Robert Mallett

I was off by an hour, but my Friday News Dump radar was close enough — the Post Mike DeBonis reports that Mayor Vince Gray won’t be sending Robert Mallett’s nomination to chair the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics on to the D.C. Council for consideration.

Mallett’s nomination was announced on Wednesday at Gray’s press conference, but only minutes later government Dorothy Brizill landed something a death blow for Gray’s hopes — Mallett hadn’t lived in the District for the required three years prior to his appointment, she noted. Remember that it was only a little more than a fortnight ago that Brizill similarly sunk Deputy Chief of Staff Andi Pringle’s short-lived tenure, noting that Pringle had voted in the 2010 D.C. primary despite living in Maryland.

On Thursday, Gray hinted that he was considering seeking a waiver for Mallett, an idea that Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), who would have been in charge of the Mallett’s nomination hearing, wasn’t too keen on. Today Gray’s office announced that it would start reviewing the legal sufficiency of nominees before they are announced.

Mayoral spokeswoman Linda Wharton-Boyd said that Gray was “very disappointed that he is unable to send the nomination.”

“Mallet would have been a tremendous asset to the city and would have provided great leadership to the BOEE,” Wharton-Boyd said.

The two remaining nominees for the three-person board seem safe for now, but Gray will have to decide whether to elevate one of them to the position of chair or nominate someone else for that position.