FORMER WARD 3 COUNCIL CANDIDATE DR. CONROY STANDS UP FOR REES

[Psycho]

FORMER WARD 3 COUNCIL CANDIDATE

DR. CONROY STANDS UP FOR REES

 

 

Bill Coe gave the impression in Wednesday’s themail that Jonathan Rees did not show up for any of the candidate debates when he ran last year for the council.

 

 

I can certify that Mr. Rees participated in the public safety forum last September, at the Sibley auditorium. All the Ward 3 candidates were at the debate but one — Mary Cheh.

 

I’ve read the OCF report that Wednesday’s DCWatch links to.

 

 

It does seem to give Councilmember Cheh a clean bill of health, but there is a troublesome omission.

 

 

The OCF concluded that the Cheh campaign began its occupancy of PN Hoffman’s Wisconsin Avenue location in August 2006, when the campaign began paying market rate rent.

 

 

The OCF report, though, also summarizes testimony from workers at the next-door tenant, the Christian Science Reading Room, that the Cheh campaign began its occupancy at about the same time Bill Rice became a candidate.

 

 

Surprisingly, the OCF report does not mention when Bill Rice became a candidate, even though it is in OCF’s own records: April 2006.

 

 

By not addressing head-on this inconsistency in testimony as to when the Cheh campaign actually started occupying the PN Hoffman space, the OCF certainly gives the impression that there might be some whitewash in its report.

 

Mr. Coe expressed concern that the time it takes a public official to answer baseless charges takes away from the official’s public works.

 

 

Councilmember Cheh has advanced some substantial initiatives since she came on the council. For instance, all of Ward 3 can support her crusade to rid DC of invasive weeds that damage indigenous plants.

 

 

Although we all have suffered if answering the charges took time away from Councilmember Cheh’s weeding, it is still important that citizens retain the right to bring complaints regarding possible campaign finance irregularities.