When the D.C. election board barred Williams from the ballot, the mayor launched a write-in campaign. With only four fringe candidates on the ballot–including a bugle-playing exotic dancer who likes to campaign atop a horse and a former city councilman once convicted of biting a tow-truck operator–that didn’t seem too tough. But last week Williams got slapped with a $277,700 fine for election fraud–and drew some new competition. Fiery pastor Rev. Willie Wilson announced his own write-in bid after growing disgusted with the signature snafu. “It’s the same kind of asleep-at-the-wheel leadership he’s shown as mayor,” says Wilson, who stands to draw support from Barry loyalists, who are still surprisingly plentiful in some parts of the city.
Though the mayor is still the front runner in the Sept. 10 contest, the flap has sent him scrambling. Williams hopes to spur write-in votes by handing out pencils bearing his name and pre-inked rubber stamps voters can use on the ballots–just the kind of attention to detail that could have kept him out of this mess in the first place.
