Top Orange aide quits over campaign's tone

In the second big loss for Vincent Orange's campaign for City Council Chair, George Lowe, one of the campaign's top fundraisers, has quit the Orange Crush after becoming displeased with the "negative tenor of this campaign," D.C. Wire reports.

In particular, it seems likely that the Orange campaign's strident attempts to capitalize on reports of his rival Kwame Brown's significant personal debt is what drove Lowe to leave the campaign. He resigned just two days after the campaign released an email blast about Brown which said he was "mired in lawsuits and debt" and asked how he could represent D.C. to investors.

Orange has downplayed the loss to his campaign, the Post said, saying that fundraising took place through a group effort. Linda Mercado Greene resigned in June because of her personal connection to Brown.

The Post obtained an email that Lowe sent last week to Orange and his top campaign staffers. In it, he wrote that he had "given this a significant amount of thought ... and continue to arrive at the same conclusion and that is that I no longer feel comfortable with the negative tenor of this campaign and will not be a part of such."

"Our campaign is factual," not negative, Orange said upon Lowe's departure. "It's clear that I will make changes to the council and I will be looking at the committees and making us more efficient and more effective."

Above, Lowe looks on as former councilmember Kevin Chavous rallies the crowd at Orange's inuagural campaign event in early June. Photo by RJSmith.