THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9501030080
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Vowing to ``bring integrity back into government'' and to rebuild his deteriorating city ``from the ground up,'' Marion S. Barry was sworn in on Monday for a fourth term as mayor of the District of Columbia.
Barry, who overcame a personal and political disaster - a misdemeanor drug conviction and six months in prison after the FBI videotaped him smoking crack cocaine in 1990 - had campaigned as a bridge between the city's poor blacks and affluent whites.
When Barry took the oath of office at 12:15 p.m. on Monday, about 2,500 friends and supporters came to clap and cheer in a gymnasium on the campus of the University of the District of Columbia. The ceremony included prayer, gospel music, poetry and the new mayor's impassioned plea for Congress to help bail the city out of a $500 million deficit that threatens its stability.
Barry, 58, promised his audience that the district will see the nation's capital transformed into a ``world-class city.''
``We will bring confidence back into government!'' Barry shouted to cries of ``Amen!'' and, ``That's right!'' from well-wishers. `` We will put faith again into government, and bring integrity back into government!''
On Jan. 18, 1990, the FBI videotaped Barry smoking crack cocaine in Room 727 of the Vista Hotel. Barry completed his third term as mayor, but his arrest and conviction ruined his chances for a fourth consecutive term as mayor.
While appealing the conviction and jail sentence, he ran for an at-large seat on City Council as an independent candidate and lost. An appeals court upheld his sentence, and he spent six months in prison.
Many black residents of the district insisted at the time that Barry had been hounded out of office by a ``white racist establishment.'' But on Monday, Barry seemed to take special pains to emphasize the need for reconciliation between blacks and whites.
``We have some walls to tear down - walls of distrust. Walls of finger-pointing and blaming others. Walls of isolation that keep us separate from one another. Walls of selfishness, polarization and small thinking.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS color photo
Marion Barry first took office as the District of Columbia's mayor
in 1979. Monday, he was sworn in for his fourth term after a drug
conviction and a six-month prison term.
by CNB