Despite telling various media outlets last week that he’d be running in the November 6 special election to be D.C. Council Chair, Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) seems to have backed off of that plan.

D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown’s been pretty busy lately, what with hammering out the city’s budget and all — but that doesn’t mean he’s off the public relations train. Brown’s latest attempt to connect with the city in light of the “Fully Loaded” scandal is this profile in the Washington Informer, in which Brown channels The Rock and talks about his love of hot yoga.

Kwame Brown officially claimed the title of D.C. Council Chairman-elect last week, which means he has to give up his At-Large Councilmember position come January. So who will replace him? A special election for a permanent replacement, expected to be an hotly-contested affair with no fewer than fourteen legitimate candidates having their names dropped for the job, will be held sometime in the spring. For precedent: the last time such special elections for Council seats were held was in May 2007, when seats in Ward 4 and Ward 7 — Mayor Adrian Fenty and Chair/Mayor-elect Vince Gray’s former seats, respectively — were up for grabs.

Photo by lovedc.We all know that our fair city is facing some financial difficulties, but it would appear that so too are some of its elected representatives. Yesterday, the City Paper reported that Councilmember Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) owes the feds over $16,000 in student loan-related debt. By itself, the story might not mean much, but it comes on the heels of both last week’s revelation that Councilmember Kwame Brown (D-At Large) has over $50,000…