Mayoral candidate Vincent C. Gray may have quieted the concerns of both education reformers and Michelle Rhee haters with the appointment of Kaya Henderson as the interim D.C. Public Schools chancellor. But reports about other personnel appointments he’s considering have been disturbing.
The Examiner’s Freeman Klopott reported D.C.’s former Chief Technology Officer Suzanne Peck could become Gray’s city administrator. The Washington City Paper’s Alan Suderman wrote that Reuben O. Charles II could be his chief of staff.
Peck helped raised money during the primary campaign. She was paid $4,000 as a “consultant” on Aug. 31, according to the report filed with the Office of Campaign Finance. Charles, who also helped with fundraising, currently serves the Gray campaign as head of operations.
Adam Rubinson, manager of Gray’s primary campaign, has told me there would be no personnel decisions until after the election. But that Gray is even considering Peck and Charles — his money collectors — coupled with his ditching of Rhee to satisfy unions, who spent $1 million on him in the primary, affirms the Democratic nominee’s pay-to-play state of mind.
Charles has a troubling financial history. A Guyana-born venture capitalist, he has had multiple lawsuits filed against him in St. Louis, where he lived before moving to the District three years ago.
He owes a bank $337,000 and a construction company $4,000, according to published reports. There is also a $12,000 default judgment against him, won by a homeowners association.
By contrast, Peck and her husband, Paul, have been cash registers for the city’s politicos for more than a decade. This year, she gave money to incumbent Councilmen Phil Mendelson, David Catania and Jim Graham, according to OCF records.
Her affluence made her nearly untouchable when she served as technology chief in Mayor Anthony A. Williams’ administration. She was a serial abuser of city personnel and procurement rules and regulations. The inspector general, the city auditor and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer all cited her odious practices.
I chronicled her shenanigans from 2002 through her departure in 2007, and urged Fenty in this space not to retain her at the technology office. She treated that agency like her private preserve, often providing contracts without all required approvals to friends and associates.
Peck didn’t lead the technology office when employees and contractors were arrested on charges of bribery and kickbacks. But individuals who worked at the agency during her tenure told me she created an environment where favoritism and personal relationships reigned, inviting the corruption uncovered by the FBI and others.
Gray’s campaign propaganda has portrayed him as a man of the people and a good-government agent, intent on ending cronyism. That portrait will be seriously tarnished if he brings Peck and Charles to the John A. Wilson Building.
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
