D.C. Council report faults Gray administration for “nepotism and cronyism”

A special investigative committee formed by the D.C. Council concluded in a report released Tuesday that “nepotism and cronyism” in the hiring practices of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration violated local and federal law and damaged the city’s reputation.

The report, released after a six-month council investigation, portrays Gray (D) as “disconnected” and aloof as he allowed several top aides to control critical personnel decisions in the early days of his administration.

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The report also confirms allegations by former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown that a top Gray campaign official paid him to disparage then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) during the 2010 primary campaign, although the probe found that Brown exaggerated the amount.

The probe did not uncover direct involvement by Gray in his administration’s most controversial personnel decisions, but the report once again puts the focus on a mayor struggling to gain his footing more than seven months after his inauguration.

“Ultimately, Mayor Gray, as chief executive, is responsible for the actions and errors of his campaign, transition and administration,” the report states. “And when those actions and errors were discovered, it is unfortunate that the Gray administration did not act more swiftly to investigate and repudiate the unlawful actions that occurred.”

The report was released on the same day that Gray was hosting a public preview of the new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial near the Tidal Basin, an event that he spent weeks preparing for.

“At the end of the day, it is my administration,” Gray said at the memorial. “And I take responsibility.” He said he is paying close attention to all hiring decisions now.

The 47-page report puts much of the blame on three former top aides: Judy Banks, who was the interim head of the D.C. Department of Human Resources; Gerri Mason Hall, who was Gray’s chief of staff; and Lorraine Green, who chaired the mayor’s campaign and the transition.

The report accuses the three of orchestrating inappropriate personnel moves, including the hiring of Hall’s son to a city job in possible violation of federal nepotism laws.

“He reasonably relied on that sorority of women, but they betrayed his trust,” said council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), who led the probe. “But at the end of the day, he is still responsible. He picked them, and they are his subordinates.”

Gray said he hasn’t spoken to Banks, Green or Hall in “quite some time.” He declined to say whether he felt betrayed by the actions described in the report. “The whole series of events is personally hurtful,” he said.

Neither Banks’s attorney nor Green’s returned calls seeking comment Tuesday. Kenneth L. Wainstein, Hall’s attorney, said his client had already acknowledged an “error in judgement” in the hiring of her son. “She has always maintained, however, that she never intended to circumvent any laws or rules when assisting her son’s transition from campaign worker to paid District employee,” he said in a statement. “It’s gratifying that the Council also found no intentional violation on her part.”