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COVER STORYOct. 20, 2006

Spinning the Globe

It’s easy to explain the mayor’s travels—just stay on message.

By Jonathan York

In early May, Mayor Anthony A. Williams issued a rationale for his nine-day trip to Africa. “This trip is an important statement about our respect for Africa and our belief that we should maintain a global perspective when it comes to trade and our economy,” Williams said in a statement quoted by the Washington Post. “I believe that tourism is a cornerstone of our city’s economy, but I also believe that many emerging African nations offer excellent opportunities for American businesses.”

So where do voting rights come in?

In no particular order, Williams uses the following imperatives to justify his travels: promoting tourism, enhancing ethnic and cultural “ties,” bringing investment to the District, and, occasionally, reminding the world that D.C.’s citizens are disenfranchised.

Sometimes the mayor sounds as if he’s trying to knit the world together. When he exulted over a sister-city agreement with Seoul, South Korea, in June, he noted, “This is an important statement of our willingness to work closely with our partners in Seoul and—just as important—it’s a strong statement about the importance of our city’s Korean-American community.” (According to the 2000 Census, Asians make up 3.1 percent of the District’s population. The survey doesn’t say how many of those claim Korean heritage.)

Through repetition, Williams’ flacks also deliver the bland justifications. When spokesperson Vince Morris told the Post about the mayor’s trip this month to South Africa, he said Williams went for these reasons: “One, to promote economic and trade opportunities between Washington and South Africa; two, to foster social, cultural and ethnic ties between the District and the African continent; and three, to help with the ongoing efforts to encourage people to visit the District.”

This catchall defense means that hizzoner always has a good reason to leave town, even when he shouldn’t. For example, the mayor was criticized in fall 2004 for missing two big moments in the restoration of baseball to the District: He attended a car show in Paris while the city government learned that the Montreal Expos had found their new home, and he took an 11-day trip to Asia when he could have lobbied with the D.C. Council to sort out a stadium deal.

“We’ve been briefing the council personally [about baseball] for any number of weeks and months,” Williams told the Post after the Paris trip, calling the Paris International Motor Show “an opportunity to bring huge investment to the city. We think it was a good use of time.”

On rare occasions, the usual reasons don’t fit, so the mayor resorts to more blatant fluff. In May 2004, he was in Rome at a conference about helping children in war zones while the city was trying to recruit Rudolph Crew, former New York City schools chancellor. Crew wanted at least a phone call from the absent mayor; Williams said later the call did not go through. Tony Bullock, Williams’ then spokesperson, gave the mayor’s reasons for helping the children of other countries rather than those of the D.C. Public Schools. “It’s important to the mayor,” Bullock told the Post. “It’s an event that’s growing in stature.”

And when Williams sees that no excuse will suffice, he offers none. He fumbled in July before a pack of reporters who seemed pissed that he’d been away while 12 murders occurred. He got back just in time to learn of two more killings and to see Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles Ramsey declare a “crime emergency.”

One reporter asked: “If in fact you’re not apologetic or embarrassed by all your travels, why in recent months when you travel, you don’t indicate in advance, and indeed…the press is left to find out after the fact that you’re out of town, you’ll be out of town for an extended period of time?”

Williams answered: “As toward the general play up and rollout and discussion of trips, there are many, many—it’s a general rule—many of these trips I talk about endlessly when you all are asleep. I talk about all my activities as president of the [National League of Cities], I talk about, for example, our mission to Africa, our mission to China. But in some trips I don’t. So what can I say? Some trips I don’t.”

The reporter pressed him: “But why was it such a secret? Why—”

“It is not a secret,” the mayor said. “It is public information. But as to when I make it public information, I make it.”

There is one place where the mayor can speak his heart about his travels: his blog, blog.mayor.dc.gov. Here, he can reflect with no one hassling him for an answer. Here, he can show that the reasons for his trips are more personally fulfilling than he pretends. In an August 2005 post about the Florida League of Cities conference, he relates an exchange with another participant.

“I’m Tony Williams, from Washington, D.C.” the mayor said.

“Oh. And you’re with?”

This encounter led him to ask difficult questions about the nature of being mayor: “I politely informed the attendee that I was in fact the mayor, and that I had been in office about 6 1/2 years. But come to think of it, what do I expect? Does it take a couple of decades in office to make an impact?.…Illusions of grandeur are often dashed this way.” CP