Let us go back to Nov. 2, when Vincent Gray won the mayor’s office.
In his victory speech, he was eloquent, warning that the city was facing tough fiscal times.
"We have to come together to find ways to address the huge budget crisis our city faces,” he said, “through shared sacrifice, by restoring fiscal responsibility and by showing respect for taxpayer dollars.”
Now, just more than 10 weeks into his term, the mayor is being accused of not living up to his own words.
Gray ordered, or allowed others to order, record-setting salaries for his top appointees. And some of those appointees saw their own children appointed to high-paying city jobs, too.
And this week we’re not even going to get into the luxury SUV controversy and the murky allegations from Sulaimon Brown that Gray is an “organized crook.”
The mayor’s office has been long on procedure and pomp and short on policy. It seems like many in the Gray administration think it’s enough just to be appointed to a job and to hold onto it, rather than to do something with it.
Gray’s press office must be busy doing something, but in the rapid-fire, 24/7 world of media relations, almost every reporter complains of delayed responses and uncertain access.
Some veteran advisers also wonder what’s going on. For example, why does the mayor do the right thing by appointing an HIV/AIDS commission to ramp up the fight against the deadly disease, but then appoint himself co-chair? That guarantees the mayor will be bogged down in meetings and process rather than depending on the commission to bring him its best advice.
Insiders say Gray is having a difficult time making the transition from legislator who weighs policy to executive who enacts it.
"He’s not the chairman of the council anymore,” said one frustrated adviser.
On Monday, NBC Washington reported that there’s heavy pressure to replace Gerri Mason Hall as Gray’s chief of staff. Some suggested the change is imminent, but others say that little in the Gray camp moves quickly. And Hall is a confidante of Lorraine Green, the mayor’s numero uno private adviser.
Hall has strong credentials in personnel work at both the District and federal government level. But being chief of staff is not a personnel job, it’s a policy job.
The chief of staff has to crack heads if things don’t get done in a way that makes the mayor look good. The chief of staff has to juggle policy and politics. A good chief of staff would laugh if some top city official wanted his or her child on the city payroll. But Hall’s own child got a job.
The early missteps of the Gray administration cannot all be laid at Hall’s feet, though. There have been many anxious calls and meetings about how Gray can get back on track.
Any shake-up, several advisers say, should come before Gray presents his austerity budget on April 1. Initial plans are to emblazon the budget book with the high-sounding words “Sharing the Sacrifice.” It will take only a nanosecond for reporters and advocates of slashed programs to point out that the mayor’s office is living the high life.
Some insiders expect Gray to order salary reductions, or they hope he does. Gerri Hall makes $200,000 -- the same as the mayor. Communications director Linda Wharton-Boyd makes $160,000.
Staff changes and salary reductions would be just the start of getting back on track. It’s early in the Gray administration. Other mayors have gotten off to rough starts, too. Remember how then-Mayor-elect Tony Williams was paid thousands of dollars by an accounting firm and bank but didn’t report it? Williams paid a $1,000 fine and had to fight to re-establish his chief financial officer reputation.
Gray has to show that he can be the city’s chief executive. And he needs a staff that will help him do it.
• Traffic. Traffic. Traffic.
Why weren’t there traffic officers around the Verizon Center on Sunday when the hockey game was over? Traffic snarled, and cars crawled through surrounding streets. There wasn’t a traffic control aide or cop in sight.
In the 9th Street tunnel leading to Virginia, three lanes of traffic tried to squeeze into the only one that actually led onto the Southeast-Southwest Freeway. Horns honked and people fought to break in line. Again, not a cop in sight.
When will the city take rush-hour and special-event traffic seriously? It seems the only time we see it is on the Fourth of July. What about the other days of the year?
