Ward 2 Debate Roundup (Silverman/Evans)

Posted by pqresident

August 11, 2008

It wasn’t quite Fight Night at the Tank but there were a few fireworks last Thursday night, August 7, at a Philips Collection auditorium where the candidates for Ward 2 Councilmember debated for a solid hour and a half. A well numbered crowd showed up filling seats to hear Davis Kennedy, publisher and editor of The Current newspapers, moderate the debate between Jack Evans, Georgetown resident and incumbent Ward 2 DC Councilmember, and Cary Silverman, Mount Vernon Square resident and challenger.

How did it go? PQ Living was there and this is a longer read so check after the break if you’re interested…

Kennedy moderated the event and his somewhat abrupt but well meaning style provided some comic relief during the evening. No introductions for either of the candidates were forthcoming at the beginning of the event and Kennedy launching right in with a forceful “Mr. Evans” for the opening remarks. At one point, Kennedy thought the debate was finished and started ending the affair when a few from the crowd shouted out that thirty minutes remained. So, the show went on. The crowd itself had supporters from both camps with clapping going back and forth depending on who spoke on what issue. A number of Evans supporters in the crowd sat together wearing red “I Back Jack” T-shirts dishing out applause after Evans spoke, as if on cue. Silverman’s supporters wore green stickers or buttons making their support known.

Evans was his usual composed, polished and well spoken self arguing points in a practiced style while throwing in a few humorous jabs and providing corrections to his challenger when he felt so prompted. Silverman matched his challenger both on offense and defense and was clearly well versed, well prepared and put together on the issues. The candidates were each allowed one opportunity to answer the posed question and having rebuttals might have added a little more “mano a mano” and drama to the event, but it was not to be. It also might have been more lively if the candidates sat next to or within easy sight of each other but they were split at either end of the table by the podiumed Kennedy.

The candidates answered twenty-seven questions in all with opening and closing statements as bookends. The issues? They covered all the local issues we know and love…taxes, revenue, public governance and transparency, taxis, historic preservation, school vouchers and funding, libraries, parking, earmarks, women’s issues, the baseball stadium, the homeless, gun control, and noise. The topics eliciting real reactions from the crowd follow:

1. Jack Evans holding a paying position at a law firm while simultaneously being a Councilmember – This topic elicited hisses and shout out comments from the Evans crowd when Silverman cited his views about potential conflicts of interest with Evans having both a paying legal and Council role. Evans explained he was a full time dad (a bit of an emotional ploy) and a full time Councilmember. He explained that his legal role does not require billable hours and is thus less demanding than what is normally expected from a firm lawyer.

2. Silverman’s rattling off of a series of seemingly unrelated numbers (611, 850, 50, 50 and 11) – This was in response to a question about how to respond to potentially declining tax revenue. Evans responded first talking about DC’s good financial condition, a surplus, and that slowing spending would be the way to mitigate declining revenue. Silverman went on offense citing the above numbers and tying them to the number of millions spent (or committed) by the DC government on specific projects ($611M was for the baseball stadium, $850M was for the new convention center and so on) that have produced questionable returns or to-be-determined returns to the city. This elicited loud extended applause from the crowd’s Silverman supporters despite Silverman’s taking some license during his statement (see the CityPaper story linked below).

3. The recently passed Noise Control Amendement Act (aka the “noise bill”) – Silverman stated that if you can’t enjoy your home due to noise regardless of source, then it’s a problem. He said he would have voted for the original bill which did not include any noise exceptions. This touched Evans’ nerve some but not as much this time as at a recent July PQNA breakfast. Evans carefully outlined the noise bill carve out allowing louder non-commercial public speech in commercial zones as a desire to protect the ability for anyone (mostly unions in DC’s case) to protest with bullhorns in commercial districts. (Note that at the recent July PQNA breakfast, Evans indicated that he’d want to rezone the residential areas downtown to have residential and not commercial designations as a way to cure the matter for where us downtowners live.)

If you’re familiar with the candidates, there were no real surprises at the debate. Evans focused on his 17 years of experience on the Council, the development projects he brought to the city/Ward 2 and the quality of his staff that works on local issues. Silverman focused on bringing change and new energy to the Council, his only job being that of a Councilmember and having neighborhood issues be of primary concern. They’re two different candidates and it will be a real voter’s choice come election time.

So you can get a rounded view, a few other city websites covered this debate as follows:

Silverman -v- Evans – Ward 2 Debate…round 1 [Off Seventh]

Phrowdown at the Phillips! [CityPaper City Desk]

Election Update! Debate Showdowns! [Life In Mount Vernon Square]

And don’t forget to vote!