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NEWS LOOSE LIPS
Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White
Behind the 8 Brawl Can Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White live stream his way to a second term? By Mitch Ryals @MitchRyals If you need to find Trayon White, just look at his Instagram (unless you’re LL, who has been blocked from viewing the Ward 8 councilmember’s account for months). The freshman lawmaker, nearing the end of his first term, entertains an audience of 37,000 followers with near-constant uploads of images and videos from the Council dais, live streams from crime scenes and food give-aways, and posts about goings on in the ward. In one video shared last year, he quizzes a few kids about a lesson he just gave them about gentrification. Even when White’s itchy thumbs have landed him in trouble—like the time he posted a picture of himself kicking back in Mexico during a budget vote, or the time he repeated a conspiracy theory that suggests a wealthy Jewish family controls the weather—he has managed to escape relatively unscathed. Most recently, White took to Facebook Live and, over several days, recorded himself and his team standing outside Hope Village, the soon-to-be-shuttered halfway house in Ward 8. Dressed in a white hazmat suit, White at first responded to complaints to his office that the
men housed inside lacked food and supplies. From the street, White shouted to the men, who responded through their open windows. He later responded to reports of two deaths inside the facility on two different days, and streamed live as employees loaded the bodies into a black van and drove them away. On camera, he called out the facility’s operator, Jeffrey Varone, and its spokesperson, Ward 8 political operator Phinis Jones, and gave out the email address and phone number for Jon Gustin, an administrator in the Bureau of Prisons’ reentry branch. The two men who died inside were housed in the same building where other residents were said to be quarantined due to the coronavirus, White said in one of his videos, and one of the men was “suffering from some type of respiratory infection,” according to a firefighter he spoke with. “They just pulled a body out, a gentleman who was in the basement who was allegedly the same person who said he had the flu last week, who was quarantined, who said he was being tested for coronavirus, man,” White said with a sigh, adding that he didn’t know the official cause of death. With the June 2 primary approaching, White’s political opponents seize on the Hope Village episodes as only the most recent
example of why the current occupant of the Ward 8 seat is better suited as an activist than a councilmember. Mike Austin, one of White’s primary challengers, calls White’s constant social media presence a “dog and pony show” and accuses the incumbent of spreading false information about the deaths inside the halfway house. The BOP has said neither death is related to COVID19. A BOP spokesperson says via email that the deaths are under investigation and declined to comment further. “Banging pots, making a fuss, and getting thousands of views and spreading false information on Facebook Live, and just (putting out) propaganda,” Austin says. “As a councilmember your job is to get the facts and instill calm.” (Austin later clarified that he was speaking figuratively about the commotion outside the halfway house and didn’t see White banging pots.) Yaida Ford, a civil rights lawyer and another of White’s challengers, says his call to shut down the facility without a plan to house its residents is indicative of his “wrongheaded” policies. Although some men will move to home confinement, it’s unclear where the rest will be housed as they near the end of their sentences. Following White’s posts from outside Hope
Village, the company that runs the facility announced it would not seek renewal of its contract with BOP, which expires April 30. Varone, Hope Village’s chief executive, did not respond to a phone call seeking comment, but he told the Washington Post that a recent lawsuit alleging a lack of medical care and testing for the facility’s residents cost the company “unnecessary time and attorney’s fees” and that some men could head back to prison. The facility also employed more than 50 Ward 8 residents, the Post reported. Stuart Anderson, White’s third challenger, who served more than a decade in prison and lived in Hope Village in 2008, says “I do the work. Social media? Posting? I don’t need that.” White did not agree to an interview and did not respond to written questions by press time. Others believe White’s Instagramming and Facebooking show a level of authenticity that’s rare among elected officials. At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, who is supporting White and donated to his campaign, calls his Instagram feed “must-watch TV” and says his service-heavy approach to the job is necessary for one of the most economically depressed areas of the District. “He has a different job than almost any other member,” Silverman says. “The need for services is so great in Ward 8, and the level of violence is higher than any other ward. So he’s directly responding to crime scenes, and oftentimes he knows either the victim or sometimes the suspect.” During his first four years on the D.C. Council, White’s unconventional approach to the job has made him more than a few enemies. Ten people originally filed to dethrone Trayon “Ward Eight” White, as his name appears on the ballot, and there is growing frustration over what critics say is White’s hostility and unwillingness to work with those who disagree with him. The question is, will it matter? “I consider him Ward 8’s Donald Trump,” says Darrell Gaston, an advisory neighborhood commissioner who is supporting Austin. “No matter what he does, his supporters feel he can do no wrong.” The campaign is heating up, Austin tells LL at the beginning of a phone interview. Last week, a hooded man busted the window of Austin’s Mustang while it was parked in front of his house. Austin believes it was a campaignrelated scare tactic. On the same day, White posted on Instagram that a neighbor called to say someone was taking his campaign signs down. “Then I see all these Mike Austin signs up,” White wrote. “So who do I see, Ole Lenwood walking around with signs in his hand. The hate is going to bring more love.” White asked his supporters to post pics tagged with #ImWithTray, and the comments came flooding in. Austin brands himself as a more experienced, mild mannered alternative to White. The chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8C is unimpressed with the legislation the incumbent introduced in his first term and says White’s abrasiveness toward people who challenge his ideas has ostracized certain people in the ward.
washingtoncitypaper.com april 24, 2020 3