Mayor Vince Gray’s closest advisors chatted behind his back via e-mail about his relationship with lobbyist Linda Greene after questions were raised about it in the Washington City Paper.
Back in February, Loose Lips columnist Alan Suderman e-mailed Gray spokeswoman Linda Wharton-Boyd to confirm that Gray was dating Greene, according to e-mails obtained by The Washington Examiner. Boyd said she couldn’t, but forwarded the message to the mayor.
Later that day, Suderman published a blog post raising questions about Greene’s business relationship with George Chopisky, who had previously expressed interest in buying United Medical Center from the city.
Gray’s close friend and campaign chairwoman, Lorraine Green, forwarded a copy of Suderman’s article to then-interim human resources director Judy Banks.
“And you just had that conversation,” Banks responded to Green.
Gray later responded to Wharton-Boyd.
“To my knowledge she is not lobbying on anything but Linda will have to confirm that,” Gray wrote. “I do not talk to her about government business and she has not asked me to anything related to government business.”
After seeing Suderman’s blog post, Gray wrote to Wharton-Boyd again:
“I was not lobbied about UMC but sadly I guess these kinds of stories come with the territory. The discouraging thing is that I feel close to certain that I know who started this.”
He doesn’t say who.
“Yep… sure did,” Green said back.
“Either they stop dating or the guy bows out of the pending transaction,” was Banks’ final response.
