In D.C., there’s no better former mayor to turn to for advice on how to address the city in the midst of turmoil than Marion Barry.
He didn’t want to talk about what Gray should do Monday night, though, telling The Washington Examiner through a spokeswoman that “he’s not writing the speech.”
Mayor Vincent Gray will deliver his State of the District address on Monday. He’s fending off accusations of campaign impropriety, and criticism about high salaries and jobs given to political allies and their children.
In April 1995, Barry gave his first State of the District address after winning back the mayor’s office following his 1990 cocaine conviction. Federal and local authorities were investigating Barry’s ties to a city contractor, and looking into whether his security detail was involved in a cover-up of accusations that Barry’s wife had passed campaign funds to her brother. Congress had also just approved legislation establishing a federal Financial Control Board to reign in the District’s out-of-control spending.
Gray doesn’t face a control board, but he does have to close a $320 million budget gap and try to find answers to 30 percent unemployment in the District’s poorest ward.
Barry didn’t address his scandals. Instead, he took aim at the city’s budget woes. In a speech titled “Taking Charge of Today and Tomorrow,” Barry labeled himself as the strong leader the city needed to weather stormy waters.
“Every ship needs a captain,” Barry was quoted in news reports at the time, “not just any old captain. Not just a name captain. … A captain who can give the passengers a sense that we know where we are going. There’s a steady hand on the wheel, and we’ll take charge of today and tomorrow.”
“We’re going to restructure our government … remotivate our work force,” Barry said.
