Hi, I’m George Gerbo, and welcome to Washington Times Weekly, where we get a chance to sit down with our reporters and discuss their coverage of the latest news and events.
Joining me today is Washington Times crime and local reporter Matt Delaney.
[GERBO] We’re going to do an all-local, all D.C.-focused episode. It seems the summer’s heating up here in the District. First up, Trayon White, his name might be familiar to some, both locally and nationally, Ward 8 Councilman. He was expelled from the council. He’s been indicted on federal bribery charges, accused of accepting $150,000 in bribes. And he recently won election, once again, to the D.C. Council. It appears that they can’t keep him away.
[DELANEY] Yes, the people wanted Trayon, and Trayon is going to re-assume his seat on the D.C. Council next month. Now, some things to put in context here. He won about 30% of the vote total in the special election. The other three candidates — who were all very strong — won anywhere from 22% to 25% each. So it does give you an idea that maybe if people had rallied around one of those three people, this wouldn’t have been the case. But yes, Trayon White’s very dedicated base of supporters showed up and helped push him over the line, and he’s going back to the council. It remains to be seen how long he’ll be there.
Once the election is certified on August 8th, he’ll rejoin them. And he’s going to have some big sway in upcoming decisions, especially on the RFK stadium deal, even though, I think breaking news either today or yesterday, that seems to be resolved. Trayon White will be a legislator again in the District. And he was living out his arc, his Marion Barry arc, following the footsteps of his political mentor, who was caught with crack cocaine. He was charged, convicted on a misdemeanor count, came back and won the race for mayor in 1994. So yes, Trayon White is now back on the council, who could believe it.
[GERBO] Vince Gray comes to mind, too. The same neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, where he was a mayor, councilman, expelled, came back. You know, they’ve been able to overcome political scandals, those individuals in the past. And here, Trayon White’s done it again. He’s going to trial in January on those bribery charges. We’ll see if the council potentially votes to expel him. The gentleman that initially led that push to expel Trayon White, the chair of the D.C. Council, Phil Mendelson, he now not only is supporting Trayon White, but he’s kind of got himself in some hot water, at least with the Metropolitan Police Department Police Union.
[DELANEY] Yes. Some protesters for the Initiative 82… I don’t want to get too inside baseball here, Initiative 82, which basically removed the tipped wage for waiters, bartenders, things like that.
[GERBO] Big deal for restaurants here in D.C. because D.C. sales tax is already 10% on everything. A lot of restaurants have instituted surcharges or administrative fees that are in addition to the sales tax and also exclusive of any kind of tipped wage. So Initiative 82 is a big battle between the restaurant industry in town and also the council.
Watch the video to see the full conversation