Yesterday afternoon saw a fast-moving progression of D.C. legislators calling on Mayor Vince Gray to resign: first it was Councilmember David Catania (I-At Large), then it was Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4). But at 9 p.m., D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson threw some water on the whole idea, calling any demands for Gray’s resignation “premature.”

“I am not privy to any more information than what all of us are learning from news reports,” he said in a statement. “Importantly, the U.S. Attorney has not accused the Mayor of having broken the law, and absent that charge the call for Vince Gray to resign is premature. Indeed, typically people say that the process should play itself out. That is all the more reasonable when there isn’t even a criminal charge.”

Mendelson, who would step into the mayor’s office if Gray resigned, also said that a premature departure would create instability: “[G]iven the facts we know, the call for the Mayor’s resignation creates instability at a time when we need just the opposite.”

Contrary to some reports, Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) did not ask Gray to start packing up. Councilmembers Michael Brown (I-At Large), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) joined Mendelson and Wells in holding off on any calls for resignation. Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) avoided the question, telling NBC4 that his lawyers had told him not to say anything.

In related news, Mo Elleithee and Steve McMahon, two senior advisers to the Gray campaign in 2010, published an op-ed in the Post today in which they say that they knew nothing of the $653,000 shadow campaign: “Make no mistake: This shadow campaign was unethical and illegal and was conducted without the knowledge of most of the campaign’s senior leadership. Those inside and outside the campaign who were involved should be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

And in minor political news, the D.C. Libertarian Party became the first political party to call for Gray’s ouster, saying in a statement yesterday: “What has become apparent is that Vincent Gray’s campaign for Mayor was little more than an organized criminal enterprise masquerading as a political campaign. Nothing about his campaign or his election is legitimate. The District of Columbia is facing serious challenges – challenges that we can not begin to find solutions to as long as Vincent Gray remains as Mayor. The Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia strongly urges Vincent Gray to resign.”

Mendelson’s full statement is below:

“The suspicion that there was a “shadow campaign” in the 2010 Mayoral race is not new news. However, yesterday’s confirmation of the suspicion is news, and it is disturbing.

I applaud the U.S. Attorney for his investigation and his continuing efforts to expose and prosecute wrongdoing in the 2010 campaign.

I am not privy to any more information than what all of us are learning from news reports. Importantly, the U.S. Attorney has not accused the Mayor of having broken the law, and absent that charge the call for Vince Gray to resign is premature. Indeed, typically people say that the process should play itself out. That is all the more reasonable when there isn’t even a criminal charge.

Moreover, given the facts we know, the call for the Mayor’s resignation creates instability at a time when we need just the opposite.

I will not defend criminal behavior, and I do not defend what we now know about the 2010 campaign. But I also urge restraint in the seeking of another resignation until the U.S. Attorney actually asserts that the Mayor himself did something wrong.”