Comments on: Orange wins race for at-large Council seat

By: Rick Rosendall

Rick Rosendall — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:08:55 +0000

Mr. Turner, if you are going to hurl insults, you should find something more plausible than “stupid.” I am used to attacks from partisans who reflexively treat any criticism of their candidate as proof that the critic is a standard party hack himself; there is a good deal of evidence, however, that I personally and GLAA organizationally are not in that category. I voted for Biddle as an alternative to Orange, whom I criticized on GLAA’s blog even after his victory (something you seldom see from party hacks), but my fairly blistering criticism of Biddle’s recent letter to Sen. Harry Reid on school vouchers hardly squares with the notion that I viewed him with rose-colored glasses:
http://tinyurl.com/3mxk9tf
Patrick Mara is a pleasant and energetic fellow who reached out constructively to me after earnting a mediocre rating from GLAA, instead of attacking as the Republican Ward 5 Council candidate did last year. So I give him credit for that. But I would like to see him show more independence from the national party. For example, Mara (like some Democrats including Kwame Brown) supports the congressional imposition of vouchers on the District. That’s not the same as supporting vouchers but respecting the local government’s decision against them. And I didn’t see him criticizing Congress for interfering with the District’s choices on how to spend its local tax dollars, or criticizing the DC GOP for inviting right-wing nutjob Rep. Allen West as keynoter for its annual dinner. When Patrick defeated Carol Schwartz in 2008, one of the big issues in that primary was Carol’s support for a bill guaranteeing a few days of sick leave for workers. Unforgiveable heresy! Please.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:33:50 +0000

Actually it looked the way it was excpected. Most whites went for Mara regardless of him being a republican and African Americans went for Orange with the rest getting the “IN BETWEENS” if you will. It look like it was along racial lines as usual.

By: Robert Turner

Robert Turner — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 01:58:15 +0000

Lou, to echo Peter’s comment, thanks for the great article. It was a good assessment of the election.

Rick, you seem to be stuck on stupid. Mara was not running on a national platform. He has always indicated that he was socially moderate. Demanding that he justify the Paul Ryan budget or a particular tax break or piece of Congressional legislation is counter-productive.

And for the record, Mara’s obvious commitment to local LGBT issues is in stark contrast with the national party. As I’ve said on these pages and others, he was the only candidate in the race who testified in favor of bringing marriage equality to the District. Where was your candidate?

By: StanJames

StanJames — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:21:03 +0000

AS long as he is and stays pro gay, I’m not going to be involved. Can you immagien that monstrosity Jackson winning? the worst of the worst of homophobes, who make a fabulous living preaching hate. almost certainly he’s no different then ted haggard, and all the others

By: Rick Rosendall

Rick Rosendall — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:33:00 +0000

The embarrasingly low turnout says much more about voter indifference, and the generally lackluster choices, than it does about a rejection of the views of political groups. Peter was right that Biddle’s GOTV effort was dismal. Orange’s seat will be up in 2012, and the results based on 12 percent of voters showing up will scare away nobody. As for Patrick Mara, good for him for doing as well as he did, but it’s unlikely he’ll have another chance as golden as this special election was. Unlike former Republican councilmember Carol Schwartz, Patrick has done little to separate himself from the national GOP. To make matters worse, the DC GOP made nutjob Florida Congressman Allen West the keynoter for its annual dinner–as if they were channeling the Illinois GOP’s 2004 decision to nominate Alan Keyes for the Senate. I would love to see a more serious effort to elect someone from a minority party, rather than just have Democrats pretending to be Independents. David Catania, of course, is no Democrat. He was Republican before he was effectively driven out of the party. Next year, the Democratic nominee is going to be elected to the Council seat. As for now, Orange’s first act as councilmember-elect was to complain about the small office space he will inherit from Biddle. Well, next year he won’t be able to run as an anti-incumbent.

By: Frankie James

Frankie James — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:09:40 +0000

It also shows we are not so easily lead by the “leaders.”

Get out in the streets – gay voting clubs – and talk to the people.

Your endorsement was wrong.

By: Peter Rosenstein

Peter Rosenstein — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:10:05 +0000

Lou thanks for the good column. What it does show is that endorsements without a lot shoeleather behind them don’t guarentee a candidate a win. Unfortunately for Sekou Biddle there wasn’t much work done for him by some who endorsed him, both activists and politicians, and to make matters worse the Biddle campaign turned down some offers of help as well.

I for one congratulate Patrick Mara for how well he did. Patrick is a good campaigner. The LGBT community will now have to work closely with Vincent Orange to be sure that he keeps his promises of support to the community in the long run.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:57:10 +0000

Thank you, Lou, for pointing out that our community strongly contributed to Mara’s near-win over Orange. It is apparent to this “rank-and-file” gay voter that our “leaders” have little influence or sway inside the community anymore and are largely party hacks.