Jackson to Face New Pressure to Run for D.C. Mayor

The drug arrest and probable political downfall of District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry opens the door for the Rev. Jesse Jackson to enter the race for mayor and will renew pressure on him to run.

“Politically, (Barry) is finished,” said Julius Hobson, who is an aide to Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) and once served as the district’s chief lobbyist on Capitol Hill.

“This may well be the opening that many of us have speculated Jesse was looking for,” Hobson said. “He has said he would never run against Marion, and now that problem may have been solved for him.”

In Chicago, Jackson dodged questions about his plans, holding a press conference simply to express “sorrow and sympathy” for Barry and his family.

Jackson, who said he spoke Thursday night with Barry’s wife but not with the mayor, told reporters:

“This would be an inappropriate time to deal with the legal and political questions. It seems to me at this time that the agony and trauma people are going through needs to be addressed.

“In this time of great private and public pain,” Jackson said, “my prayers go out to the family of Mayor Marion Barry.”

Supporters and opponents of Jackson suggested that he will be torn as he assesses whether to run for mayor of the District of Columbia, a city of 620,000 where roughly two-thirds of the eligible voters are black.

On one hand, Jackson--who has tried twice to win the Democratic nomination for President--could be tempted to show that he can establish credentials as an effective elected official by taking over as chief executive of one of the nation’s most troubled cities.

On the other, Jackson may fear that being mayor in strife-torn, drug-ridden Washington would bog him down in local issues and lessen his impact on the national political stage. The city’s soaring murder rate, attributed by police to wars between drug gangs, has attracted worldwide attention.

“The city of Washington needs new leadership . . . and Jackson could restore confidence and help reverse the decay,” said Marcus Raskin, a Jackson adviser who is a senior fellow at the liberal Institute for Policy Studies.

“But it is also very, very important,” Raskin said, “that he not give up national leadership in the Democratic Party, because Jesse reflects the heart and soul of the party that is not owned by special interests.”

Local officials described Barry’s arrest on cocaine charges as a crippling blow to his expected bid for a fourth term, which Barry had been scheduled to announce Sunday.

Barry, who returned to his office after his arraignment Friday morning in federal court, is not required to step down as mayor because of the arrest.

But the mayor’s office issued a statement later that said he was temporarily turning his day-to-day mayor’s chores over to an aide because of a “need for time to handle his legal matters, his concern for his family and because it is in the best interests of the citizens of Washington, D.C.”

Barry’s arrest “changes the political landscape of the city,” said Councilwoman Charlene Drew Jarvis, who has already announced her own campaign for mayor.

Jackson is likely to lie low for the next couple of weeks, Raskin said, while public and media attention focus on Barry’s woes. But, within the next month, Jackson will be faced with the decision of whether to run for an office he would be widely expected to win.

“There’s a good chance Jesse will run, and he would undoubtedly win in a multicandidate race (for the Democratic nomination),” said Mark Siegel, a Jackson political foe who is a member of the Democratic National Committee. “In the end, his ego could well push him to run so you in the media won’t say he is chicken.”

With Barry now apparently on the ropes, some local officials speculated that Congress might be more willing to consider granting statehood to the district. Jackson, who has expressed interest in becoming senator if the district became a state, said he was in Chicago to meet with Operation PUSH officials to discuss a planned voter registration drive.

“Jesse is probably the only one who can break the colonized situation in which Washington is trapped,” Raskin said. “But the danger is that a new mayor here could be made to look like a failure because of the reins Congress holds.”

Jackson said he planned to avoid comment on Barry’s case and would return to Washington on Saturday night to continue his work and make plans for a trip to South Africa.

“I hope that we will not have a recess from due process (for Barry),” Jackson said, “and that this matter will be settled in a courtroom and not a newsroom.”

Tom Redburn reported from Washington and Eric Harrison from Chicago.