Mayor Adrian Fenty was a no-show at a highly-anticipated, one-on-one education debate against challenger D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray that was to be moderated by Washington Post columnist Colbert King Monday night.
The Mayor couldn't "make it work" with his schedule, aides said.
Billed as "The Great Education Debate" by the relatively new Young Education Professionals (YEP), the forum was to focus on candidates' vision for D.C. public schools -- a hot topic for voters.
Fenty also declined an invitation to speak to a special joint meeting this week of the Convention Center Community Association and the Mt. Vernon Square Neighborhood Association. Gray accepted.
Voters are increasingly making their feelings known about the Mayor's apparent distance from rank-and-file constituents. Saturday at the D.C. Caribbean parade, crowds along Georgia Ave. screamed for Mardis Gras beads being thrown along the route, but the reception for Fenty the candidate was "a mix of claps and boos," according to D.C. Wire, while "people in the crowd wanted to shake hands, hug and take pictures with Gray," who, despite the warmer reception, had a smaller entourage than the Mayor.
1 Comment For This Article
this is mayor fenty as usual, i.e., when he doesn't want to confront the issues at hand, he finds an excuse to not be there to inform or address the problems that are being of him. this is the arrogancy you receive when he doesn't want any confrontation, because the truth of the matter is he is not a public speaker; he's always reading - never able to give us the info needed, which says to me that he not very well informed about the needs of this city and what is facing us today. fenty cannot answer the questions of education, if he could he would not have put someone in the job who has no qualifications for the job, and he definitely would have been at the education forum last night. we also need to address the police dept., because who ever heard of crime being low when we have 4-5 shootings and killings a week. talk about ramsey cooking the books -- someone else is picking up the mantle.
i think it's time for fenty to go! the hand writing is on the wall that he is not the proven leader we need. nor is he able to carry out the management and organization of running a government. we sent a "boy" to do a "man's" job.
AND NOW WE NEED VINCE GRAY WHO IS A PROVEN LEADER TO LEAD OF THIS CITY, WITH VINCE ORANGE AS HIS CHAIR!!
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