The next time I heard about Sinclair Skinner was during the Club U issue happening on U-Street in early 2005.  The issue has been well documented in the local media outlets so I will not recount the whole issue.  I remember seeing the “Gramzilla” posters and being very offended. 

I have brought this issue up with Adrian Fenty and he told me that Mr. Skinner denies all involvement.  I also spoke with Jim Graham and he told me that he has told Mr. Fenty, on several occasions, that there were eye witnesses who saw Sinclair Skinner hanging the posters in the U-Street area.

Here are several links that detail the Club U issue:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/lips/2005/lips1202.html

The most vicious attack on Graham exploited these very tensions. In early 2005, just as the Club U issue was heating up, posters portraying Graham as a reptile holding a pitchfork labeled “Grahamzilla” appeared on light poles and street signs around the ward. Another set of posters depicted Graham standing on a porch partying with young white men at the Graham “plantation.” The latter included an illustration showing “Graham opponents” hanging from a gallows. The posters stretched the limits of political speech and disappeared quickly after they were put up.

No one will say who was behind the posters, but the effort drew the support of ex–Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Sinclair Skinner, according to community activists. Skinner has hammered away at Graham’s anti-club-violence campaign and portrayed the effort as a plot by the councilmember to make things more comfy for the new residents pouring into the ward. As an ANC commissioner, Skinner defended Kili’s when residents complained about the club.

Skinner refused to comment on his role in the Grahamzilla campaign because of his new job: He’s on the payroll of mayoral candidate and Ward 4 Councilmember Adrian Fenty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23871-2005Feb14.html

http://www.dcist.com/archives/2005/06/29/club_us_alcohol.php

http://occ.dc.gov/occ/cwp/view,a,11,q,629681,occNav_GID,1521.asp

http://www.grahamwone.com/graham_press/id,2/Itemid,14/

(If anyone has copies of the other “Gramzilla” posters I ask that you contact me.  I would like to post them here for all to see.)