‘Flip Flops’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’
The public petition challenge portion of the At-Large council campaign came to completion this week, with Patrick Mara and Bryan Weaver remaining on the ballot, and Jacque Patterson being denied ballot access due to lack of signatures. While DCBOEE did forward on the 8 pages of signatures from the Mara campaign that appear to have been forged, even without those counting, Mara still had over 3,000 signatures.
This morning, Patterson endorsed Vincent Orange’s money-laden campaign, citing Orange’s “unique skill set” in working in past councils. The endorsement is another boon for Orange, whose campaign has kicked into high gear after receiving $191,000 in campaign contributions, many from outside of the District. While it’s clear that Patterson harbors a grudge against Biddle for getting him booted from the ballot, it’s an interesting choice that Patterson made to grab money-strong Orange.
It had seemed from the previous evening’s tweets that Patterson might come down in the Weaver camp, given his support for the dark horse in last night’s candidate forum, but it appears that Patterson believes Orange to be the stronger contender, especially with a large war chest.
Biddle still may be the favorite due to his incumbent status, and his connections and council support, but there’s no writing off Orange at this point.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
I thought highly of Biddle before the recent challenges, and was glad to see him beat Orange in January, but now I’m not so sure. Biddle was just playing political hardball — no shame or illegality in that — but it soured me on him. I’d prefer Lopez, Mara, or Weaver definitely, and maybe even V.O.