6 months ago
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- DC Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry says the Monday night's HBO Documentary "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry" is the most balanced portrayal of his political and personal life in Washington.
The documentary, which airs at 9 p.m. on local cable gives some rare glimpses into Barry's early street activist days and his election, to every political office he ever sought beginning with a seat on the first elected DC School Board and then the first elected DC Council.
The documentary also tells how Barry, a four-term Mayor, hired and promoted women and minorities, while giving minority businesses up to 35 percent of the District's contracts.
In an interview Wednesday with 9NEWS NOW, Barry says federal prosecutors and the FBI, after failing to link him to white collar corruption, turned to spending millions to investigate his recreational drug use.
The former four-term mayor refused to accept responsibility for his arrest for smoking "crack" at the Vista hotel in 1990.
Barry blamed the FBI for "entrapping" him. He also blasted the Secret Service Police and the U.S. Park Police for arresting him only to later drop the charges.
The one area where Barry admits responsibility is his taxes.
"And I'm paying for that" he says, with $30,000 being taken from his salary for back taxes and penalties every year.
Written by Bruce Johnson9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com
