page_title: Phil Mendelson
section_title: Council of the District of Columbia
hierarchical_section_title: Phil Mendelson / Political career / Council of the District of Columbia
caption_attribution_description: English: Phil Mendelson, Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, hands out necklaces and plastic leis to bystanders in the the Capital Pride gay pride parade on June 7, 2014, in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
context_page_description: Philip Heath Mendelson is an American politician from Washington, D.C. He is currently Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, elected by the Council on June 13, 2012, following the resignation of Kwame R. Brown. He was elected to serve the remainder of Brown's term in a citywide special election on November 6, 2012, and re-elected to a full term in 2014 and 2018.
context_section_description: On June 14, 1998, Mendelson announced he would run again for an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia. Mendelson said the public needed to be better informed about the incumbent Council's meetings and votes. He said residents only hear from Council members when they are up for reelection.
  Mendelson said the District should be proactive about recruiting developers and businesses, and he thought he could play a role in doing so as a member of the Council. He also said the Council should do more during debates on education.
  Mendelson's candidacy was endorsed by the editorial board of The Washington Post the Metropolitan Washington AFL–CIO, the Sierra Club, and the tenant advocacy council TENAC.
  Mendelson came in first place in the Democratic primary election with 17 percent of the vote, advancing to the general election.
  Mayor Marion Barry endorsed Mendelson's candidacy in the general election. The editorial board of The Washington Post endorsed independent candidate Beverly Wilbourn and Republican incumbent David Catania in the general election.
  Mendelson won the general election with 37 percent of the vote. He was sworn in on January 2, 1999. Because Mendelson had no seniority on the Council, Council Chair Linda W. Cropp did not assign him to chair any committees, but he was appointed as a representative to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
  In 1999, Mendelson and Catania sponsored a bill to amend a law that required most contractors to hire a majority of District residents to complete contracts with the District government. The new bill would reduce monetary penalties for noncompliance, and ban non-compliant companies from doing business with the District for three years.
  Mendelson criticized the Council for passing acts as emergency legislation, which bypasses Congressional review and lasts for a short amount of time, even though the acts were not intended to fill temporary or urgent needs. Mendelson was opposed to Mayor Anthony Williams' proposal to have a children's theme park on islands in the Anacostia River.
  From 2005 to 2012 Mendelson served as the chair of the DC Council's Committee on the Judiciary.  In 2011 he supported the effort to establish an elected attorney general and pushed for an independent Forensic Science Crime Lab.
  Mendelson was re-elected in 2002, 2006, and 2010.
  In 2012, Kwame Brown resigned from the position of Chair of the Council. In a vote of 11 to 1, the Council voted to appoint Mendelson to the position of interim Chair of the Council. In a special election held in November 2012, Mendelson was elected by District voters to the position of Chair of the Council. He was elected to a full term as chair in 2014.
  From a regional standpoint, Mendelson worked with his counterparts in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties to increase the minimum wage.
  Mendelson has received national attention for his work to bring Budget Autonomy for the District, the city's laws on gun control and same-sex marriage legalization.
  2016
  In 2016 Mendelson overhauled Mayor Bowser's plan to close DC General homeless shelter and build multiple smaller shelters in its place. He shepherded Universal Paid Leave through the Council.
caption: Mendelson at the 2014 DC Pride Parade
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