LL’s been busy working on his column and is very sorry (not!) for the lack of blog posting today. One thing worth noting is that reporters have finally found the elusive Mayor Vince Gray and asked him if he thinks Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. should resign.

No way! says Gray, adding that he prefers to “let justice run its course.”

So take that, Councilmembers David Catania, Mary Cheh and Tommy Wells, all of whom have called for Thomas’ resignation.

LL also caught up with Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander yesterday and asked her about her tweet heard ’round the District in which she said she wouldn’t agree to pay back $300,000 if she hadn’t wrongfully spent it.

Lest Alexander be confused with the councilmembers who are calling for Thomas’ ouster, Alexander says she’s not suggesting Thomas has done anything wrong. In fact, she says it’s a big deal that there’s no admission of guilt in the settlement.

“I don’t know the ramifications of the settlement but I do know that he did not admit guilt,” says Alexander. “And that’s the key thing.”

(LL’s note: Settlements frequently have neither party admitting guilt.)

Alexander accused those councilmembers calling for Thomas to resign of “a bit of grandstanding” and says the council hasn’t always acted consistently when it comes to ethical issues.

She says the council’s decision to censure Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry last year looks rash in light of the fact that he wasn’t criminally charged with any wrongdoing. And she says no one said a word after news broke that Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham didn’t report the fact that his former chief of staff offered him an envelope full of cash on behalf of a taxi advocate.

“We can’t be selective when it comes ethics,” says Alexander.