Lawrence Guyot, longtime civil-rights activist and community organizer, has served as an advisory neighborhood commissioner for 10 years. He’s decided to run again, and as part of his campaign, has distributed a flier asking residents of Shaw and LeDroit Park to “Re-Elect Commissioner Lawrence Guyot” in a large bold font.
Problem is, Guyot can’t be re-elected except in a more liberal sense of the term: He’s not currently on the commission. Guyot was forced to step down in 2004 after Myla Moss challenged him for his seat and won.
Says Moss: “He’s not to be re-elected. He needs to be elected.”
“I’m not claiming to be an incumbent,” Guyot insists, though the next-to-last bullet point in his flier’s background statement reads: “Incumbent member of ANC 1B; Past Chairperson.”
He chalks the faulty flier up to “dated material” and makes no apologies for the error. “I’m [going to] use it anyway,” he says.
Moss says she doesn’t think that Guyot’s campaign pitch was an error. “He just chose to use that verbiage on purpose. It’s no mistake. That’s Mr. Guyot’s form of campaigning.”