A former mayoral candidate who threw his weight behind Vince Gray and then landed a high-paying job in Gray’s administration was fired Thursday, saying he was the victim of D.C. Council pressure. The Gray administration’s hiring of Sulaimon Brown as an adviser to interim Department of Health Care Finance Director Wayne Turnage at a $110,000 annual salary has quickly turned into a circus sideshow distraction. Gray was pressed for answers about Brown’s hiring as a political appointee on Wednesday and Gray stood by the administration’s decision. Less that 24 hours later, though, Brown was informed by Turnage that he was being fired. Sometime around 10 a.m. the city’s protective services police arrived at Brown’s office and escorted him out of the building.
“I was let go without respect and without dignity,” Brown said after arriving in the midst of a news conference where the mayor was discussing Brown’s firing. He said police officers told him they were responding to reports that he was being “disorderly.” Brown said he was calmly sitting at his desk when the officers arrived, and Turnage said he was “disappointed” in the way the situation was handled.
Turnage said he couldn’t say why Brown was fired, citing city personnel laws.
Brown, however, pinned his firing on at-large Councilman David Catania’s influence, saying Turnage told him Thursday morning that Catania had “threatened” Turnage’s appointment.
“Catania wanted me gone,” Brown said.
According to Brown, Catania was upset that the administration was sticking by Brown after the Washington City Paper pointed to a 15-year-old misdemeanor conviction on Brown’s record in a blog post Wednesday. Brown also had a restraining order filed against him after a 13-year-old girl’s parents told police that Brown was following their daughter around while wearing a police uniform. Brown said Thursday those accusations were false. A restraining order is not a criminal charge.
Catania said he made no threats to Turnage, although he did tell him he would be questioning Turnage about Brown during Turnage’s confirmation hearing scheduled for Friday.
Gray’s transition team vetted Brown and then sent his resume to health care finance, Turnage said. Brown’s first day on the job was Jan. 31.
“He had an impressive resume,” Turnage said. He added, “I never talked to the mayor about Sulaimon Brown before today.”
Gray stuck by Brown’s resume, too, and said he was “disappointed that this didn’t work out.”
It was Brown who stuck up for Gray the most, just as he did on the campaign trail when he told voters “if you don’t vote Brown, vote Gray.” Brown got 209 votes.
On Thursday he said, “Mayor Gray is an excellent mayor.”
