Photo by Eric Gilliland

With yesterday’s news that a third person with links to Mayor Vince Gray’s 2010 campaign has been charged with making illegal campaign contributions, political speculators couldn’t help but guess as to what U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ron Machen may have up his sleeve next.

Whatever it is, if he shows his hand after this week, it could provide for some heightened political drama in D.C. This Friday is the last day that the D.C. Council will be in session before a two-month-long summer recess, after all, and if Machen has a case to be made against Gray, he might not wait until September to make it.

Yesterday D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson said he’d be prepared to call the council into emergency session should it be required. “We’ve done it before and we would do it again,” he said.

The most likely scenario for such a session would be a sudden resignation by Gray or an indictment that forces him to step down. In that case, Mendelson would be elevated to fill the mayor’s seat, and Councilmember Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) would be charged with convening the council to choose a new chairperson.

Emergency sessions are rare. From what I can find, the last one took place in 1998, when the D.C. Council came back into session during its summer recess to vote on a package of reforms proposed by the Control Board. In 1994, the council reconvened to vote on $120 million in spending cuts proposed by Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly.

If an emergency session is called, it could prove complicated for some councilmembers—for one, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) will be spending two weeks in Mexico studying Spanish, so there’s a remote chance that she could have to fly back early.