The Race Is On!

Went down to the DC Board of Elections and Ethics and picked up my petitions to get on the November Ballot. It's official, I'm running for reelection.

Thankfully this year they managed to have copies of the voter rolls, sorted by Single Member District, ready and available when we pick up the petitions (unlike last year, where we received them three days before the general election!). That'll make the signature verification process a hell of a lot easier this time around, and means no long hours spent in the BOEE office verifying signatures as valid registered voters in my SMD.

If anyone wants more info about what office I hold, and what I'm running to be reelected to, go to The Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions Web Site and check it out (I'm the commissioner for Single Member District 1D02).

Meme Time!

As we move into the November election season, everyone seems overly focused on the Presidential election. While important, that election is frequently not as important to your everyday life as your local elections. Tell us what your state and local races are, who the candidates are and who you're supporting. Then paste this at the top and blame legalmoose for starting a meme for once. ;-)

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Here in DC, we have a primary election on September 14th for the Democratic, Republican and Statehood-Green Parties. So far we have the Delegate to the House of Representatives (Eleanor Holmes Norton, she'll win hands down); the Wards 2, 4, 7, and 8 Members of the City Council (none of which I can vote for); two At Large Members of the City Council (one Dem, one Repub or other Independent; I'm voting for Kwame Brown since he seems to have the best shot at defeating the incumbent, Harold Brazil); US Shadow Representative (Ray Browne, the incumbent, gets my vote); and several Democratic State Committee Members (the two who sent thank you notes for signing the petitions will get my votes - that's an impressive touch in my book).

That Primary will determine who's on the ballot for the November 2nd Election, so that's my focus at this point. Of course I myself will be on the ballot for my Advisory Neighborhood Commission seat, so I'll be voting for myself there. :-) There may be a slots initiative on the ballot (that's unclear yet). If there is, I'm voting against it because I consider it a regressive tax, even if it a "voluntary" one. We have two other certified initiatives, #65, "Support for a Public Hospital in the District of Columbia" (Yes vote), and #66, "D.C. Smokefree Workplaces Initiative of 2004" (if it gets in, and that's again unclear, a resounding yes vote - I like smokefree bars!). So that's my state and local ballot so far. What's yours?

Purpose

I've been wrestling with a legal question of "purpose" of an appropriations account for most of the day (actually, for weeks, on and off, but it's consumed most of today in an effort to get it resolved already). I think I may have to sit down with another attorney and bounce things back and forth to solidify my position soon.

My boss is stressing over something for "the front office" (i.e., the head of the Big Government Agency), so no go there. Not a ton of other choices of at this time of day, either, so it may have to sit overnight. :-/ Oh well.

The Poo Wars

Just when you thought it was safe to come out and discuss things on the neighboring 'hood's email list serve, they get into a fight over dog poo. Complete with tongue-in-cheek commentary from the some of the more humorous members of the list, blaming the proliferation of unscooped dog poo in non-dog owners' yards on "the man," who is presumably trying to distract members of the community from more serious matters.

I love local politics.

Planned Rest

Moving my rest day up a day from Friday to tomorrow.  Legs are still sore from the weights (overdid it!) on Monday, so a rest day is in order.  Flexibility is a good thing in scheduling. :)

I think I can finish a project with the correct answer tomorrow, but I may ask permission to call GAO for a quick consultation.  Never done that before, but this is a unique situation and some outside help would be useful.  We'll see what da boss says.