The political arm of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday endorsed all but two incumbents for reelection.
Embattled Councilman Michael Brown, I-at large, did not win the chamber’s support, though the chamber also declined to support his challengers — David Grosso, Mary Brooks Beatty, Leon Swain, Ann Wilcox or A.J. Cooper. Councilman Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, also was not endorsed.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who assumed the chairman’s seat after former Chairman Kwame Brown resigned amid criminal charges, won the chamber’s support for his chairman’s campaign.
“The current state of the D.C. Council demands an effective and approachable leader,” David Julyan, chairman of the chamber PAC and chairman of Julyan & Julyan, said in a statement. “For decades, Phil Mendelson has served the District with zeal and he will undoubtedly lead the Council out of its current disarray and into a new chapter of revived respect and trust.”
No surprises here, but the chamber also endorsed council members Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, Muriel Bowser, D-Ward 4, Yvette Alexander, D-Ward 7, and Vincent Orange, D-At large.
Michael Brown has faced a series of troubling reports, about his campaign finances, his personal finances and even his driving record. If those had nothing to do with the chamber’s decision, then it might have been his strong support for the District’s revised first source law, which has been described by some business leaders as “forced discrimination” against non-D.C. residents.
The PAC "considered all races and as they have done in the past, endorsed in some, but not all races," Julyan said. "Not endorsing all incumbents has been done in the past. It's not new."
In a brief interview, Brown suggested his support for First Source was behind the lack of chamber of support. On Twitter, Brown took a shot at the chamber: "With my record of support 4 working class families," he wrote, "it comes as no surprise that I didn't get it."
Chamber CEO Barbara Lang told the Washington Business Journal in June that the chamber would take a “wait and see” approach with Brown as economic development chair. A non-endorsement is a rather clear sign that the chamber waited and didn’t like what it saw.