I was surprised to read in the Feb. 22 Metro article “Recall bid hits 2nd D.C. official” that D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1) is citing her record on homelessness as a reason to oppose the recall campaign against her. Hers is not a record any politician should be proud of: A walk through our once-shining city reveals far too many neighbors living in squalor.
Washington, D.C
Opinion | D.C. Council members are facing recall for a reason
Consider Washington Circle NW, where tents have been pitched on sidewalks since at least last summer. The specter is even sadder a few blocks west, walking into Georgetown, where an empty lot has been transformed in to a trash-strewn encampment. This is no way for people to live and die.
The sense of decline is palpable to those of us who remember D.C. before Ms. Nadeau and her ideological allies took over the D.C. Council. How can a nine-year incumbent be proud of such a record? Ms. Nadeau is either ineffective or her policies are to blame. Neither recommends her continuing in office.
Despite supporting “Secure D.C.,” D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1) said, puzzlingly, that public safety is her “top priority.” In her most recent campaign, when presented with evidence to the contrary, Ms. Nadeau replied, “I definitely get offended when I hear someone say there’s a declining quality of life in Ward 1 because I just don’t believe that.” In June, on WAMU’s “The Politics Hour,” I asked Ms. Nadeau about the increase in criminal behavior. Her response to the increased numbers of murders and carjackings: “Does that mean I think it’s a crisis? Maybe.” Host Tom Sherwood replied: “Wait, wait, wait. Crime crisis is a maybe?”
Ms. Nadeau has supported legislation that ceded control of the roads to dangerous individuals driving unregistered vehicles, our personal property to thieves and carjackers, and our safety to those who would commit homicide. The rewrite of the Revised Criminal Code abolished existing guidelines and obliterated minimum sentences and would have allowed judges to reconsider the sentences of those currently incarcerated.
Despite possessing an abundance of resources, Ms. Nadeau and her colleagues have turned the nation’s capital into one of the few cities in America that has experienced a post-coronavirus pandemic high with criminal-friendly legislation and 10th chances. It’s time for Ms. Nadeau and others on the council to stop playing social theorist and actually enforce the existing laws.