All this week Councilmember Jim Graham has strayed from his usual m.o.: He’s been press shy. He has stayed relatively quiet, refusing to answer questions about his indicted chief of staff Ted Loza and the various fallout issues that have come up.

Last night, Graham played hard to get with us over this story concerning his intensely personal entanglements with Loza. All of a sudden Graham has become allergic to the cameras. This has got to be a first for the Grahamstander.

Today, Graham made his next move: killing the controversial taxicab legislation that has become part of the Loza bribery scandal, the Washington Post reports. The paper writes:

Reached Wednesday morning, Graham said he planned to withdraw the legislation. “This bill was introduced to provoke a conversation about the ever-increasing number of taxicab operators in D.C.,” he said. In its place, Graham said he planned to hold a public hearing this month to discuss the state of the District taxi industry.

Graham went on to tell the Post that his killing of the bill has nothing to do with the growing bribery investigation.

Does he think D.C. residents are going to believe that?

Graham tells the D.C. Wire:

“Withdrawing this bill has nothing to do with the investigation and I am going to prove this by going forward with the substance of this issue,” Graham said. “I think there is a real issue, under my jurisdiction, under my oversight, with a real concentration (of cabs) and I just want people to know what the issue is.”

Glad to see the Grahamstander is back in fine form.