Mendelson: Guilty pleas of Gray aides don't hinder work on ethics

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and a key ally insist that an escalating city hall scandal won’t derail the mayor’s overhaul of ethics and campaign finance laws, even though Gray remains under scrutiny and has repeatedly missed deadlines to move parts of his agenda forward. Two guilty pleas taken by former Gray’s aides last week amounted to a distraction, not a dilution of the mayor’s power, said at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson.

“They’re a reminder that we have this ethical cloud and a reminder that it will be nice when the U.S. attorney concludes these investigations, however they turn out,” Mendelson said.