Kwame Brown.

Amid a budget gap, we couldn’t help but notice how superfluous D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown’s and Mayor Vince Gray’s city-funded luxury SUVs are. When asked about the luxury SUV, Brown said that he had asked for a black SUV and had just driven what the city got for him. It turns out, that’s not quite what happened.

Props to Mike DeBonis for digging up the truth via a few FOIA requests: Brown certainly did ask for a black SUV, but his requests didn’t stop there. Brown asked for a black-on-black Lincoln Navigator L, “Fully Loaded Required” SUV with a DVD entertainment system, power moonroof, and polished aluminum wheels.

Did you catch that black-on-black bit? D.C. didn’t pay for one Lincoln Navigator L for Brown, but two, because the first came with a grey interior – not the black-on-black he requested. And, a car dealer drove the SUV from Michigan to the District in December for an additional $1,500.

Brown’s response to these charges before these details came out amounted to “I think it’s stupid too, but I’m required to via contract.” I’m pretty sure the contract doesn’t specify a DVD entertainment system and power moonroof, Chairman.

In fact, Brown’s office seemed to have had multiple opportunities to accept an SUV that was not as much trouble nor as costly to procure – but they didn’t. You see, finding a Lincoln Navigator L to Brown’s specifications wasn’t easy – the Department of Public Works found a few Navigator Ls that were similar to what Brown asked for but were rejected by his office.

William Howland, the DPW director, said that he never spoke price when talking with Brown or his staff about getting the SUV(s). But really, could they be so naive to think that all of the time spent, as well as bringing in the not black-on-black SUV, wouldn’t cost the city money?