The transition team that will develop the framework for Vincent Gray’s mayorship includes a handful of members with links to the District’s troubled 1990s and former Mayor Marion Barry’s administrations.
Gray announced his 15-member team Wednesday afternoon, a day after officially winning the uncontested mayor’s race. Transition team members, Gray said, will prepare concrete plans for how he’ll handle education reform, economic development and government operations.
The transition team “consists of the most esteemed political, business and community leaders that the District of Columbia has to offer,” Gray said. “Each brings a highly regarded expertise forged from years of public service and a record of developing broad-reaching strategies for reform and growth.”
Leading the group is Executive Director Reuben Charles, a venture capitalist with roots in St. Louis. Charles started out with the Gray campaign in May as a fundraiser and rose quickly.
But some of the transition team members have long ties to the District.
One of those is Thomas Downs, a former city administrator for Barry. Barry hired Downs — who will co-chair Gray’s infrastructure and transportation committee — in 1981 to be transportation chief. Downs rose quickly and became Barry’s chief lieutenant in 1983 after being credited for making the Transportation Department one of the city’s best agencies. While serving as Barry’s city administrator, Downs frequently played the role of spokesman for the mayor’s troubled administration. In January 1987, it was Downs who defended the city’s cleanup of a brutal snowstorm while Barry tried to make his way back from California, where the mayor had been watching the Super Bowl.
Joining Downs in leading the infrastructure committee is Cellerino Bernardino, who resigned as Department of Public Works chief in 1998 under an onslaught of criticism in the waning days of Barry’s last administration. When he left, the city’s inability to collect trash on time, maintain sidewalks and fix broken traffic lights had become nearly legendary.
Two of Gray’s picks, however, were notable in the 1990s for their resistance to Barry’s demands as members of the control board put in power by the federal government to fix the city’s broken finances. Alice Rivlin and Constance Newman were control board leaders known for keeping Barry in check.
“This is back to the future,” said Terry Lynch, a local political observer. “Hopefully, Gray will get the best of the past, but also bring in some fresh voices.”
