“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” John C. Maxwell –
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C e l e b r a t i n g 4 9 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 49, No.22 Mar. 13 - Mar. 19, 2014
Mayor Vincent Gray, (D) delivered his 2014 State of the District Address at Kelly Miller Middle School in Northeast on Tuesday, March 11. Gray took the opportunity to assure District residents that he did not break the law. /Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah
Gray Defends Himself, Touts City’s Accomplishments By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer @bsalmondc “I say this to all of you clearly and unequivocally, I did not break the law!” With those words, Mayor Vincent C. Gray began an unabashed defense of his inno-
cence in a campaign corruption scandal that exploded Monday afternoon following an appearance in federal court of the man prosecutors say has tied Gray to campaign misdeeds. The State of the District Address at Kelly Miller Middle School in Ward 7 was supposed to be a coronation for Gray –
a mere three weeks before the April 1 primary. But Jeffrey Thompson’s court appearance March 10 put Gray on the defensive and cast doubts on his ability to win a second term in a crowded field. Thompson, once described as the kingmaker of D.C. politics, pled guilty to two counts
of conspiring to violate federal campaign finance laws, submitting false filings to the Internal Revenue Service and conspiring to violate District campaign finance laws. Ron Machen, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and federal authorities have been pursuing Gray and oth-
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ers involved in developing and propagating a $633,000 shadow campaign for almost four years. The U.S. Attorney’s Statement of Offense refers to Thompson as a prolific political donor who secretly provided 28 federal and local political candidates and
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