Vincent Gray’s 2010 mayoral campaign was marked by chaos and dysfunction that could have allowed for the existence of an alleged shadow campaign and potentially illegal donations that now are the subject of a federal investigation, former aides to the now-mayor acknowledged in a series of interviews.
“There were a lot of blurred lines,” said one of the former campaign officials who spoke to The Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity to discuss the 2010 effort candidly. “[The campaign] was held together by dental floss.”
In one notable episode, the campaign cut a five-figure check to a consulting firm to pay an invoice Gray’s operation had received. Only later did the campaign recognize that the company hadn’t performed any work and Gray campaign officials voided the check.
Last month, the Washington Post reported the existence of a “shadow campaign,” an underground effort that allegedly used unreported funds to bolster Gray’s formal campaign structure, which powerhouse Democratic consultants coordinated after Gray’s late entry to the race.
| Quick campaign |
| > When then-Council Chairman Vincent Gray announced his campaign for mayor in 2010, he didn’t give himself much time: Gray rolled out his campaign on March 30, and the District voted on Sept. 14. By the time Gray jumped into the race, incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty had $4 million in his campaign war chest. |
Racing against the clock and with limited fundraising reach, one aide described Gray’s campaign to unseat incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty as a disjointed operation.
“One of the fundamental problems of this campaign … was that Vince Gray made the decision [to run for mayor] as late as he did,” said the official. “There was a sense of a floor that was moving in terms of figuring out how to put structure around it.”
Through a spokesman, Gray declined repeated requests for an interview for this story, citing the ongoing grand jury probe.
“The investigation is there because he’s the one who requested it,” Pedro Ribeiro said of his boss. “He continues to cooperate fully with it.”
The mayor, though, has in the past described the frenetic nature of his 2010 campaign as “very chaotic.”
That breakneck pace might have allowed for “a bunch of renegades,” as one official described members of the alleged shadow campaign, to operate outside of the formal apparatus, aides said.
“It looks like there may have been some people who used the loopholes without the campaign knowing,” said Mo Elleithee, a national Democratic strategist who was a Gray campaign consultant.
That a second, illicit campaign might have happened has frustrated senior aides to the Gray campaign.
“They didn’t need to do that,” one strategist said. “I was told from the get-go that this was our race to lose …”
And several campaign aides said they believe that Gray’s campaign management style likely insulated him from knowledge of a shadow campaign.
“He stayed at the 20,000-foot level,” an official said. “He had a job to do, which was to be the candidate.”
Another aide said he had serious doubts that Gray knew anything of a shadow campaign. “I would find it hard to believe — and I feel it strongly to this day — that Vince Gray had any idea that any of this … stuff was going on,” the strategist said.
