The man who has accused D.C.'s mayor of political cronyism has been ordered by a judge to appear before D.C. Council June 6.
Sulaimon Brown appeared before D.C. Superior Court Judith Macaluso on Tuesday.
Members of the Council have wanted to speak to Brown for some time about his claims that his $110,000 a year post as an auditor for the city was the payoff in a political bargain. Brown, a candidate in the 2010 mayoral election, said that he campaigned negatively against incumbent Adrian Fenty in exchange for a job promised to him by Vincent Gray's campaign staff.
Brown said that he has concrete proof of his allegations that will be revealed to the Council Monday.
“I think that the mayor is a coward, and he has been acting very cowardly on this issue,” Brown said after receiving the order from the judge. “He is not taking a leadership role, so I decided to come down here and take a leadership role. There’s nothing that I’m going to say to the City Council that I have not already said to federal investigators.”
“The mayor is focused on his key priorities for the District,” a statement from Gray’s office read.”Today as in the past he has encouraged all to cooperate with any investigations.”
The Council has been looking into the mayor's hiring practices over the past few weeks. Earlier in May, Mayor Gray's campaign chairwoman Lorraine Green testified under oath that no cronyism had been practiced in the new administration's hiring process. Green, a long-time political confidante of the mayor, said that Brown was a persistent, annoying presence to the mayor, but that Gray had never promised him a job.
The Council has had a hard time getting Brown to testify under oath. Although Brown has made his accusation on camera with a number of media outlets, he has avoided Council corruption hearings, calling them a "witch hunt."
Council member Mary Cheh said Brown has been playing a game of hide and seek, and hired an outside firm to find Brown and serve him with a subpoena to appear.
During his brief court appearance today, Brown expressed concern to the judge about the length of time he would have to testify. He told the court he was currently unemployed, and was concerned about the hearing interfering with his search for work.
The judge stipulated that he appear at 1 p.m. Monday and not be kept past 7 p.m. If his testimony is not complete, he can return the following day.
