Mr. Mendelson goes to the Hill
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Phil Mendelson is confronting Congress. Photo: Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Over a year ago, when Republicans were still raring to retake the House, they began plotting their investigations. Among their targets were Hunter Biden, COVID-19 origins … and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Not on their minds then: Phil Mendelson, the mild-mannered, mustachioed 70-year-old chair of the progressively minded D.C. Council.
Why it matters: The House GOP is going deeper into D.C. affairs than in decades, turning the nation’s capital into their punching bag for all things gone wrong in urban America. Mendelson is the man in the middle.
Driving the news: Mendelson on Wednesday will stare up at James Comer of Kentucky and his colleagues on the House Oversight Committee. For roughly four hours, they plan to scrutinize the District over crime, pandemic-era school shutdowns, and city finances.
- Comer has dubbed the hearing the “Overdue Oversight of the Capital City: Part I,” hinting at further inquisitions. A GOP push to overturn police reforms in D.C. is likely to advance in committee shortly after.
- Not invited: Mayor Bowser, who has been in rare agreement with Republicans over policing and crime.
Catch up quick: Republicans portrayed the D.C. Council as soft on crime when earlier this month they blocked its reform of the criminal code.
- Mendelson tried to forestall the embarrassment of Democrats and President Biden joining to overturn a D.C. law with a Hail Mary attempt to withdraw the reform bill. But Congress ignored that maneuver. (For his part, Mendelson still believes the bill was removed, and he called Biden’s signature “moot.”)
Meet Mendo: The withdrawal blunder was an uncharacteristic misstep for the process-obsessed Mendelson. Behind the scenes, he's described as deliberative and shrewd.
- But unusual for a person who holds the second-most powerful position in local politics, he lacks a kitchen cabinet of political advisers — at a time when wise counsel is sorely needed to battle the Hill. “I recognize the fatal flaw in not seeking advice,” he told me in an interview.
- Over several years, one of Mendelson’s advisers in times of war and peace was his ex, Ana Harvey, head of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a former D.C. official. But Mendelson says Harvey “broke up with me in November.” (Harvey confirmed the breakup.)
What they’re saying: “The last month has certainly been his worst in office,” says Gregory McCarthy, an ex-adviser to former Mayor Anthony Williams, a technocrat who steered D.C. out of its last great clash with Capitol Hill in the 1990s.
- “It’s up to Phil to quell all the angst and trepidation about where the city is going,” McCarthy added.
Zoom in: Mendelson has immense sway over how the city spends money.
- As a transactional leader, his politics over eleven years as council chair has waffled between fiscal restraint and liberal desires, like wanting to make D.C. the first major U.S. city to have free buses — a battle being waged against the mayor.
Mendelson and the originator of the free transit idea, council member Charles Allen, want to find over $40 million annually to eliminate Metrobus fares in D.C. Bowser has panned the idea, and the city’s chief financial officer, Glen Lee, said the city’s declining economy meant funding for it had dried up — a judgment that Mendelson and Allen are fighting.
When it comes to development, Mendelson errs on the side of moderation. He insists on no new football stadium at RFK, a position endorsed by neighbors who would despise the traffic. The stalled revitalization of the 190-acre site has agonized the mayor and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
- Mendelson wants Congress to bar a future sports stadium from being built on the federally owned land before it is transferred to the District.
- The irony: Mendelson wants Congress to intervene.
Between the lines: A top criticism of Mendelson I’ve heard is that he lacks a sweeping vision. That’s partly confirmed by his answer for how to revive downtown: “I think we need to pursue a short-term strategy, not a long-term strategy,” he told me.
- He wants to improve “the perception of public safety downtown” and create more activities, “whether it’s theaters at night or it’s BBQ festivals during the day.”
- Bowser, by contrast, wants more construction to welcome 15,000 new residents by 2028.
In a peculiarity for the leader of any elected body, Mendelson has lorded over public schools oversight, dismantling a standalone education committee in 2021 to take it under his purview. (My review of 50 state legislatures found that separate committees focused on education exist in all of them.)
- Advocates say his office is like a de facto school board, fielding complaints from parents and activists who are angry about campus budget cuts or, say, unsolved HVAC repairs (there are plenty to go around).
The intrigue: Politically, Mendelson is at war with one-time ally council member and former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray. Mendelson stripped much of Gray’s powers as Health Committee chair after Gray suffered a stroke. Mendelson said he acted after fellow council members expressed concern about Gray’s ability to work. Gray alleged discrimination, filing a human rights complaint.
The bottom line: Mendelson has one of the trickiest budgets since the Great Recession to deal with over the next month, as city revenues decline and the mayor proposes cuts to council priorities.
💬 Town Talker is a weekly column on local politics and power. Drop me a line about the talk of the town: [email protected]