Wilson Building Bulletin: Trayon's last stand
The council is poised to boot embattled councilmember Trayon White, but his lawyer argues the legislative body isn't following its own rules.
He came wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the message “The FBI Killed Fred Hampton.” A truck featuring his image and the words “FBI Set Me Up” stood just outside the Wilson Building. But when he faced his colleagues on Tuesday afternoon, embattled Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White didn’t say anything at all.
Instead, White left it up to his lawyer, veteran defense attorney Fred Cooke, to argue why the D.C. Council shouldn’t expel the three-term lawmaker next week over a federal indictment accusing him of accepting bribes in exchange for helping a D.C. businessman land more contracts with the city.
The hearing was the penultimate step in a months-long council investigation that in December found “substantial evidence” that White had taken bribes – thus violating council rules and the city’s code of conduct. At a hearing that month, White’s colleagues unanimously agreed with a recommendation that he be expelled, setting up the final vote on Feb. 4
Speaking on White’s behalf, Cooke didn’t argue on the substance of the federal indictment, to which White has pleaded not guilty. Cooke also didn’t address the merits of the council’s subsequent investigation. Instead, he attacked the council’s process for investigating one of their own, calling it “defective” and pushing for the planned expulsion vote to be delayed.
Cooke – who has in the past represented other councilmembers in hot water – said the council’s expulsion resolution is invalid because it was approved last year and was not reintroduced in January. He also said that the council is in no place to investigate the conduct of one of its own members; that’s the province of the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, an independent agency created in 2013 in the wake of various council scandals.
At-Large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, who led the investigation into White, and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson brushed aside those arguments, saying the council is allowed to discipline its own members and the resolution targeting White is still valid. Mendelson also argued against delaying any council vote on disciplining White. “The public, they have to have trust in the government, they have to have trust in the legislature, they have to trust in those who are elected," he said, adding that the public can't wait the nearly two years it might take for White's trial to conclude.
For now, the council vote on expelling White is set for next Tuesday. While most of his colleagues seem set on booting him, the requirement of a super super-majority for expulsion means that White only needs two councilmembers to buy into Cooke’s procedural objections to survive. And even if they don’t, we may still hear from White again: being expelled from the council wouldn’t foreclose his ability to run in the special election that would take place this summer to fill the seat.
New bills
Since it’s the start of a new two-year council period, lawmakers can now start reintroducing bills that didn’t make it through the process before the end of 2024 or propose new measures altogether. Below are some highlights from January:
- Cell block: Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto has introduced a new bill that aims to ban cellphones in D.C. schools, following similar efforts in a number of states that proponents say are meant to remove distractions from classrooms.
- Need booze, don’t have cash: At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson is looking for a carveout to existing D.C. law that prohibits businesses from refusing to take cash. Her new bill would allow liquor stores and some bars and restaurants to go completely cashless, largely as a safety measure.
- Shady solar: Shade is the enemy of solar power, but can solar power’s shade be a boon for D.C. in the scorching summer sun? That’s what Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen hopes with a new bill that would push D.C. to install elevated solar panels to provide shade in designated public places like playgrounds, parks, and sidewalks.
- Bottled up: Remember the Seinfeld episode all about bottle deposits? Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau has a new bill that would require consumers to pay a 10-cent deposit on beverage containers, which they could then get back when they return the container to a retailer. There are at least 10 states with similar laws in place, which proponents say decrease littering and increase recycling rates.
- Unleaded, please: The “Green New Deal” certainly isn’t popular in Republican-controlled Washington, but Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George isn’t shying away from using the phrase as part of a reintroduced bill that would speed up the replacement of lead water pipes throughout the city.
- Take some initiative: Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds have reintroduced a bill that would clarify what type of ballot initiatives are allowed to get to the city’s voters. They want to ensure that proposed ballot measures cannot be subject to appropriations – in short, they can’t have any sort of price tag, even if the council wouldn’t be required to pay it. The bill stems from a funding dispute over the ranked-choice voting ballot initiative D.C. voters approved last year.
- And more: Mendelson has reintroduced bills dealing with fighting gun violence (by hiring more civilians to investigate lower-level crimes, thus putting more officers on serious offenses), reforming D.C.’s rapid rehousing program for homeless families, and improving how the city addresses vacant properties.
Budget season is upon us
Ahead of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s unveiling of the 2026 budget in March, the D.C. Council will spend the next two months holding hearings to assess how well different city agencies and offices are doing at their jobs. The full schedule of these oversight hearings is here.