This time last year, during the waning days of the primary election season, then-candidates Vincent Gray and Kwame Brown pledged to usher in a new era of transparency and ethics reform. Since then, we’ve learned the saying “talk is cheap” is more than an adage. It’s a daily reality in the District. Chairman Brown permitted the D.C. Council to recess without passing any ethics bill — not even an emergency measure. Worse, when his good buddy Harry Thomas Jr. was caught with money in his wallet apparently belonging to underserved youth, Brown failed to call for the Ward 5 councilman’s resignation.
There’s still time for the chairman to demonstrate he means business. When the legislature returns next month, he could, at the very least, vote to formally censure Thomas and aggressively push for passage of the various ethics bills before the council.
Brown also could champion the immediate appointment of a Republican or other minor political party representative to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, as required by law.
Three elections have occurred in the past year without the full complement of representatives on the board that oversees the process. (The elections board also ensures campaign finance and ethics laws are enforced.) Yet another election is approaching.
Mayor Gray hasn’t forwarded any names to the council to fill the minority party slot on the board. Meanwhile, Chairman Togo West has indicated he intends to resign. That means there could be one person left on the three-member panel.
Ronald Collins, executive director of the city’s office of boards and commissions, said the mayor will submit names to the council next month after recess. He said the candidates “will be outstanding professional leaders in their respective fields, have stellar reputations, and whose integrity and ethics are beyond question.
“At this time, I am unable to share any names with you,” Collins added.
When I specifically and repeatedly asked him whether Gray would be nominating someone to the minority party seat, Collins refused several times to answer the question.
Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, whose Committee on Government Operations has oversight of the elections board, said she has spoken with Gray’s chief of staff to “understand the mayor’s next steps.” But Gray has not “responded to a request to further discuss” that issue.
So much for Gray’s highly touted spirit of operation and government transparency.
The D.C. Republican Committee has urged Gray to nominate a Republican to fill West’s seat. “The mayor has a fantastic Republican candidate and an opportunity knocking to do something out of the box,” said committee Chairman Robert Kabel. “This will send shock waves throughout District politics that this mayor will do whatever it takes to bring about ethics reform.”
Talk about wishful thinking.
Gray is an obdurate Democrat. He cleaves to the party and its platform even as it consistently and continually kicks the District to the curb.
The DCRC may want to adjust its audacity-of-hope meter.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
