As D.C. Councilmember Trayon White endures the legal and political consequences of a federal bribery charge, prayers and well wishes continue to pour in from those who recognize and respect the Ward 8 council member’s love for community.
Beyond that, many residents are seeking some assurance that, with the Ward 8 council member’s office in a quasi-operational state, their quality of life won’t worsen.
For Ward 8 resident Fred Hill, the final outcome lies with the everyday residents, not the officials and leaders he accuses of enabling White’s alleged behavior.
“We’re in the middle of an ocean with no captain. The ward hasn’t received its fair share of investments and support from the mayor and council,” said Hill, a former independent Ward 8 D.C. Council candidate.
Between 2018 and 2020, Hill, in collaboration with other Ward 8 residents, raised concerns about White’s absence on the dais during crucial council votes, including those about the budget.
As Hill recounted, those words fell on deaf ears. Years later, he continues to criticize city officials, including the D.C. Council, who he said should’ve conducted an emergency meeting in the aftermath of White’s arrest.
“The leaders stand for themselves and not the people,” Hill said. “When we tried to educate the ward [about Councilmember White] leading up to the 2020 election, the gatekeepers took it as an attack on them. Those are the ones who supported his re-election twice, so it shows you their judgment is no good.”
Questions Abound About Next Steps and Republican Intrusion
The legal and political proceedings that White’s federal bribery charge triggered has complicated a general election that was White’s to win.
That’s why, over the next few months, Ward 8 residents are exploring how to proceed with White’s office in a state of limbo.
At least one person, Markus Batchelor, has officially announced a write-in campaign for the Ward 8 council seat, though he hasn’t registered with D.C. Board of Elections (DCBOE). Those who’ve officially declared their write-in candidacy with DCBOE include former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Olivia Henderson and Khadijah A. Long, a mental health counselor with a practice on Marion Barry Avenue.
Such a scenario is causing contention among some Ward 8 residents.
On Aug. 27, some of the several dozen who participated in a community conversation hosted by Bro. Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz and The Black Men’s Movement cautioned their neighbors against supporting any write-in campaigns for the Ward 8 D.C. Council seat. Doing so, they said, would ensure an electoral victory for Nate Derenge, a Republican and the only other person on the general election ballot.
As of Aug. 28, neither White nor his office have given any indication that the council member will resign from office. However, if he does so, he would need to file an affidavit with the D.C. Board of Elections before its Sept. 12 deadline to remove his name from the ballot.
On Sept. 19, White is scheduled to appear before a federal judge once again. Earlier that week, on Sept. 16, an ad hoc committee led by D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I-At Large) will commence an investigation into White’s bribery charge and White’s residency.
If, by any chance the ad hoc committee, which is composed of all of White’s council colleagues, recommends expulsion by its Dec. 16 deadline, then the council will have 45 days to vote on the matter.
During that time, White, should he still be in office, will get an opportunity to make his case on the dais.
With the process to soon be underway, the D.C. Council’s citywide representatives are dedicating resources to filling in the constituent services gap.
For instance, Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large) is planning a back-to-school event scheduled during the holiday weekend. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At Large) continues to oversee the launch of the new east-of-the-Anacostia River hospital while Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) confers with the D.C. Public Charter School Board about the circumstances surrounding Eagle Academy Public Charter School’s sudden closure.
Councilmember Anita Bonds’s office is also keeping a pulse on the Ward 8 community, particularly as it relates to constituent services.
On the night of Aug. 27, she, along with At-Large Councilmember White, Henderson and Mendelson, spoke to nearly 80 Ward 8 community members who attended a virtual meeting coordinated by Sandra S. Seegars and Ron Williams Jr. She expressed solidarity with Ward 8 while explaining how her colleague’s legal trouble places the District directly in the cross hairs of congressional Republicans and the Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald J. Trump.
“It’s not just what happens here with us, but how we are perceived. We know we are already hoping to hold on to Home Rule,” Bonds said. “If things don’t go the way we want by Nov. 5 … the outcome could sting the good people of D.C. and Ward 8 for some time as we move forward.”
In the interim, Bonds pledged to help Ward 8 residents who have questions about their quality of constituent services, or even the oversight of agencies that are under White’s purview.
“We have a duty to the people of Ward 8 to make sure they’re not disenfranchised or overlooked,” Bonds said. “People are concerned about what happens [and] how they will have representation.”
Residents Demand Better of Their Leaders, and Their Neighbors
The Aug. 27 virtual meeting allowed some residents, like Robbie Woodland, to question not only the quality of the Ward 8 council office, but the residents’ ability to hold their elected officials accountable.
During the Democratic primary, Woodland, advisory neighborhood commissioner of Single-Member District 8C06, counted among those who demanded an investigation into how Advisory Neighborhood Commission Chair Salim Adofo, one of White’s challengers, spent ANC dollars. Their advocacy triggered action by the Office of the D.C. Auditor, which will soon make a determination about whether Adofo supported his election efforts with those funds.
In the days following White’s arrest, Woodland took to social media, evoking White and Adofo’s names in her demand that her neighbors raise their expectations of elected officials.
As one of the speakers at Seegars and Williams’ event, Woodland once again issued the call for better, more ethical leaders.
“Change is necessary and …wanted,” Woodland said on Aug. 28. “I appreciate the love and support lavished on our council member by our Ward 8 residents but they can love to their own detriment. Some of the residents suffer from Stockholm syndrome. [They are] being taken advantage of by activists and leaders.”
As the Bowser administration prepares to conduct an internal investigation into the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, two agencies named in White’s charging documents, some Ward 8 residents, like Greta Fuller, say they want further scrutiny of violence interruption programs.
On Aug. 27, Fuller, a longtime Anacostia resident and former advisory neighborhood commissioner, weighed in on the current state of affairs during the virtual community meeting. As she spoke about the gun violence that damaged her car, Fuller noted that White’s federal bribery charge has compelled her to question much of what happens within the D.C. government.
“How do we know that these organizations that are mixed up in this are really preventing the violence?” Fuller said, as she mulled over the likely effects of White’s alleged actions.
“Who’s talking to the families of the dead and wounded individuals and children because [the violence interrupters] may not be doing their job?” Fuller said. “It’s with a heavy heart that this particular thing was taken [that] could’ve prevented a life from being taken.”
For Washington Highlands resident Don Edwards, it was a matter of time before White’s alleged actions came to light. Edwards, a former White campaign supporter, said rumors have long circulated in her community about what she called the council member’s unscrupulous dealings.
Edwards, a native of West Virginia and host of the online program “Ms. Don’s Justice,” told The Informer that the District, after 50 years of Home Rule, hasn’t reached the level of political maturity that would allow it to weather a storm the likes of what Ward 8 is experiencing.
With so much in the balance for Ward 8, a jurisdiction with a high concentration of quality-of-life issues, Edwards said the best course of action would be to agree upon, and stand behind, alternate representation.
“Sometimes, it’s not about guilt or innocence but what is this [situation] doing for me,” said Edwards, 73. “What’s so hurtful is that people don’t think they deserve better. There’s a poverty of spirit. If we weren’t getting good services then, how do we get it now?”