Ward 8 D.C. Councilman Marion Barry said Tuesday he would cooperate with an investigation into a taxpayer-funded contract he awarded to a girlfriend. The council voted unanimously to start an independent review of Barry’s deal with Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, his now estranged ex-girlfriend, to be led by lawyer Robert Bennett.
Barry accused “one of more members of this city council” — widely known to be at-large member David Catania — of leaking information about the contract to reporters in the wake of the former mayor’s July 4 arrest for allegedly stalking Watts-Brighthaupt. Those charges were later dropped by the U.S. attorney for D.C.
The former mayor said he would ask Bennett to investigate the leak.
“The desire was to impugn my integrity, to destroy my credibility, to make it impossible for me to effectively be a member of this city council,” Barry said during the meeting.
The former mayor also used the dais to slam the Park Police, again, for “illegally” arresting him near Anacostia Park.
Barry has accused Catania of having a “personal vendetta” against him because the former mayor cast the only vote against a gay marriage recognition bill. — Michael Neibauer
