Sulaimon Brown

**Sulaimon Maurice Brown** (born July 31, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina) is an accountant. He was a candidate for mayor of the District of Columbia in 2010. During the campaign, he actively supported another candidate, Vincent Gray. After Gray became mayor, Brown's criminal record became public. He is being investigated by the United States Attorney. Brown is also being investigated by committees of the DC City Council and of Congress.
## Background
Brown's father, Melvin Brown, was an Army Ranger, and Brown's mother was a nurse at Howard University Hospital.
Brown earned a Bachelor of Business Administration - Accounting from the University of the District of Columbia. Brown was also accused of assault in Essex County, New Jersey, but a grand jury refused to indict Brown.

Because Brown was a declared candidate, he participated with Mayor Fenty in a number of candidate debates.  At the August 2010 forum in Ward 8, Brown questioned whether Fenty loved his parents. According to the *Washington Post*, "During the election, Brown, 40, drew attention at debates by urging voters to cast ballots for Gray and criticizing incumbent Adrian M. Fenty." Brown received 209 votes in the primary. Gray defeated Fenty in the September 14, 2010 primary, and Gray won the general election in November 2010. Gray became Mayor in January 2011.

## Political appointment
The Gray Transition Team hired the Capitol Inquiry firm to check Brown's background.  Capitol Inquiry discovered Brown's past legal proceedings in Chicago and New Jersey, and included them in a confidential report. When the *Washington City Paper* raised questions about the hiring of Brown, he was quickly fired. DC police escorted Brown out of his new office.

In April and May 2011, the DC City Council issued a subpeona to get Brown to testify.  Brown hid from the people trying to give him the subpeona and went to court to fight having to testify. On May 31, 2011, the D.C. Superior Court order Brown to testify before the D.C. Council committee that was investigating this matter. On June 6, 2011, Brown testified under oath that Gray had paid him cash to keep in as a candidate in the primary race and had promised him a job. Brown claimed that Gray himself had ordered one of the payoffs. The City Council probe showed that Green, Gray's chief of staff Gerri Mason Hall and Gray's personnel director Judy Banks gave Gray's political allies city jobs. They did it in a way that did not pay attention to qualifications or laws.

Brown was required to report the money that he got as campaign contributions. On June 5, Brown gave the press copies of money orders payable to "Sulaimon Brown for Mayor" from relatives of Howard Brooks, including Brook's son (Peyton Brooks), the son's girlfriend, and a cousin of Brook's wife. The last two denied ever making the contributions. Peyton Brooks was also hired as a $110,000-a-year special assistant in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. Peyton Brooks was one of several children of Gray's campaign workers to be fired after the press printed stories about the jobs. Brown said that he received additional money orders from Howard Brooks, but that those did not have names on them.

The United States Attorney's Office is also investigating. Brown said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation asked Brown about the payments from Brooks, Green and Gray.

## References
## Other websites
*Sulaimon Brown Resume distributed at Feb. 24 press conference
*Campaign website from Internet Archive