D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray surrounded himself with top city officials today and launched into an hour-long news conference to detail what he says his administration is doing.
It appeared the mayor was trying to combat suggestions that he's distracted by the federal investigation into his 2010 campaign.
The mayor gathered top city officials behind him as they detailed goals in a new One City Action Plan that covers many routine government duties like hiring and training police. The officials praised the plan and their work.
But reporters and analysts asked why normal government services were being touted and asked if the mayor planned to be in office or even run for reelection given the federal investigation.
The mayor said all he can do right now is continue doing his job. He said his action plan should be implemented regardless of who’s in the mayor’s office.
Reporters trailed after the mayor for further questions not allowed at the biweekly news conference, but Gray was hustled into an elevator, and moments later, Press Secretary Pedro Ribeiro chastised reporters for not covering the mayor's many other press conferences.
Civic activist and columnist Dorothy Brizill said the mayor's distracting tactic wasn't working.
