DC Mayor Vincent Gray replaces communications director, hires new deputy chief of staff

By Associated Press, Published: November 21

WASHINGTON — Acknowledging that his administration has sometimes struggled to communicate its agenda to the public, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray replaced his communications director on Monday.

Linda Wharton Boyd, the mayor’s chief spokeswoman, has been reassigned to the district’s Department of Health, where she will become a senior adviser to the director, Dr. Mohammad Akhter.

Replacing Boyd will be Pedro Ribiero, the deputy chief of staff and communications director to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. Ribiero starts Monday, and Boyd will stay on through the end of the year to help bring him up to speed, administration officials said.

The mayor also announced Monday that Sheila Bunn, the former chief of staff to Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., has joined his administration as deputy chief of staff.

Gray has struggled to move past a series of early missteps, including inflated salaries for some of his senior staff and the hiring of the adult children of several of his top aides, including Boyd, whose son, Milton Boyd, resigned from his government job amid criticism.

Also looming over the mayor is a federal grand jury probe of allegations by former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown, who claims he was paid by Gray’s campaign staff and promised a job in the Gray administration in exchange for negative comments about then-Mayor Adrian Fenty on the campaign trail.

Gray, a Democrat, took office Jan. 2. Administration officials have long complained that coverage of the Brown allegations and other scandals has overshadowed the mayor’s accomplishments.

“I believe that some of the things that we have done have not gotten out there as strongly as they should, and I hear this from people,” Gray said. “We would like to be able to get our message out more strongly.”

The mayor has cut ties with several top aides since taking office. Chief of staff Chris Murphy — who started in late August and was tasked with evaluating the performance of the mayor’s core staff — said Ribiero’s background on Capitol Hill makes him well-positioned to respond to the demands of a 24/7 news cycle.

Tony Bullock, who served as communications director to former Mayor Anthony Williams, said Ribiero is highly regarded and should be a good fit for the job.

“I think the mayor did what the mayor needed to do to switch things up over there and bring in some new energy,” Bullock said. “Sometimes the mayor needs other people to speak for him and to say what he would want them to say. You can’t be a behind-the-scenes spokesman.”

Gray’s previous deputy chief of staff, Andrea Pringle, lasted just 10 days. She resigned after it was revealed she had voted in the district while living in Maryland. While Pringle had been expected to oversee the mayor’s communications, Bunn’s role will be focused more on community engagement and other external relations.