Fiona Greig Is Running for the Ward 2 Council Seat

Fiona Greig officially declared her candidacy for the Ward 2 District Council seat, held by 20-plus-year incumbent Jack Evans. She wrote on her Facebook Page Friday, "It's official. I am a candidate for Ward 2 DC Council."

Thursday in a post on Greater Greater Washington she laid out her plan and the core elements of her candidacy.

Greig identified three primary areas of importance to Ward 2 that she argues Evans has failed to address.

First, Greig says the Council member neglects the important work of retaining families, which she says must be accomplished by focusing on middle schools now that many elementary schools are successful. She says "some" council members choose to disengage when it comes to schools.

Next, she calls for smarter, more efficient government, which must be accomplished with hands on efforts to identify waste. Here Greig criticizes Evans directly for his calls for 5 percent across the board cuts at agencies, rather than pursuing a nuanced approach.

Finally, Greig calls for change thoughout the Council because of ethics violations and the appearance of impropriety attached to so many of its members.

She argues that Evans attitude towards ethics is part of the problem even if he does not actually have allegations raised against him.

"My councilmember has not offered any ethics legislation and has said the problem the Council is facing 'is not because the laws need changing.' I couldn't disagree more."

Thursday night, Greig held a fundraiser/meet and greet at Stoney's on 14th Street. At the end of her post on GGW, she wrote, "I'll be there with others who want to move past ethics scandals and yesterday's news and start talking about the future of the District of Columbia."

Greig has filed as a candidate with the Office of Campaign Finance, which is required to raise and spend campaign funds.

To officially have her name on the ballot she will have to circulate nominating petitions beginning Nov. 14. Greig will need to get signatures from "250 people or 1 percent (whichever is less) of registered qualified electors residing in the same ward from which the candidate seeks election and who are of the same political party as the candidate," according to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics website. Petitions can be filed no sooner than Dec. 14 and no later than Jan. 4.

Greig has been a Ward 2 resident since 2007 and currently works as a manager at McKinsey and Company. She graduated with honors in International Relations from Stanford University and earned a PhD in public policy from Harvard University in 2007