Want to know how to get on MSNBC personality Chris Matthews’ bad side? Mess with his commute.
Matthews berated Mayor Adrian Fenty on his show “Hardball” Wednesday night over the city’s response to the blizzard.
“Why can’t a government town do a government job?” he asked. He later added, “It’s a city that can’t plow its streets.”
Matthews also encouraged someone to run against the mayor in the upcoming Democratic primary.
“It’s time for a competition in the next primary round here," he said. "I think somebody’s got to run. This city needs a little better effort right now.”
Mayor Fenty responded to the criticism Thursday morning on News4 Today.
"I didn't hear Chris's whole interview. It sounds like he's mixing the responsibilities between the federal government and the local government," Fenty said. "The streets are completely a local government issue, except for the ones right around the Mall."
"Clearly a lot of work is left to be done, but not just in D.C., I mean Montgomery County, Prince George's County, all the way up to Baltimore," Fenty said. "This is the biggest snow that D.C. has ever seen. I've got a lot of work cut out for me. We'll get it done."
Matthews wasn't the only one upset with the city's snow response.
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The Washington Examiner penned an editorial Thursday under the headline "Mayor Fenty fails the snow test."
"Mayor Adrian Fenty should fire D.C. Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein and Department of Public Works Director Bill Howland, the two city employees in charge of snow removal, and use the money saved to hire a private contractor."
At-Large Councilman Kwame Brown, apparently fed up with the response in Southeast, took to the streets on an ATV and started plowing out folks' driveways and roads. How do we know? Well, video popped up on his Web site.
Brown had already issued a release regarding the closing of D.C. government earlier in the week, and held a press conference demanding a state of emergency be issued. Oh, and he, ahem, is pondering a run for mayor.
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