Vincent Gray - close to the vest [Correction 7/12/11]

Vincent C. Gray will be sworn in as the District's mayor onSunday after a bruising election in which he promised to continueschool reform and reduce crime, just not in as brash or insular amanner as his predecessor, Adrian M. Fenty.

But over the past month, as he has put together his team andshown signs of how he will govern, Gray, 68, has revealed himself tobe a lot like Fenty - but with a smile and genial disposition.Fenty, 39, was often criticized for keeping a counsel of one. Gray'scircle of influence is also small - a handful of friends, family andsupporters.

Close advisers say the new mayor is also known for lookinginward.

"He is his own compass," said Lorraine Green, an Amtrak executiveand confidante who is helping him build his administration. "Hetrusts his own judgment. He's 99 percent right."

Out of two dozen announced appointments to his Cabinet, seven areFenty holdovers, including Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier and schoolconstruction guru Allen Y. Lew, who will become city administrator.Four Cabinet picks are new to District government.

The selections were shrouded in secrecy, similar to Fenty's toppicks. The initial falling-out between the two men, in fact, tracesto the 2007 appointment of Michelle A. Rhee as chancellor. Grayfound out around midnight, just hours before her introduction.

In similar fashion, two days before Gray announced that he wouldretain Lanier, he dined at Morton's steakhouse with Kris Baumann,president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, which hascriticized Lanier's tenure. Gray didn't say a word.

Similar points have been raised by the Gay and Lesbian ActivistsAlliance and the local firefighters union, which said they were notconsulted, as promised, about the selection of the head of theOffice of Human Rights or the new fire chief.

"Not only is he operating like Fenty, this is the kind ofbehavior he criticized Fenty for," Baumann said. "It's not justabout feelings and making people feel good. What happened to all thepromises?"

Gray said in an interview that he never promised constituenciesand labor unions that he would wipe the administration clean of allFenty appointments.

"I said from the very beginning that I wasn't going to turneverybody out," he said. "Ultimately you end up with a blend. Youwant people who won't have a learning curve and who understand thedynamics of the city. These are people we went after."

Fenty die-hards, meanwhile, continue to criticize Gray'sterminations of Fenty administration stars, such as transportationdirector Gabe Klein. With his push for bike lanes, streetcars andother methods of transportation, Klein promoted a more pedestrian-friendly capital. But bike lanes and streetcars, for some,symbolized gentrification and misplaced priorities while poverty andunemployment strangled many neighborhoods.

But the biggest hurdle for Gray is how to handle Fenty's schoollegacy. Nationally, Fenty is viewed as the hard-charging phenomfelled by a disgruntled teachers union.

In October, Gray and Fenty jointly announced that Kaya Henderson,Rhee's deputy, would take the helm of schools as interim chancellorafter Rhee's departure. Despite other appointments he has made ineducation, Henderson retains the "interim," leaving Fenty supportersand school-reform advocates uncertain about the future of cityschools.

"You don't have an interim police chief. You don't have aninterim fire chief. You don't have an interim city administrator,"said Terry Lynch, a Fenty supporter. "By having an interimchancellor, you make it difficult to keep top staff or to attracttop staff. Who would want to be tied to that ship?"

Gray is not swayed by the criticism, saying he will follow anational search process as required by the District law that allowedmayoral control of the schools.

Campaign strategist Mo Elleithee said the administration willlook a lot like Gray's campaign - a mix of longtime supporters andnewcomers.

But some longtime supporters question whether Gray has gone toofar to make amends with Fenty supporters. After the primary, Graycast himself as Fenty's polar opposite when it comes to listening,holding town hall meetings in every ward of the city. But herepeatedly said that he knew the reason some people didn't vote forhim was because they didn't know him.

The town halls were also to introduce himself to residents inwards 2, 3 and 6 - communities where a majority of voters castballots for Fenty.

Internet discussion groups for neighborhoods east of theAnacostia River have lit up with complaints that the former Ward 7council member's transition team does not have enoughrepresentatives from their communities.

This is Gray's indoctrination as mayor, said Sterling Tucker, thecity's first elected council chairman.

"Every mayor has to go through that," Tucker said. "You take anysegment of the population. They say, 'We put you in office. We own apart of you.' They don't want to be ignored."

Within Gray's transition team, members privately complain thatthey learned quickly they were not part of Gray's inner circle.

At the center is Lorraine Green.

Gray and Green met as employees under Mayor Sharon Pratt in the1990s. Gray was director of the Department of Human Services, andGreen headed the Office of Personnel. Together, they cut thousandsof positions from the fiscally challenged human services agency.Green said that Gray tried to talk to every employee who was beinglaid off to explain why.

Their bond is professional. They rarely socialize, though theyalso bonded through the deaths of their spouses.

"My relationship with Lorraine is basically business, but withoutthe chemistry we wouldn't be able to work together," Gray said.

Gray also relies on advice from his children. Carlos Gray ralliedyoung Washingtonians for his father's election. Jonice Gray Tucker,a Yale Law School graduate, became a behind-the-scenes player.Formerly an associate at Skadden Arps, she introduced her father tosuper-lawyer Robert S. Bennett, best known for representingPresident Bill Clinton.

Gray tapped Bennett to head a pro-bono, independent probe intoD.C. Council member Marion Barry's use of personal contracts. Earlylast year, Bennett concluded that there had been a conflict ofinterest, and the council censured Barry and stripped him of hiscommittee chairmanship.

The move helped cast Gray as a politician who could overlookpolitical alliances in governing. The censure took place around thesame time that a council investigation into contracts involvingFenty's fraternity brothers was in full swing.

Tucker, now a partner at BuckleySandler, also came to herfather's rescue on primary day when she observed what she believedto be voter suppression. With the backing of her firm, sherepresented her father's campaign with the D.C. Board of Electionsand Ethics.

She said her father has come to trust her over the past six yearsor so as she has evolved in her professional career.

"Occasionally, he listens to me," she said, laughing. "As hesays, I will always be the child."

When Tucker, 35, was dealing with her own personal dilemma in2009 of deciding whether to switch jobs, she went to her father'soffice at the John A. Wilson Building. From 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., theytalked it out.

"Why should you go? What do other people think?" she recalled himasking. "I said, 'Are you ever going to give me advice?' He said, 'Iam helping you. You are going to come to a decision yourself.' "

"He gives you a menu of options," Tucker said.

stewartn@washpost.com