D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams said yesterday he is considering running for a third term, even as political activists gear up for a recall effort against him to begin next week.
“I go to bed at night believing I have done an outstanding job for this city; but with every fiber in my being, I will use every means in my disposal — legal and ethical — to crush the recall. And you can count on that. If you want to get me out of here, you’re going to have to come through me,” Mr. Williams said at his weekly press briefing yesterday.
Barbara Lett-Simmons, a national committeewoman for the D.C. Democratic State Committee and the principal sponsor of the recall effort, said Mr. Williams’ failings in health care, education, public safety and housing are some of the reasons she has decided to press forward with a recall.
“These are just absolutely critical issues,” she said. “This guy has insulted this city long enough.”
Mrs. Lett-Simmons said she has more than 600 volunteers lined up to circulate recall petitions.
She plans to file her paperwork Tuesday at the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics after a 9 a.m. rally at One Judiciary Square. She said she expects to have the petitions ready for circulation by Feb. 1.
D.C. law prohibits a recall effort during the first or last year of an official’s term, meaning the soonest she could have filed after the mayor won re-election in 2002 was Jan. 2. Mrs. Lett-Simmons said she was waiting until next week out of deference to the city’s self-proclaimed first-in-the-nation primary.
Supporters will have 180 days to collect signatures from 10 percent of the city’s registered voters — roughly 35,000 signatures.
Mrs. Lett-Simmons said she is aiming to collect 51,000 signatures to symbolize what she believes should be the District’s rightful status as the 51st state.
If enough signatures are gathered, voters would vote for or against the recall at the polls during the presidential election in November. If the effort succeeds, it would be followed by a special election for mayor, in which Mr. Williams would be allowed to participate.
Previous efforts to recall Mr. Williams — one in 2000 and two in 2001 — have failed because not enough signatures were gathered.
Mr. Williams said he “would not want to say” whether this effort has a chance of succeeding.
He did say he believes that history would recognize his achievements on behalf of the city, and that he is considering taking his record of achievement to voters again in 2006.
“I am now exploring the possibility actively of going out there and making that case,” he said. “I believe that if I were to make that case on the basis of the continued improvement of this city, I will be successful.”
Mr. Williams said he would like to shepherd through reforms in public safety, human services, education, and congressional voting rights.
“Suffice to say, I think there’s unfinished business,” he said.
The possibility is a reversal of past public statements, in which Mr. Williams has shown little interest in a third term. Many political observers believed the mayor was lining himself up for an appointment in the federal government and have noted that support for his administration seems to be eroding.
Community activist Dorothy Brizill, who runs the watchdog Web site www.dcwatch.com, said she believes the mayor has no plans to run again. She pointed out that Mr. Williams is still in debt from his 2002 campaign, legal fees and the pending recall battle, and said talk of a third term may be a tactic to allow him to raise money through unregulated “exploratory committees.”
Under city regulations, the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance does not have jurisdiction over how money raised for an exploratory committee is spent if an individual later decides not to run for office.
“There’s nothing to my knowledge that would monitor that money,” said Michael Simpson, a spokesman for the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance.
Exploratory committees are not bound by campaign-contribution limits, nor are they required to register or file reports. It is only when an individual declares a candidacy that contributions to exploratory committees must be reported.
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