EDITORIAL: New Leadership for D.C. Government and What That Means for Business

With the departure of longtime Bowser aide John Falcicchio, the business community has been left searching for contacts. The next generation of leadership appears to be Chief of Staff Lindsey Parker and interim Deputy Mayor Keith Anderson. Though both have extensive public service records, can they work amongst the agencies to effect the policy objectives laid out by the Executive like Falcicchio?

Parker, another longtime Bowser confidant, has risen through the ranks, most recently serving as Assistant City Administrator and Chief Technology Officer. Anderson has also served the District in a variety of roles, most recently as the Director of the Department of General Services agency.

As Falcicchio had served the Mayor since her first term, his fingerprints were demonstrably left on D.C,’s Comeback Plan. The Comeback Plan, released in January, illustrates a vision for the next five years of economic development in the city. With the American Rescue Plan Act monies drying up, residents have been vocal in questioning the direction of the city. Moreover, the question remains, “Who do we talk to?” one business leader anonymously remarked.

Prior to Falcicchio’s departure, he had served contemporaneously as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, the Deputy Mayor of Planning and Economic Development, and, at one point, as the Mayor’s appointee for the District of Columbia Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners. This concentration of power, in unelected politicos, resembles the Tammany Hall infrastructure of New York City.

Parker’s curriculum vitae supports the greatest proximity to the Mayor. She’s spent two decades in public service, worked as the Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, and has held contemporaneous roles in the Administration. Therefore, she has great access to the Executive, and can work across agencies on behalf of industry.

However, the Mayor’s habitual decision to have key personnel hold two or more contemporaneous roles breeds potential conflict. Nineteenth-century British historian Lord Acton once famously uttered, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Whether this still proves true in the 21ST century remains to be seen.