The former mayor’s press conferences were few and terse. Adrian Fenty did not like to be questioned, period. Mayor Vincent Gray schedules weekly question-and-answer sessions with reporters in the basement of the John Wilson Building, but they are more performance art than traditional press conference. Gray’s press operation attempts to use reporters as an audience. He trots out government workers to congratulate them for their work, and he announces an appointment or two. The press is supposed to clap and often obliges. These are feel-good press events.
But questions about the investigation into alleged payoffs by Gray’s campaign staff wiped the grin off Gray’s face. He snapped at my colleague, Freeman Klopott, who dared to prod the mayor about bonuses paid to campaign workers, the better to follow the money trail.
