A tearful Brown showed up uninvited at the press conference announcing his termination, and he later alleged that he had been paid and promised a job by members of Gray's campaign staff in exchange for making negative comments about Fenty during the 2010 campaign.

Continue reading

Brown said Gray was aware of the payments, and the U.S. Attorney's Office is investigating his claims.

Brown has provided copies of money orders signed by a Gray campaign aide and the aide's son. He also turned over a list of talking points that he said Gray handed him to use against Fenty, The Associated Press has reported.

The D.C. Council conducted its own investigation and concluded that Brown was indeed promised a job.

Brown was hired without a formal interview a day after Gray's aides found a position for him in the district's Department of Health Care Finance, and he was fired less than a month later.

Gray has denied all wrongdoing and said he's confident the investigation will clear him. Although he maintains he was unaware of any illegal activity by his campaign staff, he concedes that others could be swept up in the probe.

Asked if he was prepared for the possibility of indictments, Gray said, "I think we have to be."

But he said he would try to avoid being defined by any future bad news. Gray has shaken up his inner circle several times in a bid to surround himself with the right people, replacing his chief of staff and communications director and bringing in a new deputy chief of staff.

The turmoil was reflected in a Clarus Research Group poll released last month that showed Gray with a 34 percent approval rating and a 53 percent disapproval rating.

The poll of 500 self-identified registered voters had a margin of error of 4.4 percent. Gray enjoyed a brief run of good publicity when he was arrested for sitting in a street in front of the U.S. Capitol while protesting a budget deal that included restrictions on how the city could spend funds.

Barbara Lang, president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that she still supports the mayor, but she expects to see improvement.

"There is a pressing need to right this ship," Lang said. "We must have a stable, trustworthy and honorable government so that D.C. can remain truly competitive in the regional market."

Councilmember Marion Barry, the former four-term mayor who represents the poorest district wards and remains a firm Gray supporter, said his constituents are voicing some frustration with the mayor.

"What people tell me in Ward 8," Barry said, is that Gray "was so busy trying to unravel all this stuff that was going on in the first few months that he ... has not focused enough on jobs."

Despite Gray's struggles and ethical challenges confronting the council, the city has continued to prosper in many ways. Crime is down, the commercial real estate market is booming and the city is in better fiscal shape than most if not all states.