Mayor for Life Marion Barry said on Monday he had nothing to do with D.C.’s financial crisis in the mid-1990s that prompted a federal control board to take over the city’s finances. He stated during a D.C. Council hearing that he was shocked when he was sworn in as mayor in 1995 to learn the city’s savings had been reduced to just $31 million.
Wasn’t his fault the feds took over control of the city’s day to day finances — including power over mayoral budget decisions. It was the previous administration, Barry said.
“It shocked me and everybody else to know that Sharon Pratt … had let it get to $31 million,” he said. “I had nothing to do with the control board [taking over]. Nothing. Nothing! None. I’m tired of people saying that was my fault. That’s an absolute lie.”
Barry apparently doesn’t remember the 1980s.
Under his leadership as mayor during that decade, Washington experienced a huge real estate boom, but the Barry administration took that as license to spend money on issuing government contracts and creating government jobs. The spending orgy was so great, in fact, that no one in the administration knew how many government jobs there actually were, according to Examiner columnist Harry Jaffe.
Not to say that Pratt is blameless — the city’s finances only got worse under her short tenure. But perhaps her tenure is best described as not saving an already sinking ship.
