THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 21, 1994 TAG: 9409210011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
People are still shaking their heads over Marion Barry's thumping victory in last week's Democratic primary for mayor of Washington. Running on a platform that emphasized personal redemption and rehabilitation after the 1990 drug arrest that landed him in the slammer, he outdistanced his nearest rival by 10 points. The incumbent who replaced him, Sharon Pratt Kelly, was left with a humiliating 13 percent of the vote.
Throughout his long comeback, however, Barry did little to outline just what he would do if given a fourth term as mayor. Now that it appears likely he will have that chance, the direction in which he will take Washington becomes more than a merely local matter. Every American citizen has an interest in how the nation's capital is governed, not to mention the fact that taxpayers everywhere pay many of the city's bills.
Barry's 12 previous years as mayor helped make Washington the financially broke, crime-ridden, increasingly polarized city it is. Public schools, housing, foster-care, jails - these and more are a mess in the District, a mess bequeathed largely by Barry himself.
Some have cited the fact that since more than 40 percent of black men between 18 and 35 in Washington have somehow run afoul of the law, Barry's victory is more explicable than it would otherwise be.
That could be part of the explanation. But it is also true that Sharon Pratt Kelly - the choice of The Washington Post and all other fashionable opinion in the city - was a flop as mayor. On almost everything she promised - cutting bureaucracy, delivering city services, improving police protection - she failed to deliver. Councilman John Ray, the other candidate in the race, was unable to convince most voters that he could do any better.
But Barry's experience of failure, recovery and redemption is not in itself a recipe for fixing a city on the brink of bankruptcy. Washington became the murder capital of America on his watch, a sorrowful title it still holds. There are more government workers per square inch in the city than just about anywhere else, yet potholes mar the streets and schools cannot open because of massive fire-code violations. The black middle class has joined whites in fleeing to the suburbs.
Barry may claim to have been redeemed, but the true mark of salvation is in deeds, not words. If he can begin taming the monster he himself largely created, then it might be possible to say Marion Barry is truly on the road to recovery. by CNB