The troubles at the Park Southern Apartments roiled the November 2014 D.C. mayoral election. Scott, a long-time supporter of D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray, is a notable power-broker in local D.C. Democratic Party politics. According to article in "The Washington Post", Scott secretly withdrew her support for Gray in early 2014 after the city began investigating tenant complaints at Park Southern Apartments, and switched her support to D.C. City Council member Muriel Bowser. Scott then allegedly declined to mobilize residents of the Park Southern Apartments to vote for Gray at a January 17, 2014, Democratic Party "straw vote" held in city Ward 8 (where the apartment complex is located). Gray subsequently lost the straw vote, and Bowser was catapulted to front-runner status in the Democratic mayoral primary. Bowser then won the D.C. mayoral primary. Scott subsequently accused Gray of targeting her and her nonprofit corporation in retaliation for the political activity. "The Washington Post" reported on July 13, 2014 that Bowser had attempted to set up a private meeting between D.C. housing officials and PSNC (Gray ordered his officials to decline attendance); twice demanded to know under what legal authority city officials acted against PSNC; and challenged the city's right to seize PSNC's property under the terms of the loan default. Michael Kelly, director of the District of Columbia Housing Authority, asked Bowser to schedule council hearings on PSNC's administration of the Park Southern Apartments, but Bowser (as of July 15) had declined to do so. Instead, Bowser asked the city's inspector general to open an investigation. D.C. City Council member David Catania, an Independent candidate for mayor, accused Bowser of improperly intervening in the situation and engaging in ethically questionable conduct. Bowser dismissed Catania's criticism, and has alleged that problems at Park Southern Apartments are not as bad as the tenants and D.C. Housing Authority allege.