William Lightfoot

William Parker Lightfoot (born January 3, 1950) is an attorney and politician in Washington, D.C.

Originally from Philadelphia, Lightfoot graduated from Howard University.

He earned a juris doctor from Washington University School of Law in 1978.

Lightfoot began his political career as a staff member for District of Columbia Council member Wilhelmina Rolark from 1979 to 1981.

In 1981, a voter referendum was proposed that would allow taxpayers a $1,200 income tax credit for each dependent child attending school.

Lightfoot successfully challenged the petitions as being collected by someone who was not a District resident, which made those signatures invalid.

Without sufficient valid signatures, the referendum was not on the November ballot.

The Council appointed Lightfoot to chair the District of Columbia Cable Design Commission, a commission to write a request for proposal that would determine how cable television should operate in the District, in 1982.

The Council gave the Commission 90 days to write the request for proposal, but the Commission asked for another six months to complete it.

Lightfoot was opposed to the additional time, saying it unnecessarily delayed the awarding of a cable franchise.

The Commission released the request for proposal in July 1983.

The Commission determined that there should be minimum offering of 60 channels for residents and 25 channels for businesses and governmental agencies.

The winning franchiser should set aside several of the channels for municipal and community use, provide studios to the public to produce programming, provide grants to support public-benefit television programs, provide service to all eight wards, and complete all work within five years.

The Washington Post named Lightfoot one of "Five to Watch in 1984", calling him the "cable czar".

Lightfoot held several public forums to hear from residents about the imminent cable television service.

Lightfoot said that residents should be able to participate in the process of bringing cable television to the District and learn how it would increase employment and training.

The first forum was held in Ward 7.

After the bidding process was complete, District Cablevision was awarded a contract to provide a 79-channel cable system to residents of the District within four years.

In June 1986, Lightfoot announced he would run as a Democrat for at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia, essentially challenging Betty Ann Kane's reelection.

Lightfoot said that Kane had helped big businesses more than working residents.

The next week, John L. Gibson announced his candidacy for the same seat on the Council.

Gibson had been a commissioner of the District of Columbia Board of Parole; a community organizer for the United Planning Organization and the Washington Urban League; and a staff member for the District of Columbia Board of Education, the District of Columbia Office of Personnel, and the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Gibson said he was surprised that Lightfoot had decided to run because he was under the impression that Lightfood had said he would support his campaign.

Gibson speculated that perhaps someone had mistakenly told Lightfoot that Gibson would not actually run for the office.

Lightfoot dropped out the following month, saying, "By remaining in the race, I would have split votes with Mr. Gibson, who shares my views on the issues. ... In the past, candidates with similar views would split the votes, allowing someone with another view to win. That is a mistake I did not want to repeat."

Lightfoot endorsed Gibson's campaign.

Kane won the Democratic primary election with 69 percent of the vote, and she won reelection in the general election, receiving 60 percent of the vote in the general election.

In 1988, Lightfoot ran again for an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia, this time running as an independent.

After leaving the Council, Lightfoot changed his registration to the Democratic Party.

Lightfoot's goal was to unseat Republican Carol Schwartz, who was expected to run for reelection.

Schwartz later decided not to run for reelection, citing the recent deaths of her husband, mother, mother-in-law, and best friend as factors in her decision.

Other individuals who ran for an at-large seat on the Council included incumbent Democrat John L. Ray; Republican Jerry Moore, former Council member; Independent David Watson, former spokesperson for the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission; Independent R. Calvin Lockridge, D.C. school board member; Statehood Party Tom Chorlton, gay rights activist; Statehood Party David Watson; and Libertarian Dennis Sobin.

Washington Metropolitan Council AFL–CIO and Greater Washington chapter of Americans for Democratic Action endorsed Lightfoot's candidacy.

Lightfoot was elected to the Council with 27 percent of the vote.

He was inaugurated on January 2, 1989.

In the District of Columbia, corporations and partnerships are allowed to donate to political campaigns.

A person who owns several entities can have each entity donate separately in order to get around the maximum donation allowed by law.

Lightfoot introduced a bill that would eliminate that strategy by including donations by corporations and partnerships in each owner's total maximum donation.

During the Government of the District of Columbia's financial troubles in 1991, Lightfoot proposed increasing the utility tax in order to honor the Council's promise to give $36 million in raises to government employees.

The Council unanimously passed the utility tax three months later.