[WardFive] Ward 5 Special Election: We Can Do Better

http://www.examiner.com/article/ward-5-special-election-we-can-do-better-1

On May 15th, 2012, over 60,000 registered voters in the Ward 5 section of Washington D.C. will be able to elect a new Council Member for the Ward. The May 15th Special Election was called by the D.C. Board of Elections after the resignation of Council Member Harry Thomas Jr., on January 6, 2012. Mr. Thomas left the D.C. Council last January, after he made arrangement to repay the city over $350,000 of public dollars the city claimed Mr. Thomas misused. Mr. Thomas's home was raided by the FBI shortly after he made the commitment to repay the money. He is now dealing with a legal battle that will likely land him in jail for a few years.

 

By the time the Special Election was officially called by the D.C. Board of Elections, a number of candidates had already started putting their names out in the Ward. When candidate's nominating petitions closed on February 15, 2012, around 20 candidates submitted the D.C. Board of Election's requirement to be on the May 15th ballot. For various reasons, some candidates have since dropped from the race, and 12 people remain in the race, including one Republican and one Independent.

 

One of the candidates that stands out is Mr. Delano Hunter. Mr. Hunter also ran for the Ward five Council seat in 2010, and came in second with 19 percent of the votes behind Mr. Thomas, who garnered over 61 percent of the votes in the Ward. In that election, Mr. Hunter received the endorsement of the Washington Post.

 

Being the runner-up for the title last time, it is only reasonable that he would be one of the front runners for the same position this time around. Indeed Mr. Hunter's yellow and green signs are not only posted on sidewalks and street light poles all over the Ward, but he has also managed to post gigantic life size signs at key intersections. He has a well-managed website and decent social media presence. He also has received some key endorsements in the Ward, and tested his ability to get voters out by getting themost votes at the Ward 5 Democrats Straw Poll on March 10 by at least twice the votes as the next candidate. Mr. Hunter is 28-years-old and obtained a bachelor degree in business from Delaware State University in 2006.

 

But recently Mr. Hunter has been making news in the Ward that is not very council-like. Since 2010, Mr. Hunter has been sued four times in D.C. Superior Court. Judgments against him were entered in every case. Three of the lawsuits were filed by landlords suing Mr. Hunter for failing to pay rent. The fourth lawsuit came from Mr. Hunter's credit card company seeking payment for $3,211 in overdue bills. On January 9th, 2012, the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) issued a fine to his Political Committee for failing to file a financial report or appearing for a hearing with the office. Mr. Hunter is also being questioned for excessive corporate donations, particularly from a strip club in the Ward.

 

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