D.C. Council At-Large Candidates Face Off in Virtual Debate
October 25, 2022
D.C. Council At-Large candidates (from top row) Giuseppe Niosi, Fred Hill, Graham McLaughlin, David Schwartzman, Karim Marshall, Elissa Silverman, and Anita Bonds with moderators Julie Zauzmer Weil of the Washington Post (top, second from right) and James Wright of the Washington Informer (middle, second from left), and James Bubar of the D.C. Bar District of Columbia Affairs Community (bottom, right).
On October 19, the D.C. Bar District of Columbia Affairs Community hosted a virtual debate among seven of the eight candidates running for two at-large seats on the D.C. Council in November. Moderated by Washington Post local government reporter Julie Zauzmer Weil and Washington Informer political reporter James Wright, the candidates discussed where they stood on a range of issues, from the housing crisis to abortion rights to D.C. statehood.
Critiquing the Council
Weil kicked off the debate by asking independent candidate Karim D. Marshall to rate the current council’s oversight of District agencies. “I think part of the reason I got this question is because I’ve made no secret of the fact that our council has done a terrible job,” Marshall said. “I think the core question about this is, what do you define as oversight? I believe that oversight is a combination of identifying problems [and] being responsible and low ego enough to seek solutions.”
“Our council is very good at pointing fingers after the fact,” Marshall added, citing a recent audit of the D.C. Housing Authority by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that detailed alleged mismanagement of the city’s public housing units. “Oversight is supposed to be boring, hard work where you work with the executive to identify problems, work on their solutions, make sure they're adequately funded, and then follow up over the course of time.”
Giuseppe Niosi, a Republican candidate, was also critical of D.C. Council efforts to address the city’s housing crisis and rising homicide rate. “Murders are up. And I have a problem with that,” said Niosi, a system engineer with Professional Analysis, Inc. “I think a lot of the policies that we've been seeing on the council have done nothing to mitigate a lot of the crime. In the exact opposite, they've actually kind of perpetuated and made it a little bit more available for people who commit crimes.”
Meanwhile, Green Party candidate David Schwartzman called for better oversight of the District’s Department of Human Services. “The focus of my campaign is to eliminate child poverty,” said Schwartzman, who wants to boost income support for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. “I think Human Services has not looked at this issue seriously enough. … This is a recommendation that I hope to fashion for the Fair Budget Coalition [focused on racial justice].”
Competitive Elections
The candidates also shared their views on the District’s Fair Elections Program, where the city provides limited matching public funds to qualified candidates who forgo all corporate and political action committee money and pledge to accept only small donations for their campaign.
Elissa Silverman, who is running for reelection, said that the program has been a success with more women and people of color running for office. “I think the public financing program has achieved the goal … to eliminate money as a barrier to entry for elections. And what we had seen in other cities, for example New York City, is that it particularly encouraged women and candidates of color to get in the race because, for historical reasons of racism and sexism, [they] have had less access to money.”
Graham McLaughlin, a first-time candidate, also applauded the program for opening political races to “new talent,” but he stressed the importance of term limits. McLaughlin said term limits ensure that D.C. Council members are making the best decisions for the largest number of residents all the time.
While siding with McLaughlin on the issue of term limits, independent candidate Fred Hill said he is opposed to the Fair Elections Program. “Many people in this city do not understand that it’s the taxpayers’ dollars that [are] being given as a match, and that's 5 to 1,” Hill said. “For every $10, you get $50 of taxpayer money to finance a candidate who desires to get into this race. But all you really need to do is get out here, knock on all the doors, shake [people’s] hands, and kiss babies, and [then] you build your base.”
D.C. Statehood
Expressing his reticence advocating for D.C. statehood, Niosi said he wants to ensure that the District’s school systems are improving, crime is decreasing, and local small businesses are thriving.
Marshall, on the other hand, said he’s been drumming up support for statehood outside the city. “I'm educating people who live in other states that can actually make sure that their senators are advancing statehood for the District of Columbia,” said Marshall, a former senior development manager for the Government of the District of Columbia.
McLaughlin agreed with Marshall on the importance of external advocacy, but added that the city also needs to take more operational steps to achieve statehood. “For instance, we have an opportunity to take parole back from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and take it into D.C.,” said McLaughlin, vice president for social responsibility at Optum.
“I opened my home and worked with guys coming out of prison for a decade. I worked with individuals coming out of incarceration to launch their own businesses that now hire about 40 D.C. residents and have walked side by side, as [Hill] has as well, with many returning citizens to ensure that they don't recidivate and are able to be productive, impactful citizens in this city. I think when we can do things like that, it moves us one step forward into full statehood.”
Women’s Right to Abortion
Incumbent Councilmember Anita Bonds joined the debate when discussion turned to abortion rights, stating that, if reelected, she will ensure that D.C. laws protecting women’s access to abortion will remain intact. “I think as long as you are in the District of Columbia, any woman will know that they have the right and access, and we will do everything to preserve and protect that,” Bonds said. “We consider ourselves a sanctuary city.”
McLaughlin commended the D.C. Council for ensuring women’s access to safe abortions, but also stressed the need for the District to think more broadly in terms of health care access. “There's a lot that we can [do] about where we [are] placing medical facilities, how are we making sure that people have access not just to abortion services, but overall maternal health services.”
Niosi said he is a minority in the Republican Party because he’s pro-choice. “I want [abortions] to be safe, legal, but rare,” he said, adding that he would advocate for the District to remain pro-choice.
Mayoral Oversight of Schools
Bonds affirmed her support for mayoral control over D.C. Public Schools (DCPS), saying that she has lived in the city long enough to remember when schools were under an independent body. “One of the biggest hurdles that we are facing is diminishing registration of students in schools,” Bonds said. “We have to have some programming that excites and is inclusive of the issues and concerns that these young people are facing.”
Niosi said he supports mayoral oversight as well as parental choice. “I believe parents know exactly what their children need to succeed,” Niosi said. “I think that if a parent is going to look for the best opportunity for their child, they should, and they deserve to do so.”
He also advocated for more trade and technical development schools in the District. “Some people learn differently. Some people learn more with their hands, some people learn more in a laboratory setting,” he said. “I would like to see that implemented from a high school level and even into a further developmental level.”
Schwartzman, professor emeritus at Howard University, said he is opposed to mayoral control over public schools, arguing that it is a legacy of the semi-privatization of the public school system under the leadership of former D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty and former DCPS chancellor Michelle Rhee.
“Inequities have been maintained in the public school system. If you go to a wealthy ward, parents have the income to commit to ensure there are adequate [school] supplies. This is not necessarily true east of the [Anaocostia] River,” Schwartzman said.
Approximately 100 people tuned in to the D.C. Bar-hosted virtual debate, which is available here. Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie is also running for the at-large seat as an independent but did not attend the debate.
