The 2013 Swearing-in Ceremony for the Council of the District of Columbia was held 2 January 2013 at 10:00am in Ballroom A of the Walter E Washington Convention Center, 701 Mount Vernon Place, Washington DC 20001. The swearing in ceremony for Phil Mendelson was held previously on November 29, 2012 in DC Council Chambers

Chairman Phil Mendelson [D] was in the right place at the right time and his citywide appeal makes him the right person to continue to lead the D.C. City Council, especially at a time like this. We support his election as Council Chair and anticipate that he will do what is necessary to bring respect and ethics to the position he and his colleagues hold.
Thursday 1 November 2012, Washington Informer

Wednesday 31 October 2012, Washington Blade

“[Phil Mendelson] is thoughtful and hardworking and is in public office because he wants to make a contribution; his 14 years on the council have been untouched by even a whiff of wrongdoing.”
— Sunday, 28 October 2012, The Washington Post

PHIL MENDELSON (D), tapped by his D.C. Council colleagues to take the chairman’s seat vacated by a disgraced Kwame R. Brown, is almost certain to win the upcoming special election for the remainder of Mr. Brown’s term. He faces token opposition and, as his past contests have shown, enjoys deep support throughout the city. What is less certain is whether Mr. Mendelson can provide meaningful leadership of the council.

There’s no question that Mr. Mendelson is a better choice than challenger and perennial candidate Calvin H. Gurley (D). He is thoughtful and hardworking and is in public office because he wants to make a contribution; his 14 years on the council have been untouched by even a whiff of wrongdoing. His understated demeanor may be welcome after the drama of Mr. Brown or the clashes with the executive under then-council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D). But being council chairman requires more than getting along or having your colleagues like you. Mr. Mendelson, who talks about the urgent need for the council to restore public trust, has been silent about his colleagues’ wrongdoing, most recently when evidence emerged of misconduct by council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1). He has yet to take action on council use of personal e-mail for official business. Having built his reputation as a nitpicker, Mr. Mendelson would do well to step back and think about the tone and overall direction that are so badly needed.

Mr. Mendelson is well suited to bring order and credibility to a damaged DC Council. His record of ethics is impeccable, and he is well-positioned to get the council working together collaboratively instead of fracturing into warring factions as it did under former Chairman Kwame Brown.

Some council staffers say that Mr. Mendelson will need to work on shifting his attention to the big picture issues rather than the narrow, often nitpicking hyper-attention to detail he has become known for. He also continues to lean toward sympathy with those who don’t want to see the District change or grow much at all. Zoning is not the council’s purview, and since becoming chairman he has stayed away from taking a position on such issues that won’t come before that body. However, voters need to keep careful watch on this issue.

Phil joined Joshua Lopez, Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser and local Ward 1 residents and activists at a meet and greet.

Supporting @electmendelson at @joshualopez202 fundraiser in Ward 1. yfrog.com/oenbbqhuj

— MurielBowser (@MurielBowser) October 25, 2012

A consortium of public education advocacy groups including the Ward Five Council on Education, Empower DC, We Act Radio, DC VOICE, SHAPPE, Parents and Teachers for Real Education Reform, and the Ward 8 Education Council are hosting two “Fork in the Road” Candidate Forums:

For five years the District of Columbia has engaged in an experiment — with risky reform strategies, an unparalleled level of unilateral control at the top, a lack on transparency and accountability, and suspension of democratic checks and balances that citizens of this city had historically fought for. When the School Reform Act of 2007 was passed it called for a five-year evaluation in 2012, which never took place. We need — we demand, a close look at what those reforms have accomplished, a clear decision to continue reforms that are working, and consideration of a different road for those that are not.

• Coordinated Planning
• Neighborhood Schools
• Open Democratic Process and Public Voice
• Equity
• Stop the Churn

Faith Gibson Hubbard, President
Ward Five Council on Education (W5COE)
fg1913@gmail.com
(202) 505-4309
wardfive@googlegroups.com
ward5@yahoogroups.com

DC Tenants’ Advocacy Coalition
Representing All DC Tenants
PO Box 7237, Washington DC 20044
(202) 628-3688 | tenacdc@yahoo.com
TENAC.org

“The Local Budget Autonomy Act of 2012 would grant the District the right to enact its local budget without annual congressional oversight as well as to set its own fiscal year.

Budget Autonomy Act of 2012 (pdf)

Introduced by: Phil Mendelson, Marion Barry, Michael A. Brown, Mary M. Cheh, Vincent Orange, Yvette Alexander, Muriel Bowser, David Catania, Jack Evans, Kenyan McDuffie, Tommy Wells

The Federal Tax Counter outside The John A Wilson Building and posted on the DC Council web site is a reminder that the District has still been denied a vote in Congress.