District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray faced additional calls to resign, a day after three councilmembers said that he should step aside because of the ongoing federal investigation into his 2010 campaign.
On Tuesday, a public relations consultant, Eugenia Clarke Harris, pleaded guilty to charges that she helped illegally steer more than $650,000 to what the U.S. attorney has described as a “shadow campaign” to boost Gray’s chances to unseat then-Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) in the primary election.
On Wednesday, three councilmembers, Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), David Catania (I-At-Large) and Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) called on the mayor to resign.
“Whether Vince knew or not, the legitimacy of the election was called into question by all this illegal money,” Catania said.
Says D.C. Republican Committee Chairman Bob Kabel:
“It’s time for the Mayor to do what’s best for the District and resign. The only way forward is with new leadership for our city. While it is still unclear if the Mayor knew about the shadow campaign during his election, the fact is, the Mayor did not disclose to the public what he did know shortly after the election. This is truly unacceptable.”
Gray told reporters Wednesday during a press conference that he had no plans of resigning. While he did not go into much detail about the allegations of a shadow campaign, the mayor said: “This is not the campaign that we intended to run.”
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Gray he knew the existence of campaign violations in January, when Harris said she met with the mayor in his fifth floor private suite in the John A. Wilson Building.
The disclosure of the meeting marks the first indication that Gray knew of undocumented funds before the federal raids in March at the homes and offices of Harris and business associate Jeffrey E. Thompson, who is believed to have funneled more than $650,000 in unreported funds to a “shadow campaign.”
Dre Black So Fresh 