The pro-Gray rally took place in front of the Wilson Building.

A group of religious and community leaders today rallied in favor of Mayor Vince Gray, calling on the federal investigation of his 2010 campaign to run its course before he should have to decide whether to resign or not.

Led by Rev. Graylan Hagler of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ and Rev. Willie F. Wilson of Union Temple Baptist Church, participants in the small rally said that Gray deserved respect and the benefit of his constitutional presumption of innocence.

“Lives have been destroyed and ruined,” said Wilson, who argued that the investigation into the 2010 shadow campaign had marred the names of otherwise good public servants. “Allow the legal system to take its course.”

Speakers criticized the media for creating a feeding frenzy surrounding Gray’s political survival, and lashed out against the three councilmembers—Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) and David Catania (I-At Large)—who have called for Gray’s resignation. “Chill out! Sit down and be quiet,” said Wilson of the three. “Shame on you, Mary Cheh!” said Johnny Barnes, a lawyer and former director of the National Capital chapter of the ACLU. “You’re supposed to be a constitutional scholar!”

But the focus on Gray’s rights in a legal proceeding seemed to ignore the fact that the presumption of political guilt is often much lower, and that Gray’s standing in public opinion has been hurt by the revelations that $653,000 was illegally disbursed to help him defeat Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2010. For Barnes, though, that didn’t matter.

“The distraction is coming from those who call upon him to surrender the very cherished constitutional principles we fought for,” he said. “We don’t have guilt by association here. All of us associate with bad people, but that doesn’t make us guilty. It may be bad judgement, but it’s not criminal behavior to associate with bad people. We don’t know how close those associations were. Let the U.S. Attorney figure that out.”

Franklin Garcia of the D.C. Latino Caucus, Dave Donaldson of the Ward 3 Democrats and Rick Rosendall of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance also spoke on Gray’s behalf. In a piece published yesterday by the Huffington Post, Rosendall argued that U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ron Machen was treating D.C. like a colony. “The prosecutorial targeting of Gray and other top D.C. officials also picks at the scab of colonialism which has long characterized the federal government’s treatment of the nation’s capital and its residents,” he wrote.

While the rally avoided some of the thorny racial issues that the organizers initially cited as being the reason they were stepping up to defend Gray, it became clear that some of the most divisive elements of the 2010 mayoral contest weren’t be left behind—Wilson said that he was calling for an investigation of Fenty’s $5 million campaign war chest. “If you spend $5 million…and look long enough, you will find something,” he said.