( Matt McClain / THE WASHINGTON POST ) - Mayor Vincent Gray greets attendees after giving his State of the District address.
“In some quarters, we have created a culture of dependency,” Gray said. “Public assistance should be a hand up, not a permanent handout.”
The mayor’s first address came on the same day a D.C. Council committee held a hearing on his administration’s hiring practices, including the employment and termination of former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown.
Brown, a 40-year-old unemployed auditor who has had several run-ins with the law, landed a $110,000-a-year job as a special assistant in the Department of Health Care Finance. After he was dismissed last month, he alleged that he was promised a city job in return for verbal attacks on Fenty in the election. He also alleged that he received payments from Lorraine Green, Gray’s campaign chairman, and Howard Brooks, a consultant on Gray’s campaign. Gray, Green and Brooks have denied the allegations. The Washington Post has not been able to independently verify any payments.
Brown’s allegations have prompted federal and local probes. They have also been lumped in with criticism of other hiring practices, such as the employment of five children of aides in Gray’s campaign or government staff, including Green and Brooks.
In recent weeks, four of the five children have resigned. Only Green’s daughter remains in her job, in the Office of Film and Television. Gray also fired his chief of staff, Gerri Mason Hall, whose son had been hired but resigned.
Many of his top aides are making tens of thousands of dollars more than their predecessors in Fenty’s administration. The mayor recently ordered salaries that exceeded city caps be reduced.
“What you will see in the months to come is the government you deserve,” Gray said. “One that takes seriously the notion of public trust and accountability. If that trust is violated, you can expect swift action.”
Gray shared a few accomplishments with the audience. The District is the first city with “on-demand treatment” for residents who have received HIV diagnoses and has created a commission to tackle the disease, he said. He added that his administration has launched a $55 million pilot program that offers incentive payments to contractors for hiring residents on school modernization projects.
Gray also said fighting truancy is a priority of his administration.
He humanized his speech by acknowledging Shamekia Murray, a single mother who lost her home but was helped by a city housing program, and Wendell Kyler, a high school student who has helped raise $5,000 for charities. He challenged the audience to help others. “When the story of this moment is written, let it be said of us that we met these challenges of one city,” Gray said.
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