Culver for Ward 2

I enthusiastically support Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s education reform plans.

As a former Acting Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Education, our children in DC are a top priorty.  While at the Department of Education, I oversaw implementation and compliance of federal funding for state and local school entities and ensured states and DC put into place plans for accountability and performance.  From 1998-2003 I worked with a local non-profit to help low-income and disadvantaged families to access better education options and become informed consumers of their children’s education.  Parents need options when the public school they are assigned isn’t performing.  Charter schools have flourished in this city to give parents educational program options that best fit their needs.  This also has help traditional public schools to perform better.

If elected I would support the expansion of charter schools and work toward increasing the number of schools focusing on math and science education (not to ever exclude liberal arts subjects) so that more students will be prepared for a 21st century workforce.

Chancellor Rhee is doing great things to put in new leadership, hire top teachers and work toward a plan to pay them well.  I trust that she puts great thought and evaluation into her decisions and believe she needs the Council support to get the job done.  She and the Mayor will have my backing on the Council as the implement one of the toughest jobs in the country.

Government “undersight” by DC’s CFO Natwar Ghandi has led to the theft of $48 million of our property tax dollars and tens of thousands of stolen dollars from our schools.  DC contracting is fraught with corruption and under-the-table expectations for awarding business.  All of this is happening under Jack Evan’s watch as Chair of the Finance and Revenue Committee. 

I am a big believer in the power of technology to streamline and track expenditures and reduce costs, waste, fraud and abuse.  A solution that would pay for itself, and bring revenue back to taxpayers is to implement a transparent, e-transaction system that tracks all purchases and expenditures down to the person, pencil and penny.  These transactions are accessible online to the public for scrutiny and accountability.  Similar but more robust than Federal Funding Accountabilty and Transparency Act of 2006 (www.usaspending.gov) I would introduce legislation immediately that would enable the DC government to implement an expenditure accountability system.  Sixteen States do this statewide, so can we.

And a final note - I would also pass legislation that requires Council members to recuse their places of business from receiving government contracts.  Service on the Council should not be an opportunity to feather one’s own nest.

1. Reform the District Consumer and Regulatory Affairs office (DCRA) and create an online application and licensing process that eliminates, confusion, lost time, and red tape. 
2. Provide small business loans, startup training and services, and smoother access to federal small business assistance with a newly created Center for Small Business Advocacy.  This center would provide a combination of person to person and online services.
3. Reduce the cap on property tax increases to 5%.
4. Provide small scale Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for budding neighborhood business sections that surround developer super structures such as the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
5. Provide workable plans for customer street parking, security, and other services that make neighborhoods small business friendly.
6. Provide R&D tax credits for small science and technology research companies to locate in DC to create an Innovation Economy.
7. Provide tax credits and incentives for businesses that serve a Creative Economy - making DC a center for film and documentary production. 
8. Provide state of the art online marketing services to the region, country and worldwide, for the DC business sector.

GW Hatchet reporter, Nick Marell, attended last night’s Foggy Bottom ANC meeting at which both Christina Culver and her opponent spoke.  Click here to read the full coverage, but a few excerpts from Marell’s article illustrates the choice that Ward 2 voters have before them:

“Evans reported on the $130 million loss the city suffered in the recent financial crisis.”

If Evans had not been asleep at the switch during his 10 year-long role on the Council’s Finance and Revenue Committee, perhaps he could have thought about some of the government transparency solutions that would have prevented or detected earlier one of the most egregious tax embezzlement cases in American history.

But even beyond Jack’s total lack of leadership, despite his long-tenure, his disrespect for the actual residents of Ward 2 is clear:

“Silverman said in his campaign that Evans is detached from neighborhood concerns, and Evans said on Wednesday that he will begin to regularly attend their ANC meetings. [...] Near the end of the evening, Evans left for another engagement, but Culver remained until the it concluded.”

Jack would not even demonstrate commitment to his ‘eleventh-hour’ campaign promise to regularly attend the Foggy Bottom ANC meetings by staying until the meeting was over.

The choice is clear: Ward 2 deserves a voice on council, and Jack Evans either refuses to represent us or is just too busy with his outside interests to do so.

On November 4th, vote for Ward 2: vote for Christina Culver.

Christina Culver (Courtesy of Katie Falkenberg/Washington Times)

“When I’m elected, I will usher in a new era of accountability and will end this culture of corruption affecting the D.C. Council.”

Read the full article here.

Friends:

Many of you know by now that I am in full throttle campaign mode running for DC City Council for Ward 2.  For those of you who have already generously given to my campaign or volunteered thus far - a major and heartfelt thank you.  

Now that everyone is back in town from their summer hiatus, conventions, and recess, I am reaching out to ask for your help.  While the national political scene can dominate many of our lives, we cannot allow the leadership in our backyard to run amok or let the American dream be thrown aside for our friends and neighbors right here.  Are you tired of the corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse in DC and wonder why those in power do little about it and have no accountability?  Perhaps it is because local leadership goes unchallenged in their elections, year after year.

After schools fail, businesses goes elsewhere and families move to Maryland and Virginia suburbs, DC struggles to become a real home and community and remains a city run by a broken bureaucracy.  As a longtime DC resident, I’ve decided DC voters deserve an option in this election for a new generation of leadership that is constituent oriented and no-nonsense.  With your support, I will work to shepherd this city into becoming the great city it is destined to be.

If you believe, like I do, that it is time for DC residents to have a voice on the Council, there are many ways to help:

Get the word out by forwarding this post to those you know such as your neighborhood or block email list

Let me know about the civic, business and social events and gatherings that I can attend to get the word out that a new, passionate voice for your concerns will be on your ballot in November

Volunteer on weekends to join me canvassing Ward 2 neighborhoods

Give financially, while the legal maximum is $500 per corporate entity or individual, each donation is meaningful

Throw a fundraiser to help spread the message directly to your friends and neighbors, as well as funding more voter outreach efforts

I’m often asked,”Do I need to live in Ward 2 to support you?”  The answer is no!  I welcome the support of all who are tired of the status quo in DC - whether they are Democrats, Republicans, Green or Independents.  If elected to the City Council, I will not only represent Ward 2, but will work to improve all of DC.

All my best,

Christina Culver