority party (he switched from Republican to Independent ten years ago in protest of that party’s regressive social policies) David has accumulated a remarkable legislative record. The record largely reflects the committees he’s chaired and the depth with which he can grasp an issue and bring a genuine problem-solving approach to bear.

When running the Committee on Health, he almost single handed saved the only hospital east of the Anacostia river, he pushed through the revolutionizing of the city’s response to the AIDS crisis, and he helped cut the number of uninsured residents in half.

Shifting to the education committee in 2012, Catania has wowed parents, teachers and administrators across the city with the unprecedented commitment he has displayed towards solving the pernicious problem of bad schools. He has personally visited more than 144 schools across the city. He proposed a raft of legislation reflecting deep thought about the issues. Despite a reluctant council that would rather abdicate all responsibility (and blame) to the mayor, David pushed through critical bills that end the damaging social promotion policies and ensured additional funding for schools with at-risk students.

This last one is an important one that shows the practical yet justice-oriented approach David would bring. His Fair Funding and School Based Budgeting Act requires that schools that educate poor or at-risk students receive more money per student. It’s not exactly a revolutionary idea, but before his act, funding was allocated simply on a per capita basis. This was obviously a wrong-headed policy. Not only do poor students require more resources to make up for the support they lack at home, but rich schools typically have PTAs that can fund raise and significantly supplement their school’s budgets, exacerbating the inequality. Many of these kids don’t even have a home. You cannot fund schools thinking that a homeless student and a child of two lawyers living in Georgetown costs the same to educate. Catania’s bill takes a step towards equality by directing an additional $77 million to schools with at-risk students.

Speaking of equality, Catania pushed through the marriage equality act in 2010 at a time when many activists recommended caution. Understanding the power that the legal recognition of true love would bring and how fast the opposition would crumble, Catania forged ahead. Due to his courage on the issue, the District of Columbia was one of the first legislatures in the country to pro-actively recognize marriage equality.

GM could go on (such as on Catania’s solid transportation platform). But suffice it to say that Catania is a serious man who brings serious attention and capabilities to serious problems. Yes, those that would rather wallow in the old ways of cronyism and incompetence cry “bully” for the anger Catania has periodically flashed from the council dais when confronted with executive agency reps collecting pay checks and accomplishing little else. But anyone who has thought even briefly about the challenges our city faces as inequality rises as faster than the construction cranes or as our primary cash-cow, the federal government, retreats from an epoch of unprecedented largess, will understand that a flash of anger and impatience is often the appropriate response to the challenges of the day.

A word about his opponents.

Muriel Bowser didn’t bother to respond to the Citizens Association of Georgetown’s repeated invitations to take part in a candidate forum last week. GM mentions this not out of any pique, but simply because it demonstrates that Bowser is apparently taking the same approach to beating Catania that Arrington Dixon took in 1997: ignore the race as much as possible and assume the (D) by her name is enough to win.

What sort of a mayor would Bowser be? It’s truly hard to say with any certainty. She has few landmark legislative accomplishments (a compromised, although moderately progressive, ethics bill being one exception). And when big issues have arisen-like school rezoning this summer-she has a knack for appearing completely unable to offer any semblance of a thoughtful response within any reasonable time frame. For school reform, she rattled off the meaningless “Alice Deal for All” slogan until the vacuity of that policy became apparent even to her. Then she embraced a controversial proposal that would undermine the right to attend your local school. At least she embraced it long enough to see how much people were flocking to Catania for rejecting that proposal. Then she suddenly didn’t think it was such a good idea anymore.

Muriel Bowser is not a bad person. She’s not even a bad legislator (she’s not a good one, but she’s not a bad one either). But the sole reason she obtained the Democratic nomination is that she met the basic qualification standard that she not be Vincent Gray. Beyond that, though, there’s simply not much “there” there but a deep sense of entitlement that being the Democratic candidate is all she has to be to deserve the election. If that is how she approaches how she asks for your vote, how do you think she’ll be as mayor?

As for Carol Schwartz, it’s unclear why she’s even running. She has no chance and seems only vaguely familiar with the issues that have arisen in the five years since she was run off the council. Voting for her may make you feel young again, but it’s a wasted voted on an unclear cause.

So please, pull the lever (or rather push the button) for David Catania. He’s the right man for the job.