D.C. Mayor Vince Gray’s former chief of staff said Thursday that she acted alone in her decision to find a job for former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown. Gerri Mason Hall testified during a council hearing on salary and hiring decisions made by the Gray administration that she interviewed Brown and found him a job in the department of health care finance with a $110,000 annual salary. Brown claims he was promised a job by Gray last summer if he remained on the campaign trail and continued his verbal attacks on then-Mayor Adrian Fenty. That, and his accusation that top members of the Gray for Mayor campaign passed him cash-stuffed envelopes during the campaign to keep up his attacks, are the subject of investigations by the U.S. attorney’s office and Congress. But Hall said Thursday that at no point during her conversations with Brown “did he suggest an arrangement had been made.” Instead, Hall said she acted alone in moving forward with hiring Brown because he was “aggressive” and “persistent” with his requests for a job and “he was always around the mayor and I wanted to remove the distraction.” She said she had been told by Gray for Mayor Chairwoman Lorraine Green to discuss with the mayor hiring Brown before Hall did so, but Hall said she forgot to do that. Brown claims Green organized the cash payments. Hall testified that Green asked her to meet with Brown about giving him a job and that the mayor told her he had promised Brown a job interview, but not a position. Gray has said the same. Hall was fired last month among reports of higher-than-legal salaries being paid to top administration officials and the hiring of children related to Cabinet members. Brown was scheduled to testify Thursday, but refused to do so, calling the hearing organized by Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh a “witch hunt.” “I don’t care if they’re going to subpoena me or not,” Brown said before storming out of the John A. Wilson Building, the District’s city hall. Cheh promptly signed the subpoena that will legally require Brown to appear.
