The shadow campaign weighs on public opinion. According to a poll by the Washington Post, 54 percent of respondents want the mayor to resign while 37 percent think he should stay. The disapproval stretches over all races, classes, and sections of the city. The poll also reveals a growing dissatisfaction among District residents with the D.C. government at large. Of those polled, 63 percent believe Gray is not running an ethical administration and 61 percent don’t find him trustworthy. For the first time in six years, a plurality of D.C. residents think the city is headed in the wrong direction.

Gray was rocked by scandal last week as the full details of the so-called “shadow campaign” came to light. Third-party agents conspired to illegally purchase the Gray campaign $653,000 worth of campaign staff, apparel, and consulting work—a third of all the money spent on behalf on Gray in the 2010 mayoral election. Federal prosecutors stopped short of accusing Gray of wrongdoing, but three members of the D.C. City Council are calling on Gray to resign.

Needless to say, Gray’s reelection appears increasingly unlikely. The poll additionally showed that, if the 2010 Democratic mayoral primary were held again today, Fenty would win by a two-to-one margin. At the same time, the survey showed that other possible mayoral hopefuls are largely unknown by the general public. Interim Chairman of the D.C. Council Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) and D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) lead the pack, each with about 30 percent approving, 10 percent opposing, the rest with no opinion.

Gray continues his bout of silence. By the advice of his attorney, Gray refuses to speak at length about any ongoing investigation involving his administration, although he did take an opportunity to fire back at his critics. Appearing last Friday on NewsChannel 8′s Newstalk, Bruce DePuyt asked Gray to respond to the D.C. Council members calling for his resignation. Of his most outspoken critics, David Catania (I-At Large), Gray said: “Let’s be honest, David Catania is a Republican who became an independent. We forget that we have partisan politics in the District of Columbia… He never supported me; he certainly didn’t support me in the election.”

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More illegal campaign dealings come to light. Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that an off-the-books “shadow campaign” illegally bought Vincent Gray’s 2010 bid for mayor $653,000 worth of paid staff, apparel, and consulting work. With this week came the third guilty plea by a campaign staffer, Eugina Clark Harris. Harris admitted to funneling the money through her business and attempting to conceal evidence that she had done so. Prosecutors believe that most of the money came from mega-donor Jeffery E. Thompson, who has been highly active donor in D.C. politics for years. He owns D.C. Chartered Health Plan, which took in $320 million in government contracts last year. According to the Post, he is looking to sell his share in that company, and, yesterday, he sold his share in the accounting firm Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio and Associates, which is also accused of sharing a part in the shadow campaign.

Federal prosecutors stopped short of accusing Gray of any wrongdoing. The mayor denies knowing anything about the shadow campaign, even though most if not all the goods it purchased were delivered directly to Gray’s campaign office. Although he admitted to his campaign having “issues,” he has refused to speak at length regarding the ongoing investigation. Recent reports by the Post indicate that Gray probably found out about the scandal in January when he met with Harris. At the meeting, he apparently told her to immediately file the unreported campaign money with the city’s Office of Campaign finance.

Even so, various pundits and D.C. Councilmembers Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), and David Catania (I-At Large) have called on Gray to resign. “The people you chose to surround yourself with engaged in a criminal conspiracy to undermine the election process in this city, which means as the leader of that campaign, you forfeit the fruits of that effort,” Catania told the Post. “Does any reasonable person believe that Jeff Thompson invested $653,000 in a shadow campaign and didn’t tell the beneficiary? That makes no sense. None.”

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On Wednesday, at the Citizens Association of Georgetown’s meeting, Mayor Vincent Gray hinted that an agreement has been reached between neighbors and the University over the campus plan. At the meeting, the mayor said, “We’re 95% to getting this solved,” according to the Georgetown Dish.

But, as we all know, it ain’t over till it’s over.

On April 2, the University and neighborhood groups announced that negotiations for the 2010-2020 GU Campus Plan would restart. ANC2E chair Ron Lewis said that no reports would be issued from the meetings to allow them to be “conducted as candidly as possible.” So far, the meetings have been carrying on behind closed doors.

University spokesperson Stacy Kerr expressed a positive sentiment about the negotiations that took place during the past few weeks. Vox is still waiting for an official response.

The meetings remain private; an agreement at this point is speculation. “It is my understanding, though, that Mayor Gray is right to say that the talks are moving in the right direction. I am certainly looking forward to a resolution of the campus plan controversy and continue to hope that whatever agreement is reached will be one that advances the interests of undergraduate students,” ANC Commissioner Jake Sticka (COL ’13) said in an email to Vox.

Check back for updates after the ANC 2E’s meeting on Monday.

This week in D.C. news features Chuck Brown’s memorial service, a Washington Times columnist’s worst work, and the latest on the D.C. Council’s vote on whether to give city employees back pay.

Chuck Brown memorial service

The late, great, pioneer of go-go music Chuck Brown passed away on May 16. Our nation’s capital celebrated Brown in the funkiest way possible: a four-hour-long dance party. Yep, that’s right.

Thousands of people gathered yesterday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the memorial service. Several District officials and Mayor Vincent Gray spoke at the event and promised to name a park after the legend that was Brown, nicknamed by some as the “Godfather of Go-Go.”

Brown was 75 when he died in John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore of multiple organ failures, according to the Washington Post.

If you feel like bustin’ loose on these hot and humid summer days, Vox recommends you break it down in honor of Chuck and his long list of soulful contributions to D.C.’s music scene.

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In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed all slaves in the District of Colombia on April 16th 1862, a panel of history professors and local civil rights advocates discussed the history of emancipation in D.C. and slavery’s legacy in American politics on Tuesday morning. Although each speaker celebrated emancipation day as a victory for human rights, each was sure to remind the audience that freedom is an ongoing struggle.

“Emancipation is an ongoing process, and we still have a long way to go,” started the event’s moderator, Rev. Ray Kemp. “1862 is not that far away. We have to find some way to own this emancipation.”

Kemp went on to discuss his own work as a civil rights advocate in D.C. and how he, in synecdoche for the country as a whole, had to come to grips with his ancestor’s role as slave-owners.

To give a historical perspective of D.C.’s role in national emancipation, Professor of History Chandra Manning told stories of the contraband phenomenon. During  the civil war, Union General Benjamin Butler refused to torn over escaped slaves under the fugitive slave act, citing that war gave him the authority to seize enemy property. To house the runaway “contraband,” contraband camps were constructed wherever union soldiers stopped–there were two in D.C. and more in the surrounding area.

Although conditions in the contraband camps  varied, their presence weakened slaveholder’s grasp because they provided safe havens for escaped slaves, explained Manning. More importantly for emancipation, the camps, especially those around D.C. put former slaves in direct contact with union solders who started to advocate for emancipation as a wartime goal.

Maurice Jackson, also a History Professor, summarized the place of blacks in modern D.C. In the 1950s, the restrictive covenants that determined where blacks couldn’t live in the city were removed, and in 1957, the city was the only major American city with a black majority. In 1970, 71 percent of the city was black; now it is under 50 percent, according to Jackson.

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Last night in Healy Hall, administrators, neighborhood residents and community leaders gathered for the university’s twelfth annual holiday reception with Georgetown’s neighbors. Notable attendees this year were University President John J. DeGioia, D.C. Assistant Police Chief Patrick Burke, ANC commissioner Ron Lewis, City Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), and after an hour filled with anticipation and regular updates on his progress down the Whitehurst Freeway, the real star, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.

With the 2010 campus plan still up in the air, the reception was held with the hopes of a more productive future for University-neighborhood relations. DeGioia kicked off the gathering, deeming it “one of the great events of the holiday season.” He thanked the many community leaders for their presence at the reception.

“I know there are many challenges that we’ve faced together,” DeGioia said. “I am grateful for the fact that we can all come together like this…and work together to ensure a better future for our neighborhood and for this city.”

Mayor Gray’s late arrival lent more holiday cheer to the evening.

Though realistic, the Mayor’s assessment of the campus plan negotiations remained hopeful. “It’s been—I don’t know if I want to say delightful—it’s been interesting working with the University on the campus plan,” Gray said, as the audience laughed. “But I think we’re going to get there. It’s wonderful to be able to walk in this room during the holiday season and see members of the ANC and members of the community here as part of the Georgetown community. That shows me that we are really going to get to a conclusion.”

Gray pointed to the significant progress made so far (“I think we’ve already had 723 hearings,” he quipped to laughter) and said a successful conclusion was in sight.

Gray ended his speech with a call to action. “There are so many problems that are insoluble, and many times the government, despite how many employees we have, just doesn’t have the resources to be able to address those issues….I ask you to work together in the spirit of one city to continue to make this the absolute greatest city in the United States and in the world.”

Photo: Tim Markatos

Last night’s ANC2E meeting had a higher attendance than was usual, due to a visit by D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray. “We’ve had a standing invitation for months,” said Commissioner Ron Lewis, and it happened that last night’s meeting fit Gray’s schedule. By the start of the meeting, all of the seats in seats were filled, a sizable group of people stood in the back.

Mayor Gray took the podium to a loud round of applause after being introduced by Councilmember Jack Evans. The Mayor thanked Evans, and quickly remarked on the “Taxation Without Representation” sticker on the laptop of Commissioner Jake Sticka. Gray went on to reiterate his stance on Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan. “I support the community,” he said, followed by applause from the attendees.

Mayor Gray then described his four priorities in detail—fiscal stability, commitment to education, safety, and turning around unemployment in the District.

For the city’s budget for the 2012 fiscal year, Gray stated his desire to build a budget with “structural integrity.” “We won’t spend any more money then we take in,” he said.

As for education, Gray described how he supported universal pre-K services and made Washington, D.C. the only city in the country with them available. He wishes to extend the program to infants and toddlers. “If I could get a fetus into a program, I would,” he said.

Gray wishes to hire 300 new police officers this year to both replace an estimated 180 officers who will leave, and add an additional 120 officers to the force. He added that homicides were down 17% in the District, and were on track to be at a 42-year low.

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This belated edition of District Digest (courtesy of crashed computer) includes a new kind of flash mob, foul play, more Council member corruptions, a bad birthday, and a terrible restaurant experience.

Flash mobs of crime

On Saturday, Mayor Vincent Gray announced that the District would crack down on flash mob robberies.  Thursday morning, about ten girls invaded a Benning Road convenience store and stole about $70 of snacks and other items.

To combat similar instances, Montgomery County Council proposed a new curfew requiring children under 18 to be home by 11 p.m. on weeknights and 12 a.m. on weekends.

Foul play in the village

Last Tuesday, police arrested Albrecht Gero Muth, 47, for murdering his wife Viola Drath, 91, a former journalist and Georgetown socialite.

Drath was found unconscious in her Q Street home after purportedly falling down the stairs. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Drath had taken out several protective orders against Muth before the incident.

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This week’s edition includes a promising soccer player, a mayor’s dirty past, liquor laws, and leaking gas lines.

Rooting for the home team

On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer’s Jurgen Klinsmann selected goalkeeper Bill Hamid of D.C. United to play for the U.S. national team. Hamid will face Mexico in Philadelphia on the August 10.

Smelly money

According to a Washington Post investigation, Mayor Vincent Gray accepted illegal cash donations during the last mayoral election.

Gray received several cash donations above the legal limit of $25. In addition, Gray’s campaign staff would exchange the cash for money orders, a type of donation that carried a higher limit. These money orders total more than $5000.

The D.C. Office of Campaign Finance is investigating the matter and stated that “any individual or political committee in violation of city campaign rules could face a fine of up to $5000 and six months in prison. Anyone who ‘knowingly’ misleads or files misleading reports can be fined up to $10,000 and receive a five- year prison term.”

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Update: Click here to read the e-mails Vox obtained yesterday in a Freedom of Information Act request.

The D.C. Office of Planning, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, and the Georgetown community cooperated on the controversial OP report on Georgetown University’s 2010 Campus Plan, according to e-mails uncovered by student rights organization DC Students Speak and Vox Populi.

The report, released on May 5, most notably recommended that the University accept a legal limit on enrollment and house all undergraduates on-campus.

The e-mails reveal that ANC 2E Chairman Ron Lewis met with OP a total of three times starting in Spring 2010.

On October 19, 2010, Lewis scheduled a phone call with Jennifer Steingasser of the Office of Planning to discuss the possible closing of negotiations between the community and the University on the 2010 Campus Plan.

“The discussions with Georgetown University about their campus plan have been disappointing (to put it mildly) and we’re on the brink of breaking them off,” Lewis wrote. “I’d like a chance to bring you up to date on what’s been going on.”

Community representatives officially ceased talks with the University on October 28, 2010. In subsequent meetings, it appears that Lewis’ input figured prominently in the OP’s final product.

In advance of a February 7, 2011 meeting with OP, Lewis e-mailed Steingasser with talking points containing several elements that made it into the final OP report, including a mandate for Zoning Commission approval of future University purchases in zip code 20007 (i.e. Georgetown and Burleith outside the main gates) and enrollment cap penalties for noncompliance with on-campus housing requirements.

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