D.C. Mayor Loses Effort to Get on Ballot, Vows Write-In Drive

Mayor Anthony Williams renewed his pledge to conduct a vigorous write-in campaign Wednesday after the District of Columbia’s Court of Appeals rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to get his name on the Sept. 10 Democratic Party primary ballot.

Campaigning amid rush-hour commuters at a subway stop in Northwest Washington, Williams vowed to “take my message to every voter on every street in the city.”

A reform candidate who four years ago wowed the city’s professionals with promises to revitalize the local economy and invigorate a sluggish bureaucracy, Williams was breezing toward reelection when calamity hit.

Aides charged with collecting 2,000 signatures on petition drives turned in 10,102. But most were clear forgeries--page after page of signatures in identical handwriting or in the name of celebrities, including U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, actor Kelsey Grammer and British Prime Minister Tony Blair--none of whom is a registered voter in Washington.

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, finding the petitions tainted by the specter of fraud, kicked Williams’ name off the ballot, leaving voters with a field of long-shot candidates, such as Faith Dane, a 79-year-old exotic ballet dancer.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals upheld the board Wednesday, saying it had “substantial evidence in the record supporting its conclusion that the integrity of the nominating process had been undermined by forgeries and possible fraud.”

In a city that votes overwhelmingly Democratic and liberal--Democratic Party nominee Al Gore got 85% of the vote in 2000, and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader almost beat Republican nominee George W. Bush (6% to 9%)--the failure to make the Democratic primary ballot is significant. But Williams, who could lose his $1.4-million war chest if he runs as an independent, has vowed to mount the write-in campaign for the Democratic nomination.

“I am energized and have spent the past several weeks out in the community talking to voters and hearing their thoughts,” Williams said in a statement issued by his campaign.

A native of Los Angeles, the 51-year-old Williams is a son of the Ivy League--he has degrees from both Yale and Harvard--and is known for sporting bow ties and using arcane references in his public speeches. “Running this city is like Roebling trying to build the Brooklyn Bridge and digging and digging for the bedrock,” he said of early efforts to clean up the city’s padded payroll and inefficient services.

On first being elected four years ago, Williams was embraced by the city’s elite, who had grown embarrassed by the personal excesses of Marion Barry, a 12-year mayor who was convicted of drug possession.

Now, however, Williams’ reputation is on the line. But Williams’ press secretary, Tony Bullock, says the petition imbroglio has energized the mayor. Waving an unsharpened pencil at supporters Wednesday evening, Williams said he hoped that voters would sharpen their pencils and come out to vote on Sept. 10.

Richard Cauman, a woodworker who has lived in Washington for 29 years, said he planned to vote for the mayor, despite differences over neighborhood issues. “He gives us a good image,” he said. “He’s why the city is thriving.”