D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has a chance to give his administration a new start in Monday evening’s State of the District address after three scandal-plagued months that have sent his poll numbers plummeting. But a D.C. Council hearing on the high salaries and top-level administration jobs handed out to political allies and their children threatens to overshadow any message the mayor hopes to send.
| Hot topics |
| Points Mayor Gray might raise during his State of the District speech: |
| » Budget: Look for saving on special education by cutting transportation costs, adding police officers and preparing residents for deep cuts. |
| » Taxes: He has said he doesn’t plan to raise them. |
| » Education: He’ll likely play up his selection of Kaya Henderson as D.C. schools chancellor. |
| A recap |
| Jan. 2: Gray is sworn in. |
| Feb. 19: A month later it’s revealed he has hired close allies and family members of administration members to his staff, among them Sulaimon Brown. |
| Feb. 23: It’s revealed that Brown has a criminal history. |
| Feb. 24: Brown is fired. |
| March 6: Brown accuses Gray of a cash-for-campaigning scheme. |
| March 9: Other questions arise regarding high salaries and political appointees. |
| March 9: At-large Councilman David Catania and others push for Gray’s chief of staff, Gerri Mason Hall, to resign. |
| March 13: Gray rolls back salaries of political appointees. |
| March 16: Gray fires Hall. |
“I will look at where we are,” Gray told The Washington Examiner when asked about his plans for the big speech. “I will foreshadow what’s in the budget that’s coming down to the council at the end of the week.”
As to whether he’ll speak directly about the scandals, Gray said, “I’ve been addressing them all across the city.”
Since last month, Gray has been criticized for paying some administration officials salaries higher than those earned under previous mayors. After a council report found that several of those salaries were at a rate that would exceed the legal limit, Gray cut them back and fired his chief of staff, Gerri Mason Hall, who was widely blamed for those decisions.
Gray also hasn’t been able to shake claims by former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown that members of the Gray for Mayor campaign passed him cash-stuffed envelopes last summer so Brown could stay on the campaign trail and attack then-Mayor Adrian Fenty. Brown also claims Gray offered him a job in his administration. It doesn’t help Gray that Brown landed an administration job with a $110,000 annual salary. Brown has since been fired. His accusations have led to probes by the U.S. Attorney’s office and the House of Representatives.
A poll found last week that the scandals have left Gray with a 31 percent approval rating.
To clear the air, “He should start by apologizing, saying what he did wrong, explaining what happened and lastly say what he’s going to do to prevent this from occurring again,” said Bill Lightfoot, chairman of Fenty’s re-election campaign. “He should start with the State of the District address.”
Gray’s chief political consultant on the campaign trail had different advice.
“He should put all those distractions aside and remind voters of the District why they voted for him in the first place,” said Mo Elleithee, a Democratic strategist who was a top adviser to Gray’s mayoral campaign. “He should lay out his priorities for a difficult budget situation and remind people of his vision.”
Those distractions, though, are likely to be playing loudly through the day Monday as Brown, Hall and others are paraded through a council hearing where they’ll testify under oath about accusations and hiring choices. Cheh’s committee lacks jurisdiction over Brown’s claims regarding campaign cash and won’t be raised, Cheh said.
“My goal here is to get the facts out in a straightforward way,” Cheh said. “Gray welcomed investigations and I don’t think it’s a situation where he’s been put in any jeopardy.”
Getting the facts out, she said, “may just clear things up.”
