Last week, I commented on the sad decline of the Washington Metrorail system, saying "the slack-jawed yokels who run it are slowly turning it into a costly mess with Third World-quality service." My friend and frequent Catholic Light contributor Victor Morton e-mailed me with the happy solution: former mayor Marion Barry is probably going to be on the Metro board.
You may remember Mayor Barry from a popular video he made in 1989. The production values were low, but his "How to Light a Crack Pipe" was an international hit. He also did many other noteworthy things, to wit:
He turned a solid local reputation as a civil rights leader into an international reputation as a crack addict and frequenter of loose women.
He went to jail for six months, and during a family visitation period, in a roomful of adults and children, he received a Lewinsky from a "friend" who was there visiting him.
He wasn't mayor the whole time, but in 30 years D.C. went from a city of 800,000 people in the mid-1960s to fewer than 500,000.
At one point, the Control Board appointed to straighten out the city's mess could not account for over $100,000,000 spent by the Barry administration.
That's just off the top of my head. But the people quoted in the article are probably right: he's one of the most qualified local officials to help run Metro. He's already bankrupted and despoiled the city: why not extend that success to the whole D.C. area, too?
Thanks, Eric.
Though I think you may have the title of the video wrong. My memory tells me it was "The Bitch Set Me Up."
I also agree that Barry is eminently qualified to sit on the railroad panel.
Marion Barry is a man with extensive experience with lines. A man who'll head a real crack team. A man who *knows* about railroading, and has a strong connection to the underground. If there's any man in DC who knows how to grease the rails, it's Marion Barry.