Mayor Vince Gray has fired Department of Employment Services Director Rochelle Webb, whose son was hired by the administration and who also spent her first month in the city living at the W Hotel on taxpayer’s dime.
A Gray spokeswoman made the announcement via a press release late Friday. Employment services operating officer Lisa Mallory was appointed interim director until Gray finds a permanent replacement, the release said.
Webb had been criticized for her son’s landing a job with administration, the more than $5,000 she spent on a hotel room at the W Hotel and the use of a city worker as a personal chauffer. Her son, Brandon Webb resigned from his communications position last month.
According to a Gray spokesman, Brandon Webb had been living with his mother at the W Hotel before he was hired by the city in mid-January.
This is the second top official in the Gray administration to lose her job in recent weeks as scandals over high salaries and the hiring of political allies and their children continue to plague the mayor. The first to go was chief of staff Gerri Mason Hall. Since her firing, it has been revealed that Hall played a direct role in getting her son a job, going as far as to set his salary.
