Saying sorry doesn’t compare to stepping down. That’s the message in a new editorial in the Washington Post that calls for the ouster of embattled D.C. Councilman Marion Barry.
There’s a special investigation currently under way into whether Barry violated ethics rules, or possibly even broke the law, when he awarded a city contract to a former girlfriend.
Earlier this week, Barry offered a surprise apology for what he called “bad judgment.” He also defended himself, saying that he had not broken any law.
In this morning’s editorial, the Post says, “It frankly is disgusting to hear Mr. Barry talk, as he did Tuesday, about the needs of his resource-poor community when his main agenda has been his own welfare. He seems not to recognize the connection between the deprivations of Ward 8 and his lack of effective leadership.”
The Post also compares Barry’s most recent apology to one he made 20 years ago.
Tuesday, he spoke from a church in Southeast Washington. In 1990, when he came clean about his drug use, he also did it from a church in the same section of the city.
The editorial claims the only way for Barry to truly show his sorrow is for him to “make way for someone who can deliver. Or, at the very least, to pay back the money wasted on girlfriends and cronies.”
