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Meet Sulaimon Brown, the populist.
The embattled former mayoral candidate agreed in D.C. Superior Court this afternoon to appear at a D.C. Council hearing next Monday, at 1 p.m. And he’ll do it to defend your rights.
“I am not an employee of the D.C. government,” said Brown, who worried that his appearance in front of the council might mean any citizen—even you, reader—could be “grabbed off the streets” and compelled to testify.
“As a citizen, I feel basically that my rights are being violated,” he complained.
But he was willing to waive that violation, apparently; Brown told reporters he’ll testify in order to help bring “closure.”
Brown also told Judge Judith Macaluso that he has no intention of letting the hearing get drawn out for several hours. He’s busy, after all. When he’s not mugging for the cameras after Mayor Vince Gray’s release from jail, or turning and fleeing from reporters after being asked to testify at the Wilson Building, family commitments fill up the rest of his schedule.
“I’m unemployed,” he said. “I’m asking the court to consider the fact that it’s not just affecting me, but also my family.”
Macaluso was apparently persuaded: The court order states, “if the hearing extends past 7:00 p.m., it shall be continued to another date set by the City Council, the subpoena remaining in force.”
Asked what he hopes will come of his Monday appearance, Brown said, “I hope it ends on the side of justice.”
Justice, that is, for every average D.C. citizen—Brown included.
Don’t count on big news, though: Brown told reporters he won’t be saying anything to the council that he hasn’t already said to federal investigators. And given his propensity to send late-night text messages to D.C.’s press corps, probably nothing he hasn’t said on the record before, either.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery