Mayoral Travel
Tom Sherwood, tom.sherwood@nbcuni.com

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to share a reasonably modest
observation. On NBC4 and in The Northwest Current, the mayor's
frequent travel is a two-year-old story. I think the Lori
Montgomery-Yolanda Woodlee story in The Washington Post was very good
(except for just quoting one person -- frequently quoted Adrian
Fenty). Still, well over a year ago, in columns and conversation, I
told the mayor and his staff who complained about my stories that they
could dismiss one reporter's frequent chronicling of the mayor's
travel. But I said he and they would never get out from under the
criticism once the Post began writing about it. And now, that has come
to pass. Even the City Paper's Loose Lips gently has made fun of my
reporting on this subject.

This is the bottom line. The mayor and his staff may find a credible
and compelling reason for every one of his trips. It's not the
individual trips themselves, but the totality of them. That's
something the mayor's administration has yet to grasp. It will only
get worse as some important trip after another comes up because the
mayor in December becomes the president of the National League of
Cities. Marion Barry was notorious for going out of town and getting
into trouble. Sharon Pratt Kelly (Dixon) was not-fondly known as Air
Dixon for her frequent trips. And both tried, like the current mayor,
to justify their travel by saying a) they were only a phone call away
and, b) that they only took a fraction of the trips on which they were
invited. It's a no-sale.

And now Williams. I think we joked a few times in the Notebook column
that the mayor -- who doesn't own a home in DC -- should get an RV.
Make it easier on everyone. The mayor says he often travels on
weekends, not week days. But I don't remember the mayor running for
election or reelection saying, "Elect Me and I'll be your
Monday-to-Friday mayor."

(Editor's Note: Tom Sherwood is the star reporter on NBC 4 in Washington, D.C. )