Incoming D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray will hold off on giving committee chairmanships to the two council members who will be elected in a special session in the spring, the current Ward 7 Democrat told The Examiner.
Gray has said he will give a committee chairmanship to every council member “who wants one.”
During an interview this week, Gray said he was concerned incoming members who will be elected to fill seats being vacated by Gray and Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty — who graduated from the Ward 4 council seat — would have to quickly turn to re-election bids. Those seats will not be filled until a special election held in April or May. The D.C. Board of Election cannot declare vacancies in either ward until Gray and Fenty take on their new roles.
“They won’t get a committee when they arrive,” Gray said. “It’s just not practical. They won’t get here until May. They’re filling unexpired terms, which means, if they choose to continue, which I’m sure they would like to, they’ll be running for election almost from the time they arrive.”
Gray, who was elected to the Ward 7 seat in 2004 and was unchallenged in his general election bid for the council chair’s seat, also said he is planning a more intensive training period for incoming members and their staffs, to begin next week.
“The orientation that I got when I first arrived was fairly short. A couple hours,” Gray said. “This will be about a 25-, 30-hour offering to them spread over about three weeks.”
Gray said he will choose committee chairmanships in December. The new structure would call for the creation of one new committee, which Gray said he is currently considering.
“You don’t get the committees until you get the structure,” Gray said.
