Adrian Malik Fenty (born
December 6, 1970) is the sixth and current mayor of the District of
Columbia
, having begun his term of office on January 2,
2007.
Fenty is the youngest person ever to hold the office of District of
Columbia Mayor, winning election at age 35 and entering office at
36.
Early life and education
Fenty was raised in the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of
Mount Pleasant. He
graduated from
Woodrow Wilson
Senior High School. As a teen he worked at Swensen's Ice Cream
next to the Uptown Theatre.
Fenty's father, Philip, is of
Afro-Panamanian background; his mother, Jan,
is
Italian–American. His older
brother, Shawn, is a bicycle expert; Jess is his younger brother.
Fenty's
parents are runners and own Fleet Feet, an athletic shoe store in
the D.C. neighborhood of Adams Morgan
.
Fenty was
educated at Oberlin
College
, earning a B.A. in English and Economics, and
earned a J.D. from the Howard University
School of Law. He is a member of
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
Personal life
In 1997 Fenty and
lawyer Michelle Cross
eloped. Cross is a global technology attorney for the Seattle-based
law firm,
Perkins Coie LLP. They
have twin sons, Matthew and Andrew. The couple's third child, Aerin
Alexandra Fenty, was born November 24, 2008.
Political career
Fenty was an intern for Senator
Howard
Metzenbaum (D-OH), Delegate
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and
Representative
Joseph P.
Kennedy II (D-MA) before
becoming involved in local politics. In addition to serving as an
aide to Councilmember
Kevin P.
Chavous, he was elected as an
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in
ANC 4C and was president of
the 16th Street Neighborhood
Civic
Association.
In 2000, Fenty ran against longtime Ward 4 Councilmember
Charlene Drew Jarvis. Jarvis was
well-known and a heavy favorite, but Fenty campaigned relentlessly
and — in what was to become his trademark — pursued an
aggressive door-to-door strategy that put up countless green yard
signs. It worked; Fenty was elected by a 57–43 percent margin.
Unopposed in both the primary and general elections in 2004, Fenty
was reelected for a second term.
As a Council member, Fenty was noted for his commitment to
constituent services; his vocal opposition to public funding for a
new baseball stadium; and his proposal to fund a $1 billion capital
improvement program for public schools, which, in different form,
the Council subsequently passed.
He is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal
Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired
by New York
City
mayor Michael
Bloomberg and Boston
mayor
Thomas Menino.
Adrian Fenty
One of the commonly noted symbols of his attention to constituent
concerns is his frequent use of his three
BlackBerry devices. One BlackBerry directly
connects him to Police Chief
Cathy
Lanier while the latter two are for business and personal
matters. These, along with the black
fedora he often wears, are his trademark
accoutrements.
2006 mayoral campaign
Adrian Fenty formally announced his campaign for DC Mayor on June
1, 2005. In the fall of 2005, then-mayor
Anthony A. Williams made the widely anticipated
announcement that he would not seek re-election, and then-Council
Chair
Linda Cropp announced she would
be a candidate for Mayor. Other candidates in the field included
businesswoman Marie Johns, then-Councilmember Vincent Orange, and
lobbyist Michael Brown (who dropped out of the race in September
2006), though most political observers saw the race as a two-person
contest between Fenty and Cropp.
Fenty ran on a platform of bringing a more energetic and hands-on
approach to city government. Cropp trumpeted her 25 years of
experience in city government and her desire to continue the
progress made by Anthony Williams, who endorsed her candidacy. The
race was widely viewed as neck-and-neck through the spring of 2006.
Both candidates raised significant and nearly equal amounts of
money – roughly $1.75 million through June 10, 2006 – and
neither gained any significant advantages from the numerous
candidate debates and forums.
By July 2006, however, public and private polling gave Fenty a
roughly 10-point advantage. Political observers have debated
whether it was Fenty's unprecedented door-to-door campaign (he and
his campaign visited virtually every block in the city), Cropp's
lack of engagement in the campaign, or the electorate's desire for
a new direction after eight years of Anthony Williams. Regardless,
Cropp went on the attack during the last month of the campaign. In
direct mail and television advertisements, Cropp painted Fenty as
unfit for the job and a careless lawyer who had been admonished by
the D.C. Bar; in 2005, he received an informal admonition from the
Bar for his role in a probate case in 1999. The attacks appear to
have backfired. The reaction, coupled with the endorsement of the
Washington Post, extended Fenty's lead in the campaign's
final weeks.
On September 12, 2006, Fenty won all 142 city precincts in the
Democratic Primary—a feat unparalleled in the city's political
history—and defeated Linda Cropp by a 57–31 percent margin.
Fenty received 89% of the vote in the general election and became
the capital's sixth elected
mayor since the
establishment of
home
rule.
Mayor (2007–present)
High quality public education, government efficiency and
accountability are among the key hallmarks of his first mayoral
term. Fenty has been widely known for his commitment to constituent
services throughout his political career. As mayor, that commitment
to all District of Columbia residents has continued.
A rising political figure, Mayor Fenty has become known nationally
for his leadership in urban education reform. The public school
system in the District of Columbia had been troubled for years with
student test performance scores and graduation rates among the
lowest in the nation. During his first months in office, he shocked
the city and the nation by bringing the public school system under
his administration’s control. His selection of education reformer
Michelle Rhee to manage District
schools surprised the education establishment, and underscored his
determination to set D.C.'s long-troubled system on a new
path.
The bold move and the addition of a school chancellor as a direct
report have been credited with putting the school system on the
path to long-awaited improvements inside and outside the classroom.
Elementary and secondary schools showed significant reading and
math gains during 2008. The Fenty administration has also embarked
on a five-year, maintenance and construction plan to improve school
buildings by 2014.
Making life better for all District of Columbia residents is a
priority for Mayor Fenty. He added more police officers to patrol
the streets and expanded community policing; added thousands of
affordable housing units; created the Housing First program which
provides permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals and
families; and improved the delivery of emergency medical services.
He has worked even harder to improve the lives of the city’s
children. He has reformed Child Protective Services (CPS) by
establishing an experienced, quality leadership team and reducing
the backlog of investigations through improvements in social worker
retention and recruitment.
In March 2007, Fenty suffered a significant defeat by pro-gun
groups in the D.C. case for gun control. The case was reviewed by
the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2008, and the D.C. gun ban was
struck down as a violation of the Second Amendment.
Controversy
Mayor Fenty and his administration came under increasing scrutiny
in 2009 in local media, including the Washington Post, the
Washington City Paper, and local news radio station WTOP. Of note
are two "secret trips" taken by Fenty in early 2009.
According to WTOP, one
of those trips was to Philadelphia
and another was to an undisclosed location in the
Middle East. The same article also cites city officials who
say that Fenty did not disclose to anyone where he was going.
Fenty has been embroiled in a number of additional controversies
reported on by the
Washington Post,
including withholding skybox tickets to the
Washington Nationals and allowing
personal acquaintances to drive city-owned vehicles.
2010 Re-election campaign
Adrian Fenty's 2010 mayoral campaign is on pace to break every fund
raising record in DC. On July 31, 2009 the campaign already passed
the 2006 primary fund raising of 2.4 million, which was 13 1/2
months before the 2010 primary.
Mayor Fenty, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama
On July
17, 2007, Fenty publicly endorsed Senator
Barack Obama of Illinois
for President in the 2008 election.Since then
Mayor Fenty and President Obama have been sighted around
Washington, D.C., including one famous visit to Ben's Chili Bowl
located in the U Street Corridor. Also, Mayor Fenty was present to
support First lady Michelle Obama's opening of the new White House
farmers market in September, the fifth FRESHFARM-operated market
inside the District..
Election history
2000 Council
of the District of Columbia,
Ward 4, Democratic Primary Election
2000 Council
of the District of Columbia,
Ward 4, General
Election
2004 Council
of the District of Columbia,
Ward 4, Democratic Primary Election
2004 Council
of the District of Columbia,
Ward 4, General
Election
2006 Mayor of
the District of Columbia, Democratic Primary Election
2006 Mayor of
the District of Columbia, General
Election
References
- Libby, Lewis. " The Nation's Capital Gets a New Mayor".
National Public Radio. November 13,
2006. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
- http://www.washingtonian.com/print/articles/6/173/9958.htmlNov
2k8 Washingtonian article
- Fisher, Marc. " Fenty Emerges as an Action Hero". The
Washington Post. August 23, 2006. page B01. Retrieved on May
4, 2007.
- " Fleet
Feet D.C.". About Us. Staff. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
- " About Adrian". Fenty 2006 campaign website. Retrieved
on May 4, 2007.
- David Nakamura and V. Dion Haynes. " Kwame Jackson Promotes Fenty". The
Washington Post. October 19, 2006. page DZ02. Retrieved on May
4, 2007.
- Roberts, Roxanne; Argetsinger, Amy. "Mayor Fenty's Family Welcomes Baby Girl".
Washington Post. November 24, 2008.
-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903894_2.html
At 6 feet & 180 pounds, Fenty appears the picture of fit, but
he hasn't always been that way. In 2000 -- the year his twin sons
were born, he wrapped up a long campaign for a D.C. Council
seat..., and he and his wife renovated their kitchen -- Fenty did
not run a single day. time. He also reached about 215 pounds, Shawn
said.
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