…and he’s still on the D.C. Council. Only in Washington, D.C.
Marion “Da Mayor” Barry tested positive for cocaine as recently as last fall, reports the left-leaning Washington Post. The former dashiki-clad civil rights crusader quickly rose from city council to the mayor’s office in 1978. He served three consecutive terms before he was stung in 1990 for possession and use of crack cocaine.
But D.C. is a very forgiving city if you’re a black liberal. After he was released from prison in 1994, Barry ran for mayor. And won. In 2002 he was found parked on federal property with small amounts of coke and marijuana. It was a set-up, he insisted. If you can believe it, Barry was re-elected to the D.C. Council in 2004.
From 1999 to 2004, he failed to pay taxes. The IRS caught up with him late last year, and he pled guilty to misdemeanor tax charges. During the investigation, Barry had to submit to a court-ordered drug test, and he tested positive for cocaine.
What can you say about a city that chooses a drug addict to run it? D.C. has a black mayor, a left-leaning city council, a left-leaning school board, black teachers, blacks in prominent positions in the government, and who knows what else. The people have spoken. But for a city trying to improve its image (despite the high murder rate) and draw whites and the middle-class of all races back to the city, choosing a drug-addicted man to write the laws may not be the smartest thing to do.
As a former drunk, I certainly understand the power of addiction. My alcoholism wasn’t a disease; it was a weakness, a character flaw, and the people of D.C. would’ve been just as wrong-headed to elect me to office. Putting Marion Barry in any position of trust and responsibility is such a joke. The man has led a charmed life, and he ought to be ashamed, especially at his age, for his uncanny inability to stay out of the justice system.
Barry is very forgiving toward people who point guns in his face. Last week he was robbed at gunpoint. He said:
“There is a sort of an unwritten code in Washington, among the underworld and the hustlers and these other guys, that I am their friend…I don’t advocate what they do. I advocate conditions to change what they do. I was a little hurt that this betrayal did happen.”
With friends like that… 
“Conditions,” not poor character or amorality, cause thugs to rob people. I see. If we improve “conditions,” will thugs stop being thugs? Here’s a condition we can improve: repeal pro-criminal gun laws and allow law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. I guarantee that will have a greater impact on violent crime rates in this city than any bloated, guilt-tripping social program.
Related posts
Update: Re: Barry’s “friends,” commenter Mark La Roi says: “Makes more sense now that he doesn’t want to press charges against those criminals who robbed him. Pressing charges leads to the dissemination of information.”
Good point. Even I, the jaded suspicious one, hadn’t thought of that.
