What's going on with the election in 4C05?

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The new SMD 4C05 sits at the top of ANC 4C.

Op-Ed

The election for Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for Single Member District 4C05 is the only competitive race in 4C, pitting current Commissioner Paul Johnson against newcomer Brittany Kademian. Johnson serves as the commissioner for ANC 4C07, but his SMD will change to 4C05 with the changes to the boundaries next year.

Without question, this is a race filled with controversy and disagreement.

Commissioner Paul Johnson speaks at a recent candidate forum.

This has been a difficult ANC. Johnson appears to be extremely disliked amongst his other current 4C commissioners, eight of whom went so far as to publicly endorse Kademian against him.

Paul Johnson was removed as Chair of ANC 4C in July of 2021, with his colleagues complaining of heated interactions and dysfunction during executive and public meetings. Those residents that attended the public meetings of ANC 4C and watched the virtual calls experienced a commission that could not appear to function. It was aggravating and painful to watch.

After Johnson was removed from his position, Commissioner Namatie Mansaray was voted in as the new Chair of the Commission. While Commissioner Mansaray has a calm demeanor, the subsequent monthly meetings seemed to continue to devolve into power struggles, disrespectful verbal arguments and uncomfortable exchanges as Commissioner Johnson and Chair Mansaray struggled to control conversations. Most of the time on these calls, Johnson appeared to be either avoiding giving reasons for his failing to respond to constituents and businesses, or was diverting discussion to blaming other commissioners.

Current ANC Commissioner Jonah Goodman published quite the thread on Twitter about why he’s endorsing Brittany Kademian for 4C05, and included videos from several 4C meetings with citations of the problems the Commission has had with Commissioner Johnson. It’s an eye-opening thread.

And be aware, Goodman and Johnson have had a long-standing and seemingly personal feud since the start of the current commission last year.

Paul Johnson speaking at a fundraiser for his campaign (photo provided by the candidate).

Johnson has his supporters who apparently feel like he’s done good work. Yet some of those supporters have also gone out of their way to attack Petworth News for reporting on the ANC’s issues last summer, posting about local events and accusing us of racism, favoritism and accepting payments for writing news articles (all three of which are untrue). However, I do find it curious when supporters of a candidate immediately turn aggressive, argumentative and negative as their initial response to objective reporting. (Note this is an op-ed.)

Brittany Kademian (photo by the candidate)

As Johnson’s competitor, Brittany Kademian is the current Vice President of Petworth Peanuts, a local parents’ group that helps families with newborns and older socialize, get support and be active. She’s involved in the community, actively works to make the neighborhood a better place, and is quite easy to get along with.

Petworth News has no relationship with Kademian, but I have met her. She and her group were helpful during the “Socially Distant Halloween Parade” Petworth News organized back in 2020 — but it was rocky at first. Peanuts and Petworth News butted heads at the beginning because the newly formed group, then quite small, wanted to use Sherman Circle at the same time as the Parade and wanted our event to go somewhere else. I had just spent weeks organizing permits, buying insurance, getting candy… I’m pretty sure I got persnickety during the back and forth emails between the Peanuts and myself — but we quickly came up with a compromise that worked, and we had an amazing event. And here’s the thing: No one with the Petworth Peanuts group attacked me personally, instead they looked for ways to make the event great for families and kids.

After I published the interview with Commissioner Johnson in July 2021, one of his supporters stopped by my house to argue that I was wrong, that I wrote untruths and called Petworth News biased while he got heated with me. (Read the article, see what you think. I have no skin in the game, so to speak, except as a resident who wants their ANC to work.) Myself and the other writers at Petworth News take our self-proclaimed (and volunteer) role as a hyperlocal news source seriously. We write what’s going on, readers can decide for themselves to be engaged or not.

After writing about ANC 4C for the past seven years, honestly, I’m tired of 4C’s dysfunction.

Paul Johnson said at a recent local forum that he’s the kind of person that brings people together, but from what I’ve seen and heard in the almost two years of this current Commission are the ways he and his supporters have seemingly divided the local community in ways I haven’t seen happen before. It’s disheartening.

It’s time to have an ANC that works. Where one person’s ego isn’t getting in the way of getting work done on behalf of the community. Where someone responds when help is asked for. Where a person doesn’t take credit for others’ work.

If you live in SMD 4C05, my personal recommendation is to vote for Brittany Kademian. Let’s have a new ANC that works together.