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“When you get called to the Wilson Building at 7 p.m. on a Sunday, you don’t expect a fruit basket.”
—Clark Ray, ex-parks-and-rec director, April 21
Ray was at the center of the year’s biggest mystery in local politics—why was one of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty‘s best-liked and most effective agency heads thrown out on his ass as parks director? Was it a personality conflict with Dan Tangherlini, who fired him unexpectedly? Was it his handling of office personnel matters? Did he put up too much resistance to the parks contracting scheme that blew up later in the year? Was it because he was a little too open about his desire to challenge Phil Mendelson in the 2010 at-large council race? Whatever it was, Ray’s now got plenty of time to devote to his quixotic run for office. And with more and more city residents wondering about Hizzoner, his firing at the hands of Fenty is turning into more of a credential than a liability.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery