Saying that “Nero fiddled while Rome burned” isn’t exactly a fair comparison to Mayor Bowser’s move to take a delegation to China while back home, serious decisions were pending with unresolved challenges threatening the safety of our residents.
But one has to wonder if it was prudent to take a junket to promote the District as a tourist destination at this time with so much on the table.
With the mayor’s political action committee [PAC] shut down and hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions refunded, the fundraising project, intended to support her agenda and pet projects, has now become more of a liability than an asset.
Even more troubling are the responses from several major donors to her “FreshPac” who, when queried by members of the press, said they could not “recall” who approached them for their donation of $10,000 that went to the PAC. With several donors pleading the fifth, or suffering from momentarily memory lapses, some are wondering if there was any coordination between the mayor or members of her staff and the PAC. That question becomes relevant given the fact that some members of the recent delegation to the East had either made donations or had ties to the mayor’s PAC.
Then, after Bowser made an about-face to throw her support behind the still unresolved Exelon-Pepco merger, after earlier appearing to be strongly against the move, one has to wonder if her reversal is really in the best interest of the District.
Finally, as crime continues to escalate across the District and with no clear plan of attack being shared with the public, either from the office of the mayor of from the chief of police, we wonder what’s going on down at City Hall.
Bowser took to the streets during her first months in office, making solid appointments, making good on several of her campaign promises and making herself available for plenty of positive photo opps.
But now, with the honeymoon over, she will need to show her true mettle and get the ship in order.