Anita Bonds Elected To At-Large D.C. Council Seat

There's a new D.C. Council member; the D.C. Democratic party has picked its chairwoman, Anita Bonds, to temporarily fill the at-large council seat.

Bonds' political career dates back to the early 1970s when she helped run Marion Barry's first campaign for school board. Since then, Bonds has worked for several mayors and most recently, has been serving as chair of the local D.C. Democratic State Committee. She easily won last night's contest, which was held by party insiders at Catholic University. She picked up 55 of the 71 votes cast. 

Bonds currently works as an executive at Fort Meyer Construction, one of the biggest city contractors. She doesn't plan to step aside from her role in that job, she said after the vote last night, but she will cut back on her hours. She also said questions about her outside employment bordered on chauvinistic. 

"Because in the past I've never heard a conversation about some of the council members — I'm not going to name names," she said. "You don't ask those questions, how much they make in their law practice … how much they make as vice presidents of companies. But you're very concerned about me … little old me." 

Bonds talked it over with her employers at Fort Myer, and they didn't recommend that she take a leave of absence. The special election to permanently fill the seat is scheduled for April.