One mystery of the 2010 mayoral campaign that’s never going to be solved is how Sulaimon Brown managed to win 209 votes in the Democratic primary. Why would you ever vote for that guy?!

Another mystery that may only be partially solved is how Brown managed to raise more than $16,000 for his quixotic fringe bid. Most of that money, nearly $13,000, came in 2009—when Brown was one of the only declared challengers to then-Mayor Adrian Fenty, who those donors must have really, really hated.

In 2010, the year of the actual campaign, things slowed down considerably for the Sulaimon fundraising machine. He didn’t raise any money between Aug. 10 and the Sept. 14 primary, according to campaign reports. The reporting period before that, from June 11, 2010, to Aug. 10, 2010, Brown raised only $1,160. Of that amount, the Gray campaign contributed at least $660, according to court records filed when Gray’s campaign treasurer Thomas Gore pleaded guilty on Tuesday.

Think about that for a minute: Sulaimon Brown’s single biggest donor during the homestrech of the 2010 race was the Gray for Mayor campaign.

And that’s just what we know from available court records. Remember that Brown’s initial accusations centered around cash donations he says he received from Gray’s campaign chairwoman Lorraine Green and campaign aide Howard Brooks, who is expected to plead guilty to lying to the FBI later this afternoon. WUSA9’s Bruce Johnson says his sources tell him that Brown actually received $1,800 from the Gray campaign.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery