Staff Writer

Promises are a politician's currency, and Vincent Gray, the D.C. City Council's chair, has made his share while fighting to unseat incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty in a closely watched showdown.

Yet some of Gray's recent pledges to protect the city's most vulnerable residents have led at least one Jewish community group to accuse the chair of bluffing.

In early April, Gray traveled to the District's Conservative Adas Israel Congregation, where he addressed nearly 300 attendees at the Jews United for Justice's annual Labor Seder. There, he vowed to back the activists in their battle to keep safety-net services off the council's budgetary chopping block.

"We've tried to protect the safety-net programs as the top priority, and we will continue to do that," Gray promised the crowd, before outlining several of the initiatives he aimed to protect, including those that provide rental and housing support, according to a partial transcript of his remarks provided by JUFJ.

But to bridge a $550 million shortfall -- and prevent the city from falling into financial ruin -- Gray's council dropped a few of those earlier commitments.

That outcome has led JUFJ's executive director, Jacob Feinspan, to take Gray to task, arguing that his promises were inexcusably broken on the backs of D.C.'s poorest residents.

"We were shocked he would promise so much and then, at the end of the day, deliver so little," said Feinspan, explaining that rather than finding creative ways to boost revenue -- such as by hiking the income tax paid by D.C.'s top earners -- Gray took the simple route, and cut large holes in the city's safety net.

"We expect our elected leaders to provide leadership and when thousands of people are at risk of being made homeless or of losing what little income they have, asking the most privileged to pay a few dollars more in taxes is the right thing to do," Feinspan said, noting that dozens of JUFJ members -- including some who would likely qualify for higher taxes -- personally lobbied council members to support the hike.

JUFJ, as well as several other groups involved in the Save Our Safety Net campaign, have identified what they see as several critical cuts:

¥--A $1.3 million cut to an Emergency Rental Assistance program that helps poor families pay overdue rent or their security deposits so that they can keep their homes.

¥--A $6 million cut to the Interim Disability Assistance program, which provides temporary cash support to poor adults with disabilities, as they await federal dollars.

¥--A $1 million cut to the Local Rent Supplement Program, which provides housing vouchers to low income families, some of whom were homeless before joining the program.

Gray's defenders say that while he cares deeply about the city's most vulnerable, the grim fiscal situation necessitated that tough cuts be made.

"In these fiscal times, it's just not possible to do everything," said Doxie McCoy, Gray's director of communications. Fenty presented the council with a cut-laden budget, she added, and members did their best to restore funding in areas they deemed most critical.

Indeed, Gray and fellow council members restored funding for a slew of initiatives that were originally slated for deep cuts.

Funding, for instance, for adult job training programs were saved from a $4.6 million cut; the Home Purchase Assistance Program was spared a $2.1 million cut; adult education programs received $1 million; and a childcare subsidy program received $3.5 back after facing a $4 million cut, according to a budget analysis provided by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.

Feinspan says that while the council restored "many crucial" programs, it "failed to protect the most vulnerable in our community." After all, the group thought that by hosting Gray as its keynote speaker at the Labor Seder, it had found a staunch ally.

"He presented himself as a person who would protect the most vulnerable and pointed to his service" running D.C.'s Covenant House, a group that helps the city's homeless youth, Feinspan said.

In the weeks leading up to the council's May 26 budget vote, Feinspan said that both JUFJ and the safety-net coalition reached out to Gray for a meeting.

However, "his office failed to return more than a dozen phone calls and e-mails," Feinspan said. "It's puzzling for the chairman, whose reputation is that he's always prepared for everything and that no one works harder than he does, that he wouldn't return those calls and e-mails."

Asked if her office received such requests, spokesperson McCoy said, "I haven't received any calls, and the chairman gets many. As much as possible, he responds, [but] he can't do it in a couple days given the busy budgetary times."

The JUFJ-backed proposal to hike taxes -- which would have created new tax brackets for incomes at $250,000 and $1 million -- couldn't gain traction in a critical election year.

David Krakow, a JUFJ activist who worked the phones and canvassed at Metro stops to help gain support for the tax proposal, said it wasn't a total defeat, as activists were able to put the measure on the council's agenda.

"It's not a total defeat," Krakow said. "I don't think [the council] would have [voted on the plan] without the work of activists."