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It’s a colorful race between Vincent Orange and Kwame Brown for Council chairman. The first draws upon extensive academic, fiduciary and big-business experience – and a few years on the Council, to boot – as the key to becoming an effective leader for job and economic development within the city. The latter looks for support from the little guy, and is billed as a tireless, eager worker whose current colleagues are ready to see him take the reins.

Clockwork Orange
Vincent Orange was born into “an extremely poor” family, he describes, and earned a scholarship to attend boarding school in Colorado. He went on to earn BA’s in business administration and communication from the University of the Pacific, a law degree from Howard University, a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown, a certificate from Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government for successfully completing the program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government, and another certificate from Harvard for Crisis Management.

Among his professional positions, Orange has worked at the U.S. Department of the Army and other positions at the Pentagon, the University of the District of Columbia, the DC Department of Finance and Revenue and more recently as a government affairs lobbyist for Pepco.

Through his public and private financial positions within DC and at the Federal level, Orange has also participated in numerous trade delegations to Japan, West Africa, southeast Asia and northern Europe.

He was elected to the City Council to represent Ward 5 Council for two terms between 1999 and 2007 -- wedged between the terms of the Harry Thomas father-son duo -- where he served as chairman of the Committee on Government Operations with oversight over local government offices including the Chief Technology Officer, the City Administrator, the Inspector General and the office of the Mayor.

His chief contributions during his tenure include coordinating the establishment of big-name businesses in his ward, establishing a living wage and rebuilding McKinley High School.

You’re a Good Man, Kwame Brown
Brown was elected to the Council as an At-Large member in 2004 and has made a name for himself as a focused leader with great support from his fellow Council members.

After attending DC’s Woodrow Wilson public high school, Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Morgan State University. Prior to his elected office, Brown was appointed by President Clinton as a senior advisor to the US Commerce Department, where he eventually became director of the Business Liaison Office. He also served as president and CEO of the Maryland/District of Columbia Minority Supplier Development Council.

Past and present colleagues on the City Council have pointed to Brown’s eagerness to listen, ask questions and cooperate.

“I’ve watched Kwame work extremely hard on the Council. I think he will bring the qualities that are necessary, and I think he will reach out to people,” said Vincent Gray, who points out that he himself became the Council Chair after serving for only two years. “We all have gaps, so I think he’ll reach out in the way he needs to, to fill those gaps.”

“I remember he would come in to question me about certain programs within the department,” said Clark Ray, candidate for the At-Large Council seat and former director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. “I liked the way he talked to me, and not at me.”

Brown currently serves as chairman of the Council’s Economic Development Committee, and cites his ability to concentrate on what he believes are the most important issues of the day.

“While people have been focused on the [Nationals] baseball stadium…I worked with my colleagues to open up the most modernized vocational institution in the country,” Brown told Capital Community News, referring to the “revitalization” of Phelps High School in Ward 5, which focuses on training its students in industries like architecture, construction and engineering.

Giving Them the Business
Brown has worked to replicate the successful main street program on Barracks Row on Capitol Hill elsewhere in the city. He added that these kinds of environments did not exist in Ward 7, and were sparse in Wards 4, 5 and 8.

“Now we have two or three in each one of those wards,” Brown said. “And we can create more Barracks Rows in places like Martin Luther King Avenue.”

“It’s about bringing businesses in town as opposed to downtown,” he added.

Brown also pointed out the affect on industry during commercial transition, such as the recent streetcar development on H Street; local citizens expect the transit system to greatly increase property values and foot traffic, but in the interim they have to put up with upheaval to area businesses.

“This is about how you move the city forward, this is a perfect example of it,” he said.

Orange, on the other hand, has used his corporate and high-finance positions, and experience in trade negotiations to aggressively push for corporate expansion in the District. On his campaign site he lists big-box stores and national chains like Bank of America, Citibank, Footlocker, Radio Shack and Shoe City, which he successfully petitioned to open branches in Ward 5 while he was a Council member.

He also cites the establishment of the Home Depot on Rhode Island Avenue.

“My approach is where there’s an opportunity to be at the table, to have a seat and participate in the discussion,” he told The Capital Community News. “With Home Depot, I found out that [former] Mayor [Anthony] Williams was going to Las Vegas to talk about development. So at my own expense, I flew out to Vegas too, and I was sitting there at the meeting.”

During this meeting the Home Depot reps were discussing putting their store on Wisconsin Avenue in Ward 3, he said.

“I jumped in and said ‘wait a minute, what about Ward 5? We have a parking impoundment lot. That would be a great place for development,” Orange recounted, adding that the reps were also concerned about the additional funding it would take to plan for parking.

“I turned to the Mayor and said ‘you know a million dollars is not going to stop the citizens of Ward 5 from having mayor economic development,’” he added. “And just like that, it turned around and the project in Ward 3 fell apart, and the project in Ward 5 – full speed ahead.”

Providing Good Council
The two candidates are divided on their approach to Council committees. Orange would like to drastically reduce what he believes is bloated Council bureaucracy, while Brown thinks the direct involvement from each member fosters a greater sense of accountability in the Council.

“Having 13 committees, in my view, is too much,” Orange said. “When you have all that, it’s like mini-mayors running around. Everyone is calling hearings and investigations and there is no cohesiveness.”

“The motivation is to make sure the Council is an efficient and effective organization, providing aggressive oversight and without hindering the executive branch,” said Orange. “You have to have an agenda set in the beginning with a consensus on the agenda for the legislative period, and then go out and get the job done.”

Orange adds that he will reestablish a committee for education - an issue which Council Chairman Vincent Gray placed under the Committee of the Whole early into his tenure in 2007 – to add more transparency to the process by which teachers have been fired under schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. This would provide a “buy-in into the system and the teachers [will] know what they will be held accountable for.”

“[Orange] believes there should only be seven committees,” said Brown. “I believe everyone should be responsible for something, whether that be small committees, large committees, and that you shouldn’t make $100,000 or so per year to work part time and not be responsible for helping to move the city forward.”

Brown said he has been working with the Council’s nonpartisan Office of Policy Analysis to “really hone in on revenue, on the expense side of the government,” to increase efficiency among committees.

“To say you’re just going to take committees from people,” he added, “I don’t know how that gets things done.”

Both men have significant issues-based professional experience. But as each mentioned to The Capital Community News, the position of Council Chair is devoted primarily to leading the 13-member body. It will be up to the winner of this fall’s election to harness past experience toward moving the people’s legislature forward.