Sulaimon Brown's appearance before D.C. Council promised theatrics, and he did not disappoint.
After several weeks of dodging a Council subpoena to come in and explain his accusations of corruption in Mayor Vincent Gray's election and administration, the terminated city auditor finally took the witness stand at the Wilson Building on Monday afternoon.
Under oath, he repeated an accusation that he has been making to the media for months: that he was paid to campaign negatively against incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty by Vincent Gray's election committee. Brown also said he was promised a job in Gray's new administration.
Gray's office strenuously denied such a quid-pro-quo deal.
Brown arrived wearing a pair of sunglasses, which he refused to remove, even after he was asked by Council member Mary Cheh.
NBC's Tom Sherwood said that Brown's testimony was chaotic and combative, giving the hearing a highly disjointed atmosphere. Sherwood said that a circus would have been more organized.
In his testimony, Sulaimon Brown said that representatives from the Gray campaign had on several occasions passed him cash.
After several hours of testimony, in which Brown verbally sparred with all of the members of the Council, Marion Barry exclaimed, "I've never been to anything like this before."
