Beware of Mr. Peebles, Mayor Fenty

What would you do for $1 million?

If you've ever wanted to be mayor of a major American city, this might be your chance -- at least if you don't mind being a wholly owned subsidiary of PeeblesCorp.

A local developer -- well, if Florida is local -- is so upset with Mayor Adrian Fenty that he's willing to raise $1 million to be done with Hizzonor, reports Harry Jaffe.

R. Donahue Peebles, a real-estate trader and hotel developer, is rumored to have made the threat, though he's associated with no current candidate.  So here's your chance.  Show Mr. Peebles (that sort of sounds like a cartoon character) what you can offer the city?

Better schools?  Perhaps.  Improved roads?  Maybe.  Attacking inequality?  Meh.  Reducing crime? Yawn.

What Mr. Peebles (that sort of sounds like a snack food brand) is really interested in, and what got his beef with Fenty started, is real estate development, at least according to Jaffe.

Fenty backed a competing proposal to develop Stevens Elementary School in Foggy Bottom.  Ooooh!  And now Mr. Peebles (that sort of sounds like a British sitcom character) wants revenge.

Jaffe speculates on a whole bunch of familiar names who might take Mr. Peebles' (that sort of sounds like a anthropomorphic animal from a beloved children's book) money and who would be interested in taking on D.C.'s most famous triathlete. But would any of them really want the baggage associated with taking a developer's money, along with the implied (certainly never stated) quid pro quos that would come with it?

Hmm...  then again, it is a million dollars.  There probably aren't too many people reading this who wouldn't get "PeeblesCorp" tattooed on their buttocks for that kind of cash.

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