Anita Bonds

But because Robert White is a Democrat, That activates the Democratic committee here in DC who to fill that position, they will put someone forward via their own process and that process is very much in debate.

It could be like a 1200 member political convention like Maine had to do when Graham Platner stepped down from the US Senate race or it could be like Anita Bonds when she became council member in 2012.

The executive committee of the DC Dems got together, 71 members, and they voted Councilmember Bonds in.

That seems insane, kind of independently of this other situation we're talking about, because basically what you're saying is that a political party, you know, which is run by whatever combination of like activists, true believers and hacks run every political party in the world, gets to decide on an elected official.

What should people do if they see stuff on Election Day either involving the feds or involving just, you know, people who are who are either violating laws or intimidating or what have you? What's your recourse at that point?

To your point, Councilmember Anita Bonds, who runs the committee that deals with election issues, recently she was talking to the elections leader.

She said, what happens if there's an issue? do your people know what to do? And the elections leader said, yes, they know what to do.

And she said, uh-huh.

And it sort of became, it came to a head in the council about a year or so into the eviction moratorium.

And Anita Bonds said at the time, like she had heard about some, like a very, again, a very small number, about a dozen cases of instances where there were like serious concerns about safety in a building.

And they weren't able to do anything about the tenant, given that the eviction moratorium was still continuing.

And so at the time, the council took a much more narrow action to say that you could proceed with evictions in the small number of cases where there was like an imminent safety issue.

Um, and w- part of that was a preliminary investment for the future Gold Line that will, uh, revamp and reimagine a transportation down H Street, which I know is top of mind for a lot of Ward 5 residents, namely in Carver Langston.

There was also a vote, unfortunately, that passed, the Filter Act, which was introduced by my colleague, Council Member Bonds, which I see pretty plainly as a step back for democracy, and it alters the initiative process in DC.

And so as you know, through the Home Rule Charter, there's a two-prong legislative process.

One is the legislative branch made up of the DC Council, and the other is the initiative process, uh, where residents are able to put forth ballot initiatives, and neighbors are allowed to vote, and should, uh, those things, uh, pass, those laws are sent to the council to go into effect.

And what this bill ultimately does is it makes the timeline longer.

It makes it more complicated for folks to engage in that initiative process.

Now, how I see it is, is pretty clearly because some folks, perhaps Council Member Bonds is among them, aren't thrilled with some of the changes that were brought about through this initiative process, but that is democracy.

Mm-hmm.