Barry, Favored to Win Third Term, Retains Popularity : Scandals Don’t Hurt Capital Mayor

When Mississippi-born Marion S. Barry Jr. arrived in Washington from the Southern civil rights wars 21 years ago, he came as a militant activist wearing dark glasses and a dashiki. Soon he was crusading to bring “home rule” to a city then run by the President and Congress.

Now the 50-year-old Barry--often seen in business suits and a Lincoln town car--is favored to win reelection to a third term as mayor of the city’s semi-autonomous government, despite a steady stream of corruption scandals and program setbacks.

Polls indicate that Barry continues to enjoy substantial support from the city’s predominantly black population, many of whom see him as a key symbol of black success but also “identify with his flaws,” in the words of a labor leader.

Development Boom

Just as important, Barry’s reelection campaign is heavily financed by the business community, which appreciates his support of a development boom that has transformed a downtown area disfigured by deterioration and scars from the 1968 riot that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“There are a lot of positives to dwell on,” said banker Luther H. Hodges Jr., chairman of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. “The city is making enormous progress.” Besides, he added, “I have no confidence that anybody’s any better.”

Assuming that Barry defeats two little-known opponents in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary, his challenger in the November general election will be Carol Schwartz, a white Republican City Council member who faces significant handicaps in a city that is 90% Democratic and 70% black.

Sees Disaffection

Schwartz, who faults the incumbent for high taxes and “gross mismanagement at every level,” said in an interview Friday that she believes that disaffection with Barry is building so rapidly that it will carry her to an upset victory.

She can only hope that mushrooming troubles that have made this a long hot summer for Barry will continue into the fall.

The latest--and potentially most serious--difficulty besetting the mayor involves a federal grand jury investigation into whether he improperly used more than $57,000 in city funds for personal expenses. After the Washington Post detailed some of the lavish spending, Barry accused U.S. Atty. Joseph E. diGenova, a Republican, of illegally leaking information for “political purposes” and called for investigations by the Justice Department and Congress.

Previous Inquiry

Two years ago, diGenova led another grand jury inquiry that examined whether a city worker, Karen Johnson, had supplied Barry with cocaine. Barry, who is married and has a 6-year-old son, testified that he had visited Johnson occasionally at her apartment but had never received cocaine from her and never used the drug.

Johnson was convicted of cocaine sale and possession, but no charges were filed against Barry.

Other scandals have brushed close to the mayor and prompted growing criticism, particularly from affluent whites whose votes were crucial in his first victory.

Since Barry took office in 1979, 10 top-ranking and mid-level officials in the District of Columbia government--including the then deputy mayor, Ivanhoe Donaldson, a former civil rights leader who was accused of stealing $190,000 in city funds--have been convicted of crimes related to their official duties. A number of others have been cited by their superiors or by outside investigators for alleged misconduct, including 11 who subsequently resigned or were fired.

Notable Successes

As mayor, Barry has achieved some notable successes: a highly acclaimed summer jobs program, a strengthened financial picture and a generally improved image for the city.

On the other hand, Barry has come under fire for his handling of a number of programs, notably public housing and prisons.

Last March, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Samuel Pierce Jr. took the unusual step of directing an aide to oversee the city’s deteriorating public housing projects because local officials had failed to correct serious problems, including a long waiting list for prospective occupants in the midst of a high vacancy rate.

Problems in Jails

In 1983, a federal District Court took control of the city’s jails after Barry failed to address the problem of overcrowding.

This summer, riots erupted at Lorton Reformatory, leaving 32 inmates and guards injured and 14 dormitories damaged by fire. In the aftermath, federal prosecutors said that Lorton, which is located in a Virginia suburb, was a dangerously mutinous institution because of “poor management” by Barry’s administrators and the mayor’s failure to advance plans to build an 800-bed prison-treatment center for jailed drug addicts.

Barry defiantly brushes off the criticism. He recently told a television interviewer: “I’m running against perfection. I’m running against the ideal. I’m running against those who will say that everything has to be exactly right.”

Popularity Visible

Barry’s popularity was plainly visible recently when he made a campaign stop at a recreation room in a subsidized-rent apartment building. As Barry approached, supporter Gerry Green nodded toward the waiting crowd of 100 and said: “Watch their faces light up.”

They did. Barry, relaxed as he leaned against a lectern, said he was tardy because he had stopped his motorcade to congratulate police officers who were arresting six persons on narcotics charges.

“I think we’ve got to be tough on people who are going to take advantage of our children,” he said to approving murmurs.

Taxes, Rodents, Drugs

During a question-and-answer period, nobody was interested in scandal. The questioners inquired about property tax rates, rodent control and drug enforcement.

On his way out of the meeting, Barry was treated with enthusiastic handshakes, pecks on the cheek and a present given him by one supporter: raisins and nuts wrapped in a napkin.

Despite such outpourings of support, there are signs that it could erode quickly if Barry’s problems grow worse. One longtime backer, a black who requested anonymity out of fear he could lose city contracts, said:

“People are hard-pressed to destroy an important symbol. Here’s a black man who used to pick cotton in Itta Bena, Miss. He has made it from rags to mayor of the nation’s capital. But things are beginning to look pretty bad and the question is how long will people circle the wagons. From what I pick up, not much longer.”