D.C. Council Chair and mayoral challenger Vince Gray is urging a quick vote by the council on the new teacher contract that was overwhelmingly endorsed by city teachers today. “Today’s vote has been almost three years in the making and I believe it’s high time we seal the deal. Therefore, I will urge my colleagues on the Council to follow the teachers’ lead and give final approval as soon as possible,” he said in a statement released by his council office. And while the endorsement of the contract is a sure win for Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, Gray didn’t give up the chance to get a dig in about the process by which it came to be. “[S]ince this contract was announced by the Mayor in April, double-talk among administration officials over the true cost and ability to pay for it has confused the process and obscured the real value of the deal in bolstering our efforts to increase student achievement. An open approval process for the contract is only one critical component of a larger effort to restore public trust.”