Talk of Takoma • Howard Kohn august 2007 Election certainties: New mayor and new reps in Ward 1 & Ward 3 Getting out: Kathy and Joy • Wanting in: Bruce, Josh and Dan

Photos:Julie Wiatt

Because MSNBC pundit Tucker Carlson thinks Takoma Park's political leanings are laughable he apparently assumed the town's mayor would be easy pickings when he challenged Kathy Porter to defend the City Council's July 14 wishful resolution in favor of impeaching the Bush Administration's top two elected leaders.

Two days later Kathy did a three-minute turn on Tucker's show, named "Tucker," Unflappable, she played the grownup in his implausibly juvenile act.
At one point Tucker wondered if there would be anyone left to run the government should the President and Vice-President be removed from office, and Kathy explained, "The Speaker of the House."

Great moments in televison history: The fairness of the Constitution?

He went on, "Do you think that would be fair?

“Well, that’s what the Constitution says; I didn’t make that decision,” replied the mayor. (click on image to see video).

For Kathy it was a signature performance and, as she was well aware, something of a climactic one because at the July 30 Council meeting, the last one before summer recess, she announced she is calling it quits as mayor.

The Porter era will end officially in November, at the finish of her fifth two-year term. "This has been a difficult decision because I have really loved being mayor," she said. "But I look forward to many years as a Takoma Park activist." See Mayor's Statement.

Kathy's pending retirement from the Council was the second one disclosed in July. Earlier, Ward One representative Joy Austin-Lane mailed out letters to let her constituents know that the current term, her third, will be her last.
"My family and I remain big fans of Takoma Park and look forward to exploring opportunities this change will allow," Joy wrote in her letter.

Joy Austin-Lane will not run for office this fall

A few years ago Kathy and Joy, then sparring on a regular basis, seemed destined to go one-on-one in a future mayor's race, but instead their rivalry cooled off and is now nullified.

Their separate decisions to exit the Council set free other local politicans to make known their own intentions for this fall's elections, which now must necessarily deliver a new mayor and at least two new ward representatives.

Mayor's race
"Ward politics," it's been said, "start with answering your phone." Bruce Williams so assiduously carries out the dictum of trying to dispel every caller's (and every e-mailer's) anxieties that he's won election seven consecutive times in Ward Three.

Bruce Williams will run for mayor

As deputy mayor the past several years, Bruce has also been regularly cited by the other six Council members as the one who gets along best with all of them.
A couple days after Kathy's announcement, Bruce began telling friends he will run a campaign to be the next mayor.
Meanwhile, Seth Grimes, a founder of Sustainable Takoma who opposed Kathy in the 2005 elections, has said he will use the month of August to mull over the option of taking a second shot at the position.

Seth Grimes will face stiff competition what ever race he chooses

Ward One
In 15 years Josh Wright has stuffed a lot into his career, from the Sixties-style high idealism of a Harlem tenant organizer to the power lunches and long hours of a Random House division president, but these days he is a member in good standing of Takoma Park's non-profit, soccer-dad world, and it is partly because Josh had expressed an interest in serving on the City Council that Joy decided to step aside.

Ward One candidate Josh Wright and family

In a mailing declaring his candidacy to succeed her, Josh also declared hisenthusiasm for small-town living: "My wife, Eliza Leighton, and I love Takoma Park. We chose to move here to raise our children, Aviva and Isaac, because it is an actively progressive and diverse community where people know their neighbors and run into them at the great farmers’ market and local businesses."

Although he will be a fresh face on the ballot, he has been an active presence in the ward as a volunteer with Friends of the Library, the Health Services Impact Committee, Main Street and Safe Takoma.

He is currently employed by the Center for Community Change on Economic Development and Social Venture Projects.

Josh's only likely competition would come from Seth, who is also mulling a Ward One option. Seth has devoted considerable time to Safe Takoma and to his Old Town neighborhood association during the past two years.

Ward Two
Colleen Clay, about to complete her first term, is running for a second and seems to have won over additional supporters after a 2005 race that went to the wire. The opponent she defeated, Eileen Sobeck, now treasurer of Historic Takoma, has ruled out a rematch, and at this point no other candidates have identified themselves.

Ward Three
Dan Robinson's local resume covers more than 20 years and includes a stint with the original incarnation of the Voice and two previous campaigns for the Council. He will now make a third attempt.

Dan Robinson is unopposed at present for Ward Three

Dan prides himself a big little-D democrat and, even as a businessman, has been true to that calling. After starting a successful computer services firm in his Grant Avenue basement he gave his employees an extraordinary level of influence and eventually sold them the business.

In civic matters Dan recently helped run the City committee that investigated tax duplication and rebates and the City committee that recommended the hiring of City Manager Barb Matthews. More recently he has been stirred by an interest in lifting the commercial profile of Old Takoma and the Takoma Junction.

Thus far Dan is the only candidate to announce in Ward Three.

Ward Four
Terry Seamens is likely to be the Ward Four rep as long he is willing, and he is willing to remain on the job at least another term.

Ward Five
When Reuben Snipper was elected in a special election in January to replace Marc Elrich, who had moved on to the Montgomery County Council, Reuben said he wanted to find out how much he enjoyed town politics before committing to longer service. It's been an amenable fit, and Reuben will seek a full term in November.
Two other candidates competed in the January election, and it's possible one or both will try again.

Ward Six
Doug Barry is a popular incumbent in a ward with few voters and even fewer activists, but it appears Doug will be tested by Ryan O'Donnell, who works in town for Fair Vote and who was introduced to the local political life last year as a main organizer of Jamie Raskin's upset victory for State Senate.

Doug Barry (left) and Ryan O’Donnell (right) will vie for Ward Six

In a sense Ryan is an accidental candidate. He proceeded on the basis of a report that Doug and his family were leaving town. The report proved false, though, and now Ward Six may be the unlikely venue for the most contested of all the races.

No comments have been posted to this article.

Want to post a comment to this article? Click here.