¿Dónde está el Alcalde del Distrito de Columbia, Adrian Fenty?
Hizonner was ausente from the the D.C. Latino Caucus mayoral forum Saturday at the Josephine Butler Center, next to Meridian Hill Park. (LL was there, and compliments the hosts for having a cheese dish.)
The caucus, which voted 37 to 1 for D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray over Fenty, is muy cabreado that Fenty didn't show up.
Franklin Garcia, president of the caucus, said he worked with Fenty's folks to change the date of the forum just so the mayor could be there. And he's got the e-mails he says back him up, which he shared with LL.
Here's one Fenty's campaign aide John Falcicchio sent to Garcia on June 17:
Thanks for sending this email and working with us to set July 24th as the date for the DC Latino PAC endorsement.
A day later, Falcicchio sent another email:
Franklin: We've agreed to attend the July 24th endorsement forum. We also appreciate the invitation to send a representative to the June 24th meeting, which we will do. We look forward to seeing you next on the 24th. Thank you for your work, John
But wait! The mayor's folks have the emails that show he was never confirmed, confirmed. (They've also shared them with LL).
On July 21, Garcia sent Falcicchio a reminder of the upcoming forum, to which Falcicchio replied:
Franklin: As we discussed earlier when you and Angel called me about rescheduling the conflicting forums on the 24th, the Mayor is not confirmed for this event on the 24th. I never heard back from you about your plans. John
To which Garcia replied:
Not sure of what conflict you are referring to John. You may be thinking of the Ward 5 democrats, we had the Mayor confirmed long ago. I can forward you emails, maybe you are thinking this is for Ward 5 Democrats? This is for the Latino Caucus. Remember you asked me to change the date to accommodate the Mayor to the 24th? I can forward you email trail if you are unsure.
To which Falcicchio said:
Thanks, Franklin. There's no e-mail chain because we spoke on the phone on or about July 8th.
Oh snap! Who's still with LL—anyone?
Whoever is to blame, the net result is this: Garcia said there's a lot of anger from caucus members over the no-show. Though that anger might not translate to a lot of votes, it probably adds fuel to the perception that Hizonner is a tad aloof. After all, this is not the first forum the mayor has decided to skip.
Garcia also noted, via email, the irony of Fenty's absence.
Back in 2006 when we hosted the 2006 Latino Mayoral Forum, then Council Chair Linda Cropp did the same thing. All candidates showed for the endorsement meeting, except for leading candidate, Linda Cropp. Ms. Cropp received 2 votes and Adrian Fenty won the endorsement.
2:53 pm
It may not be spanish but this feels like deja vu all over again. Only this time it will be Fenty who loses for neglecting the community!
5:55 am
Who is the Latino Caucus, how many members does it have? How long have the members been enrolled? Do they have mostly middle or upper class Latinos or do they represent the everyday Latino voter? Heard they had quite a bit of non-Latino members? Good questions to ask.
7:49 am
@WARD7
Check out the DC Caucus website. You may get the answers to some of your "good questions to ask".
The website does not address membership but it gives a pretty good representation of the organization.
I feel that this group interested in the same things that impact the lives of all upper, middle or everyday people.
2:32 pm
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: John Falcicchio don't blame the Ward 5 Democrats for Mayor Fenty's disrespect of a community
From:
Date: Mon, July 26, 2010 1:01 pm
To: falcicchio@gmail.com
Cc: ward5dems@googlegroups.com,
John, can you be more respectful. Don’t blame the Ward 5 Democrats for Mayor Fenty’s continue disrespect of the Latino community. As the Corresponding Secretary of the Ward 5 Democrats, I reached out to you to schedule the Mayoral Forum for the Ward 5 Democrats, with our Chair Angel Alston. Never did I mentioned to you that I was reaching to you for anything other than the Ward 5 Democrats. I just got off the phone and asked our Chair, Angel Alston, if she had any conversation with you, or the campaign, regarding Mayor Fenty attending the DC Latino Caucus. She said, the only thing she heard was that the Mayor was busy on the 24th of July because he was attending the DC Latino Caucus Mayoral Forum. Please be more respectful, I know you may find it difficult to believe, but Latinos can do more than just hang out with Latino people or do “Latino things.” Your behavior is yet another showing of the constant neglect and disrespect Latinos see in this city. I do not appreciate your attitude. After the Mayor was 100% confirmed, I sent you the below email, to which you never replied, and also left you a clear voice mail, which you ignored. Why didn’t you include that in your correspondence to the Washington City Paper?
Franklin Garcia
President, DC Latino Caucus
From: Garcia, Franklin (US SSA)
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:48 AM
To: 'John J. Falcicchio'
Subject: RE: DC Latino Mayoral Candidate Forum and Endorsement
John, can you kindly, let me know if Mayor Fenty is able to attend the DC Latino Caucus endorsement meeting on July 24th @ 4:00PM. All the other candidates are confirmed and the date unfortunately can not be changed at this time. Thank you for your prompt attention and cooperation. Franklin.
8:52 pm
What is the Latino Caucus's role and authority to represent the hispanic groups and where was this forum advertised?
I keep reading of endorsements but how can regular people be informed? I dont think is fair to endorse a candidate in the name of an entire ethnic group when the members of the group don't know how to participate.
Despite of who the candidate is, how do these endorsements work? I am of Latin descent and concerns me that nobody I know knew about this. We are quite active in the community.
3:49 pm
Disrespecting any group of the DC electorate, is a bad sign itself from Mayor Fenty. Ignoring an important community -those who identify as Latinos - is another example of Mayor Fenty's misleading vision about his role in this city.
We already knew who is he working for, but now we confirm that he obviously doesn't care about a minority that is growing in political presence nationwide and in this city. Fenty is disrespecting in some way his own Panamanian father's heritage, by ignoring a community of mostly immigrants who need more participation in the government of this city.
By the way, stop calling us Hispanics since we are not from Spain nor our ancestors are, at least most of us. Gracias.
1:33 am
@ Yanet:
The Latino Caucus is an affiliate organization of the DC Democratic Party. Charters from the DNC to the local organization level go through the DC Democratic State Committee for approval. The DC Latino Caucus engages in voter registration and education projects as well as in endorsing Democratic Party candidates for public office who agree with the Caucus’ goals for improved quality of life and representation for Latinos.
The caucus regularly updates the website with valuable information about upcoming meetings and how one could become involved. If you visit the website, http://www.dclc.org you will find an abundance of information on candidates and causes that help to spotlight the concerns of Latino-Americans in the District of Columbia.
You can also complete an online application for membership directly from the homepage, which would allow you to stay "in the know" about the pertinent information regarding these types of events.
Spoken from the perspective of an outsider, (I am African American)the DCLC is one of the more organized Democratic organizations our city has to offer and has an extremely diverse membership of individuals from all walks of life who find much importance in the treatment of Hispanic and Latino Americans. The "regular" Latino Americans are definitely present and there is often opportunity to become involved.
Since the group is open to the public, and boasts a fairly healthy email list, once you and your friends sign up, you will receive plenty of emails and reminders. I'm joining now, hope to see you at the next meeting.