The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-07)

B4 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, JUNE 7 , 2022

BY PERRY STEIN

District officials launched a

campaign Monday that will allow

children to more easily get their

routine vaccines this summer at

recreation centers, school-based

health centers, and mobile vacci-

nation sites in neighborhoods

across the city. City officials said

they will use covid-19 contact-

tracing teams to contact families,

hoping to increase a youth vacci-

nation compliance rate that has

plummeted during the pandemic.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D)

stressed at a news conference

Monday that for the upcoming

academic year, the city will strict-

ly enforce school vaccine require-

ments that include inoculations

against polio, measles and hepati-

tis. Any student who is not up-to-

date on vaccines within 20 days

from the start of the school year

will not be allowed to attend, she

said. There will be no virtual

learning option for them.

The D.C. Council passed legis-

lation last year to require stu-

dents to be vaccinated against the

coronavirus, but that will only go

into effect for all students once

the Food and Drug Administra-

tion gives full approval for a vac-

cine. For children ages 5 to 15, a

vaccine has only received emer-

gency authorization, not full ap-

proval.

“We know parents get kids

shots every single year and we

have to get back to that cycle of

making sure our children are vac-

cinated,” Bowser said at the news

conference, which occurred in

the parking lot of the Town Hall

Education Arts Recreation Cam-

pus, or THEARC, a large commu-

nity center in Southeast Washing-

ton with a Children’s National

Hospital health clinic. “An out-

break of measles and whooping

cough in a world where we have

safe and effective vaccines should

be unacceptable.”

The District had relatively low

youth compliance rates for rou-

tine immunizations even before

McDu∞e remains undecided on an endorsement, he says

McDuffie said. “People should
certainly vote in this election,
and they should vote for the
candidate who uses the law as a
tool to open the doors of justice
and opportunity for residents,
particularly those with unmet
needs.”
But some of McDuffie’s ardent
backers, including Clayborne,
are sure of one thing: They are
unlikely to vote for Spiva, a
former managing partner at the
Perkins Coie law firm who suc-
cessfully argued that McDuffie
did not meet the minimum qual-
ifications to run for the office.
That point was echoed by
Anacostia attorney Donovan An-
derson, who has found it chal-
lenging to pick between Schwalb
and Spiva, the two candidates he
now views as the front-runners.
He said he might write in
McDuffie’s name instead.
“I don’t believe I’m going to
vote for the individual that had
[McDuffie] disqualified,” Ander-
son said. But he also says
Schwalb, partner-in-charge of
the Venable law firm’s D.C. of-
fice, is overpromising in his
six-point plan to address crime.
“I have no idea what I’m going to
do.”

Heated moments

Last month, at a debate host-
ed by the D.C. Office of Cam-
paign Finance, the most conten-
tious moment arose when
Schwalb claimed he was not
supportive of Spiva’s effort to
remove McDuffie from the bal-
lot. In April, after a panel of D.C.
Court of Appeals judges upheld
the election board’s decision
that McDuffie was ineligible to
run, Schwalb tweeted that the
result was disappointing and
asserted his campaign “had no
part in trying to prevent him
from being on the ballot.”
“We don’t necessarily want or
need an attorney general that
makes every argument just be-
cause he or she thinks it can be
won,” Schwalb said of the chal-
lenge at the debate. “I think we
want somebody who exercises
judgment.”
Spiva shot back: “To wait until
the argument was over and then
to make that [Twitter] state-

CANDIDATES FROM B1 ment? Mr. Schwalb is my friend,
but again, that’s not leadership.”
He maintained that he did the
right thing in scuttling McDuff-
ie’s campaign and he has said
frequently that the challenge
wasn’t personal. “I don’t think
it’s divisive to raise an issue of
qualifications that the council
put in place and that the people
put in place for a reason,” Spiva
added.
Political observers say Spiva
and Schwalb have an edge over
Jones, who started his own legal
practice in 2014 and has com-
paratively lagged in fundraising.
But after that, they say, mean-
ingful differences in policy are
less clear between the two, who
were in the same Harvard Law
School graduating class.
Schwalb and Spiva both have
spoken highly of Racine — who
endorsed Schwalb and over-
lapped with him at Venable
before he became the District’s
first elected attorney general —
and have referenced communi-
ty-oriented approaches to ad-
vancing Racine’s initiatives re-
garding consumer protection,
tenant rights and addressing
what they both describe as the
“root causes” of crime.
Spiva has repeatedly called
the attorney general’s office the
city’s “largest public interest law
firm,” citing his background as a
civil rights attorney and his time
spent advocating D.C. statehood.
He’s earned endorsements from
several left-leaning groups, in-
cluding the Sierra Club and Jews
United for Justice Campaign
Fund, and from liberal leader Ed
Lazere. 32BJ SEIU, a property
services union with more than
20,000 workers in the D.C. area,
said in May that it would back
Spiva after originally endorsing
McDuffie.
Schwalb, meanwhile, has
touted his work recruiting,
training and mentoring a large
team of lawyers at Venable and
often mentions his breadth of
experience, which ranges from
prosecuting civil tax matters as a
trial attorney for the Justice
Department to handling pro
bono cases involving police mis-
conduct. In addition to Racine,
he has been endorsed by The
Washington Post’s editorial
board (which is separate from

the news operation), several la-

bor unions and Irvin B. Nathan,

the District’s last appointed at-

torney general.

Whether the candidates are

using the city’s public financing,

which prohibits large donations

and matches contributions from

D.C. residents, has also emerged

as a rare point of contention.

Schwalb and Jones opted in to

the program; Spiva did not. At

last month’s debate, Spiva de-

fended his choice, explaining

that it allowed him to loan his

campaign money and noting

that he pledged not to take

contributions from developers.

But Schwalb said that wasn’t

good enough. “Part of judging

who brings judgment and dis-

cretion to this is to look at the

decision we’ve made as candi-

dates,” he said. “One of us chose

to participate in the program

and one didn’t.” Spiva, in turn,

criticized Schwalb for accepting

small-dollar donations from

people who work for him at

Venable and from business own-

ers.

Spiva’s decision to reject pub-

lic financing left a negative im-

pression on Lorenzo Sanchez, a

self-described progressive voter

from Petworth who said he also

closely examined each candi-

date’s stances on transportation

and traffic safety. Sanchez liked

that Schwalb has talked about

aggressively enforcing traffic

laws in a way that Spiva has not

emphasized. Jones, meanwhile,

has argued that speeding camer-

as are too sensitive and has said

the city should focus more on

rewarding good drivers.

“Schwalb has been more at

the forefront on transportation,”

Sanchez said. “On crime and

housing, I didn’t see a lot of

differences in their platforms on

those issues.”

‘They basically sound the

same’

Edward Ungvarsky, a criminal

defense attorney who plans to

vote for Spiva, said he thinks the

policy differences between Spiva

and Schwalb are more acute

now than earlier in their cam-

paigns, especially in the realm of

crime. While both candidates

have advocated more spending

on violence intervention, Ung-

varsky said Schwalb’s emphasis

on holding repeat offenders ac-

countable is more akin to a “law

and order” approach to the job

than Spiva, who he has heard

talk more about keeping young

people out of the criminal jus-

tice system altogether.

“That language especially

matters because their primary

involvement in the legal system

is juveniles,” Ungvarsky said.

(Because D.C. is not a state, the

attorney general primarily pros-

ecutes juvenile offenses while

the U.S. attorney for D.C. han-

dles most serious crimes by

adults).

Those supporting Jones,

meanwhile, say they’ve appreci-

ated his focus on residents in

underserved communities and

those who have had negative

experiences with the city’s judi-

cial system. Jacque Patterson,

the at-large representative on

the D.C. State Board of Educa-

tion, is supporting Jones in part

because of his local connections

— he earned his master of laws

degree from George Washington

University Law School before

starting his own firm in the

District.

But Patterson also liked that

Jones has been less enthusiastic

than other candidates when

asked if he would continue to

pursue the high-profile lawsuits

Racine has brought against com-

panies such as Amazon.

“It’s nice to do things that take

on a federal profile, but how will

you make an impact on D.C.

residents? That’s what I was

looking for,” Patterson said.

“With the attorney general, it

can be hard to wrap one’s mind

around what they do and how

exactly they serve D.C., so when

they try and separate them-

selves, they basically sound the

same.”

Efforts to pull disagreements

out of the candidates have even

been a flash point in forums and

debates. More than an hour into

a debate hosted by the D.C. Bar

last month, an exasperated mod-

erator asked: “What is the differ-

ence between you and your

opponents?”

A week later, at the debate

hosted by the D.C. Office of

Campaign Finance, the candi-

dates offered limited insight

into their differences.

The men put forth a few

unique ideas, such as Spiva’s

plan to focus on increasing com-

pliance with child support obli-

gations — including offering job

counseling to parents so they

can get work that lets them pay

what they owe — and Schwalb’s

vow to boost the office’s focus on

reckless driving. Jones and Spi-

va said they support having

police officers in schools in some

cases, while Schwalb said he

supports the council’s recent

decision to remove police from

schools.

But the candidates’ answers

to many other questions, such as

how they would balance the jobs

of defending city agencies versus

looking out for malfeasance, or

how they would improve condi-

tions at the troubled D.C. jail,

were nearly identical.

When offered the chance to

ask one another a question at

the debate, for example — a

chance to highlight policy differ-

ences — only Schwalb opted to

do so, eventually settling on this

question for his opponents:

“Where are we going for beers?”

PHOTOGRAHYBYALEXANDER.COM; RYAN JONES; BRIAN SCHWALB CAMPAIGN

From left, Democrats Bruce V. Spiva, Ryan Jones and Brian Schwalb are vying to replace D.C. Attorney

General Karl A. Racine (D). Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5) was deemed ineligible.

THE DISTRICT

City launches campaign to boost

uptake of r outine youth vaccines

Enforcement for coming

academic year will be

strict, mayor emphasizes

the coronavirus pandemic made

non-emergency visits to doctors

less frequent — and the rates have

only fallen since then. Officials

did not have precise numbers for

the percentage of kids up-to-date

on vaccines, but Thomas Farley,

senior deputy director of the com-

munity health administration at

the D.C. Health Department, said

only 80 percent of kindergartners

are in compliance.

At a Healthy Youth and Schools

Commission meeting last month,

a city official estimated that if the

city were to enforce the immuni-

zation attendance requirement

right then, 20,000 students

would be sent home. That’s slight-

ly more than 20 percent of the

entire traditional public and

charter school population.

The District’s schools did not

stringently enforce the routine

vaccination requirements this

school year. Enforcing them

would have kept many children

out of school after a large portion

of students missed more than a

year of in-person classes during

the pandemic. In February 2021,

when the city partially reopened

schools, only students with up-to-

date immunizations were permit-

ted to enroll for in-person classes,

preventing many students — par-

ticularly in the lowest-income

parts of the city — from attending.

Currently, there are significant

racial disparities between those

who are vaccinated against the

coronavirus in D.C. and those

who are not. More than 55 per-

cent of White children ages 5 to 11

are fully vaccinated, compared

with 25 percent of Black children

in that age range, according to

city vaccination data.

That trend continues for 16-

and 17-year-olds, who, as of June,

are the only student group that

would be required to be vaccinat-

ed against the coronavirus to at-

tend school in the fall. Eighty-sev-

en percent of White students in

this age group are vaccinated,

compared with 57 percent of

Black students.

Bowser said that, even without

full FDA approval, there are sig-

nificant consequences in schools

for unvaccinated students be-

cause those who are unvaccinat-

ed have more stringent quaran-

tine rules, making them more

likely to be out of school.

“They are missing school right

now,” Bowser said. “Because if

there is a covid exposure in their

classroom and they are unvacci-

nated, they can’t go to school.”

CRAIG HUDSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announces a new vaccination

campaign at a news conference Monday in Washington.

“We have to get back to

that cycle of making

sure our children are

vaccinated.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser,

speaking at a news conference to

announce the vaccination campaign

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