Council Chair
On March 31 2010, Brown announced that he would pursue the DC Council Chairmanship, one day after the current seat holder Vincent C. Gray announced his candidacy for Mayor for that year's election, making him ineligible to regain his office, which expires in January 2011. This eliminated earlier speculation that Brown would pursue the Mayoral seat against incumbent Adrian Fenty.
On September 14, 2010, Brown won the Democratic primary for Chairperson, receiving 55 percent of the vote to former Ward 5 Councilman Vincent Orange's 39 percent and school board member Dorothy Douglas' 6 percent. He faced no opposition in the November 2 general election, and Brown was sworn in as Chairman of the DC Council on January 2, 2011.
In the midst of a significant revenue shortfall for the District, as Chairman-elect of the Council, Brown requested the District order a Lincoln Navigator L for his use. The vehicle costs the city $1,963.28 a month to lease and it was shown that Brown rejected an earlier model that did not have a "black on black" interior.
On June 6, 2012, Federal prosecutors charged D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown with one count of bank fraud in U.S. District Court. He resigned from the Council later that day. The following day, Brown was charged with misdemeanor unlawful cash campaign expenditures for violating the District's election law that prohibits cash campaign expenditures in excess of $50.
Read more about this topic: Kwame R. Brown
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