Since he returned March 12 from seven weeks of addiction treatment, District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry has confounded his critics by waging an ambitious and effective public-relations campaign.
Despite predictions that his political career was over in the aftermath of his lurid arrest on drug charges in a Jan. 18 FBI sting operation, Barry has survived and in some ways flourished.
As he pleaded not guilty to new drug charges Tuesday, the question being asked in Washington was whether Barry is running for re-election or against the criminal charges leveled against him by a federal grand jury.
In a well-orchestrated series of appearances at community meetings, candidate forums and churches, the three-term mayor has energized his base of support and neutralized the five declared Democratic candidates for his job.
”This is a guy whose audacity has always been his skill,” said Mark Plotkin, a local political analyst who believes the mayor is running for re-election.
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”He understands that what he needs in a Democratic primary is not 50 percent but a plurality. And he believes that no matter what happens, he`s got 25 to 35 percent in a five- or six-way race.”
Last week, Barry began a self-styled People to People walking tour of the city`s eight wards, a program he labeled non-political. Walking through the Lincoln Heights public housing project Barry smiled and waved as he acknowledged chants of ”Four more years” from some residents.
Barry has doled out press and TV interviews carefully, and Washingtonians are increasingly aware of the mayor`s ”Mobile City Hall,” a rickety white van that traverses D.C. neighborhoods dispensing information about city services.
Along with artful use of his incumbency, Barry, 54, has demonstrated an ability to intimidate his opposition. He did not blink in the face of Jesse Jackson`s rumored candidacy, telling a Los Angeles Times reporter that,
”Jesse don`t want to run nothing but his mouth.”
Last month, one of Barry`s Democratic opponents, D.C. congressional delegate Rev. Walter Fauntroy, canceled a date at a candidates` forum after hearing the mayor was going to appear.
Fauntroy, who entered the race after Jackson declined to run, was expected to mount a credible campaign. But his effort has stumbled, and he has been fighting rumors that he now intends to leave the race.
Two weeks ago, the local Democratic Party and its director, Joslyn Williams, failed in an attempt to pass a resolution urging Barry not to run this fall.
”The mayor`s circumstances do not seem to matter to a large segment of his constituency,” Williams said Tuesday. ”I`m not sure the new indictments will have any effect on them, either.”
There is also a belief among Barry`s supporters that the mayor`s campaign has been aimed not so much at voters but at the government and at U.S. Atty. Jay Stephens.
Barry`s loyalists have insisted that the case against the mayor is politically motivated, and that his arrest in a downtown hotel, complete with a videotape of Barry smoking crack cocaine with a woman named Rasheeda Moore, was a setup.
”This new indictment is to shore up the government`s case against Barry,” said a former aide to the mayor who asked not to be identified.
”They don`t want to go into court with just that videotape, because they don`t think they can get any kind of conviction from a jury in a city that`s 70 percent black.”
Barry pleaded not guilty Tuesday to an expanded government indictment on drug and perjury charges, saying he would not attempt to delay a trial set for June 4.
The new charges allege that Barry used crack as far back as 1984, and it is believed the government will produce witnesses who will testify they used drugs with him.
The trial date comes just one month before the July 5 filing deadline for the September primary, although petitions for independent candidacies can be held until Aug. 29.
Barry faces 14 charges, six of which were filed May 10. The new indictment added a misdemeanor count of conspiracy to possess cocaine and five misdemeanor counts of possession to five other misdemeanor possession counts and three felony counts of lying to a grand jury.
If convicted on all charges, Barry could face up to 26 years in prison and nearly $2 million in fines. If convicted of a felony, he would be barred from running, and he has indicated that he will not run if he is convicted even of a misdemeanor.
”But he doesn`t need acquittal,” said Mark Plotkin. ”All he needs is one vote for a hung jury.”