ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Marion Barry was many things to many people.
To TMZ, he was the “crack mayor,” and to some he was the epitome of graft and corruption, and a troubled soul who personified all that is wrong with liberal politicians and politics. I even came across online comments in which people labeled Hazel Diane “Rasheeda” Moore, the woman in the FBI videotape, a prostitute and a whore. She was neither.
Let me tell you a few things you may not know about Marion Barry.
Mr. Barry was a staunch supporter of school choice.
He supported some gay rights, including recognition of domestic partnerships, and he was not a signatory of the D.C. Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act.
SEE ALSO: Marion Barry: A deal-maker who championed home rule
When Mr. Barry was mayor and Bill Clinton was president, they saw things eye-to-eye — and not because of their physical stature.
The support for Mr. Barry runs so deep that more than 600 supporters have signed a Change.org petition to rename H Street/Benning Road Marion Barry Boulevard. The petitioner, Eric Chavous, states: “H Street is a very busy street in D.C. and is currently undergoing a major transformation that is bringing back its vibrancy. It runs very close to Capitol Hill, the Capitol and the White House. We think it is the perfect street to be renamed in Mayor Barry’s honor.”
Interestingly, Mr. Chavous is a son of Kevin P. Chavous, a former D.C. Council member who wanted to replace Mr. Barry as mayor.
The senior Mr. Chavous told me Monday that Mr. Barry and Mr. Clinton could relate to one another. Both were Democrats, and it was on Mr. Barry’s last watch as mayor that Mr. Clinton worked with a Republican congress to stem the city’s red-ink soaked finances and return it to solvency. Mr. Barry knew the city was broke, and Congress had declared it broken.
More importantly, though, Mr. Barry knew Mr. Clinton because of their shared Southern genesis: Mr. Barry became mayor and Mr. Clinton became governor of Arkansas during the same midterm elections, and Mr. Barry would indulge his mayoral proclivities by visiting gubernatorial conferences. When Mr. Clinton moved into the White House, he and Mr. Barry charmed one another.
In 1995, as D.C. limped along, Mr. Clinton met with Mr. Barry as they ironed out the edges of a deal already made in Congress.
SEE ALSO: Photos: A look at Marion Barry through the years
“He and Mr. Clinton had become pretty close during those conferences,” the senior Mr. Chavous told me. Years later, during a meeting on D.C. affairs, Mr. Clinton put both hands to Mr. Barry’s shoulders and poured on the “charm.”
Ha! They had both attended the same “charm” school.
Mr. Barry took plenty of heat from the gay community for opposing same-sex marriage, but there is another issue — school vouchers — which often was droned out by other liberals and progressives in D.C.
Mr. Barry also was “an unequivocal supporter of school choice for parents who could not access the levers of privilege,” said Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools.
Mr. Barry, who also slid into classrooms to teach every now again, not only backed charter schools long before it became fashionable, but he supported vouchers, too. Fortunately, Congress usually appropriates three buckets of money for D.C. — traditional public, charter schools and public vouchers.
Earlier this fall, I served as emcee at a ribbon-cutting for Friendship Tech Prep Academy in Southeast and introduced Mr. Barry as a political scientist and civil rights leader. And I attended a book signing of his just a few weeks ago. When a couple of his handlers told me to write my name on a piece of paper I said, “Oh, he knows my name — both of them,” I said.
Mr. Barry called me “Deborah” professionally, and “Simmons” when he wanted to share information off the record.
For sure, he was many things to many people, but to the people who matter, he always will be Mayor Barry.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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