Mayor Muriel Bowser showed off the power of her office and political ties on the evening of June 22 by throwing a private Georgetown fundraising party for Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, raising an impressive $125,000 for Alsobrooks’ Maryland Senate campaign.

Guests strolled about the luxury Washington Harbor home of Rusty and Mimsy Lindner. They were told not to post any information on social media. Asked later about the party, Alsobrooks’ campaign declined to comment. But attendees say Bowser was engaging and enjoying the event, bantering with Alsobrooks. 

The upscale but low-key fundraiser was not out of the ordinary. Such political fundraisers are held routinely, often reported only in the dry accounting of periodic campaign finance reports. 

But for Bowser, it was her first major political event following the humiliating release of a report detailing the lewd sexual misconduct of John Falcicchio, her former political confidant, chief of staff, and deputy mayor for economic development, who resigned abruptly in March.

 “Johnny Business,” as he was nicknamed, would have been an organizer and featured guest at that elite Georgetown party, schmoozing attendees better than anyone else in the room.

But Falcicchio, of course, was not there. The leader of Bowser’s tight inner circle since she first ran for mayor in 2014, Falcicchio has been out of sight since he resigned, accused—so far—of sexually harassing not one but two women city employees and a third woman who was seeking government contracts. There are suggestions he and his lawyers may soon make his first public statement.

The tawdry story is still in its early stages, a political centipede of scandal crawling across the Bowser administration. The Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel is scheduled to complete the second sexual complaint report “soon.” It is expected to detail equally bad behavior by Falcicchio.

The first report detailed how Falcicchio “exposed his sexual organs” and sent numerous lewd messages to one city worker on his staff. That was followed by an even more detailed interview with the anonymous woman by Washington Post reporters Paul Schwartzman and Emma Brown; the graphic story included her account of Falcicchio masturbating in front of her.

“In keeping with the tone of the story,” summarized one veteran of city government and politics offering a warning to others, “don’t piss where you drink.” The source, like others in this story, agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. 

City Paper also first reported that the unnamed woman in the scandal—surprisingly, even to her own lawyers—had silently attended Bowser’s press conference last Wednesday and stood by while Bowser made her first public comments about the Falcicchio report.

Any politician—especially one whose administration is seen as being in crisis—depends on an “inner circle,” a handful of people with whom they are exceptionally close, to offer support in public, make sure the government is running, and deliver hard-nosed criticism and advice in private if needed. 

The Falcicchio flame-out has badly shaken Bowser’s circle. 

Early in her third term, Bowser’s team is scrambling to minimize damage to the mayor and struggling to refocus her administration on the many tasks at hand: crime reduction, downtown redevelopment, a hostile Capitol Hill, and financially stretched human services, to name a few. The details only recently became public, but for more than a year, Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has considered a move to Northern Virginia because of the aging, inadequate Capital One Arena and what he believes to be deteriorating business and social problems on the downtown streets around it. Bowser’s own strong-willed effort to bring the NFL team back to the District needs full political attention.

But with Falcicchio gone, who’s leading the show?

On March 17, the same day Falciccho’s abrupt resignation was revealed, Bowser appointed longtime ally and friend Lindsey Parker as her new chief of staff. 

Several officials say Parker is, as one puts it, “loyal to a fault,” and sees her role as protecting the mayor from all sides, internal and external. Parker has held different senior jobs since joining Bowser’s first administration in early 2015 as deputy chief of staff. She more recently was both the District’s chief technology officer and an assistant city administrator.

“It’s her job to look out for the mayor’s interest,” another official says, objecting to the “loyal to a fault” characterization. The official suggested tones of sexism, noting that Parker is criticized for being abrupt in her private dealings while Falcicchio was equally blunt.

Another well-plugged-in person put it differently. “Lindsey is less politically skilled than Falcicchio,” the person says. “While she can be as abrupt and pretty forceful [like Falcicchio], she is not nearly as good at making you feel like you want to do what she says to do. John did.”

Parker is credited within the administration for being smart and detailed, a true asset for the mayor, but one who also doesn’t suffer criticisms of either herself or the mayor, making some reluctant to speak up to her directly. Sources inside and outside the administration agreed she seems wary of outsiders and the news media. “She’s the bodyguard,” one person says. 

Parker now heads Bowser’s inner circle of government officials that includes Beverly L. Perry, a trusted senior aide who oversees legislative affairs and federal relations, and City Administrator Kevin Donahue, widely seen as low-key and earnest. But neither Donahue nor Perry are seen as having the tough political insight any mayor needs. 

The other members of Bowser’s inner circle are former Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, who is focused on sometimes frosty D.C. Council relations and issues such as energy and infrastructure, and Eugene Adams, the courtly but rarely seen or heard director of the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel. This group, aides say, talks regularly and focuses on big picture issues. Adams’ deputy, Vanessa Natale, is leading the MOLC’s investigation of Falcicchio. Bowser has faced criticism for opting to keep the investigation in-house rather than hire an outside firm.

One business leader close to the administration tells City Paper, “all of her inner circle should have been pounding the mayor to get an independent investigation [of Falcicchio.] No one will believe the administration when there is a high-level individual involved [and] is investigated internally.”

The mayor’s personal legal counsel in her office, Betsy Cavendish, is a no-nonsense legal adviser who offers her experience and insights. The mayor’s media office is headed by Susana Castillo, the communications director, who is credited with streamlining the media output from various city agencies. Castillo was formerly Bowser’s press secretary, but she has been dealing with reporters chasing the scandal story because her old role has not yet been filled. The mayor’s deputy chief of staff, Tomás Arturo Talamante, is “an everywhere guy” for the mayor, but also keeps a low public profile. 

Advisers outside of the government include former councilmember and attorney Bill Lightfoot, who has played a key role in the mayor’s elections, though he is less involved in the daily doings of her administration. Lightfoot has always said that too many people underestimate Bowser and that she is her own best political adviser.

After eight full years in office, Bowser also has a variety of people outside of government that she will check in with—leaders of business, community, and even media. Over the years, one adviser says, “she has expanded her scope … some people dropping off. She doesn’t operate from a small cadre.”

In May, Bowser brought in Carrie Kohns, now a senior adviser to Parker. Kohns was chief of staff to Bowser’s mentor, former Mayor Adrian Fenty, and was credited with running a smooth staff operation. Sources say Kohns is playing a “strategic role” in helping to refocus Bowser’s staff as the fallout of the Falcicchio scandal continues. Others say they expect an expanding role for Kohns.

While officials have praised Kohns’ hiring, some also point out that Fenty himself became somewhat bunkered in the final years of his term, leading to his defeat in 2010 by Vince Gray, currently the Ward 7 councilmember.

The Falcicchio fallout comes at a terrible time. It was already a time of change at the start of Bowser’s third term.

D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee surprised the mayor by quitting after just two and a half years, with little notice, to take a top job with the FBI. A crucial search for a new chief is still underway while violent crime is bad enough that City Administrator Donohue recently said many citizens feel “terrorized.” 

Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure Lucinda Babers, a calm veteran of city government, recently announced she is leaving; her last day is this week. Babers also has been the mayor’s steady representative on the Metro board of directors, a spot where she could influence regional calls for more Metro funding. 

Christopher Geldart, an aggressive public safety deputy mayor who understood city government, regularly advising the mayor, resigned late last fall after he got into a physical altercation outside a gym. The incident led to criminal charges that were later dropped and to the revelation that Geldart’s wife and family lived in Virginia, and he only maintained a seldom used apartment in D.C. Cabinet-level positions, like a deputy mayor, require the employee to live within city limits.

Keith A. Anderson, another veteran of city government, was named interim deputy mayor for planning and economic development the same day Falcicchio abruptly resigned. Anderson told friends that he and Parker came to work that day, each in one job, and left that evening with another.  

It’s unclear how involved Anderson is with Bowser’s government, but no one expects him to have Falcicchio’s deep knowledge or political skills. “Falcicchio had unfettered authority to do anything he damn well wanted to do,” says one supporter of the mayor.

As the scandal unfolds, the mayor also awaits what the politically uncertain D.C. Council will do under Chair Phil Mendelson. Mendelson has said the elected Council feels it must take some type of action, but he was not as quick as some of his colleagues to call for an independent investigation. 

Will the Council launch its own investigation with an outside law firm, as it did with former Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and allegations over his business ties? Will it ask the Office of the Inspector General to open an administrative probe into the operations of government with an eye toward toughening sexual harassment laws? Others say the OIG is notoriously slow in its investigations.

Better still, some say, the Council should be bolder and ask the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate Falcicchio’s actions for potential crimes. The administrative probes so far have not and are not investigating how Falcicchio may have used government funds, credit cards, or other government and campaign resources to pursue or mollify the women who he is accused of harassing.

Crucially, the initial harassment report said that the employee who complained had given investigators the names of 11 other women who were “rumored” to have engaged in sexual relations with Falcicchio. The report said four of those women denied the allegation, while seven others either “declined to participate in the investigation, did not respond or were unable to be contacted.” Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office could more easily clear up what those 11 women know or don’t know.

Through all of this turmoil, Bowser supporters say she has maintained her focus and is determined to move on. She flew to Colorado over the weekend for a conference on “Urban Comeback: Cities, Small Business and the Future of Downtowns.” 

Bowser has said that the Falcicchio news was personally “devastating” to her. It remains to be seen how devastating it will be to her government, with sexual misconduct stewing at the highest levels of her government.