Big Education Ape: Gray works to firm up donor support for education reforms

Gray works to firm up donor support for education reforms

VIDEO

Video: Vince Gray holds first town hall meeting

On Tuesday night, Democratic mayoral nominee Vincent Gray fielded questions in the first of a series of town hall meetings before the Nov. 2 general election in the auditorium of the Community Academy Public Charter School in Ward 5.

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By Bill Turque

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 26, 2010; 7:09 PM

They are men of the same generation - both 67 - and they share the last name - Gray. But until they met for the first time on a Sunday evening earlier this month, that was about all C. Boyden and Vincent C. had in common. That was when the patrician Republican and former White House counsel introduced the Democrat and presumptive mayor-elect from Ward 7 as "my cousin Vinny" to a gathering of education philanthropists and reform advocates over cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at his Georgetown home.

It was a light moment in the midst of a serious outreach effort, engineered by the Gray campaign. The objective was to reassure the influential network of private foundations - which have poured an estimated $20 million into D.C public schools over the past four years - that Vincent C. Gray is serious about sustainin