WASHINGTON -- In Georgetown's exclusive, high-rent real estate market, sometimes it can be tough to stick to Republican principles of free markets and deregulation. Especially when there's a "fabulous three-story row house" that was "recently painted in Restoration Hardware colors" at stake, and it just happens to be rent-controlled.
Cherie Short is the national finance director of the Young Republican National Federation and director of development and coalitions at the conservative Christian advocacy group Concerned Women of America. On Monday, she sent out an ad for a new roommate on the private Yahoo listserv "Ladies DC," which was forwarded to The Huffington Post by an eagle-eyed listserv lady. A similar ad for the same house was also posted on Craigslist as of Thursday morning.
"Rent controlled, heart of Georgetown rare find!" Short writes, boasting how "the row houses on each side of us rent for double." She notes that the place even comes with bragging rights: "Same block as Sen. Kerry's DC home and across the street from the Chairman of the American Red Cross."
As the Washington Post's conservative columnist George Will notes, rent control is anathema to conservative ideals of individual property rights and free enterprise. But for a woman whose public resume includes work on the campaigns of Republican presidential candidates like John McCain and Mike Huckabee, as well as four years working in the commercial real estate business, where she made her living off property commissions, Short certainly seems excited about her municipally regulated rent. "Amazing opportunity for best candidate," the ad says.
Here's the catch: It seems that the house isn't available to just anybody. Short, who most recently served as finance director for Tea Party challenger Keith Fimian's Virginia House campaign, is very specific about who she's looking for. "Late 20's early 30's young professional conservative woman would be ideal," she writes in the Yahoo posting. "Looking for the right match."
The Craigslist ad omits the request for a young conservative woman, but adds that "mutual fit is very important."
Based on a definition in a recent City Paper article on housing discrimination, the language of the Yahoo ad might fit the bill.
Short did not respond to a request for comment.