Mr. Barry's Apology

STANDING BEFORE U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson yesterday, former four-term mayor and now Ward 8 D.C. Council member Marion Barry directed his apology for failing to pay federal and local taxes to the right parties: the judge and the residents of the District of Columbia. That was no private citizen whom Judge Robinson sentenced to three years of probation for misdemeanor charges. Marion Barry is a public officeholder who, through his misconduct, betrayed the public trust.

He acknowledged that his conduct was wrong: wrong in not paying taxes from 1999 to 2004; wrong in the cocaine and marijuana use revealed in a court-ordered drug test; wrong in not filing his tax returns until Feb. 7, the day before his original sentencing date. Even now, Mr. Barry waited until Wednesday to have his accountant contact the Internal Revenue Service to begin negotiations about a plan to repay $246,000 that he owes the federal and District governments in taxes, interest and penalties. The greater wrong, however, would be for Mr. Barry to believe that he has somehow eluded justice because he is not going to jail. It's difficult to imagine that he will not end up behind bars if he fails to meet the terms of his probation, including submitting to further drug testing.

Standing before the bar of justice yesterday, Mr. Barry invoked the Scriptures on forgiveness, suggesting, it would seem, that claims against him for his conduct should be overlooked. Whether his taxpaying fellow citizens should grant him a pardon is not for us to say. But this much Marion Barry should know by this stage in his life: Disobeying the law -- even for an ex-mayor and sitting council member -- is not and never will be acceptable.