By Vernon Loeb and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 28, 1998; Page D01

Blacks and whites in the District unite in overwhelming opposition when asked whether the D.C. financial control board should run the city on a permanent basis, according to a survey by The Washington Post.

The city's pronounced racial divide also vanishes when it comes to faith in the District's future, with three-quarters of blacks surveyed and nearly three-quarters of whites expressing optimism.

And while blacks are far more likely than whites to disapprove of the control board as an interim reform measure, members of both races have grown less comfortable with the appointed panel since last summer's congressional action that virtually suspended home rule and greatly expanded the board's power.

"I'm for home rule," said Frazier L. O'Leary Jr., 53, a white resident of Ward 4 who teaches in the D.C. public schools. "I understand the concept of the control board. I just wish they'd do what they're supposed to do and get out."

As for his faith in the future, O'Leary again helps illumine the trend.

"I'm very optimistic," he said, despite his concerns about home rule. "I think that we've bottomed out, I hope, as a city, so I think that's why I'm optimistic."

This is not to minimize the racial divide that still exists over the control board. Beyond agreement on the issue of whether it should be permanent or not, blacks and whites still sharply disagree about the control board's performance, power and authority to overrule locally elected officials.

"The results of the control board have been negative all along," said Lewis P. Williams, an African American military retiree who lives in Ward 3. "It deprives people of their rights to participate in a democracy. . . . It's like when Hitler came into power, he dictated everything. That's what the control board is doing to people in Washington."

On performance, 59 percent of whites and only 34 percent of blacks approve.

On power, 50 percent of blacks and only 29 percent of whites believe the board should have less.

On the authority to overrule local officials in the interim, 66 percent of whites and only 38 percent of blacks approve.

But during the past year, when Congress virtually suspended home rule and transferred most of Mayor Marion Barry's power to the control board, differences between whites and blacks narrowed on the issues of power and authority.

On the issue of power, the percentage of whites who thought the board should have less power went from 14 percent to 29 percent, a swing of 15 percentage points. Among blacks, it went from 43 percent to 50 percent, a change of 7 percentage points.

On the issue of authority, the percentage of whites who thought the board should be able to overrule local officials fell from 77 percent to 66 percent, a decrease of 11 percentage points. Among blacks, it dropped from 42 percent to 38 percent, a decrease of 4 percentage points, not a statistically significant change.

On the board's job performance, attitudes among both groups were down 6 percentage points, with approval among whites falling from 65 percent to 59 percent and approval among blacks falling from 40 percent to 34 percent.

As was true last year, however, blacks and whites agreed on one facet of the control board's work: its duration. Seven in 10 blacks and a similar percentage of whites said the board should be temporary, a somewhat larger percentage than said so last year.

The survey also found changing attitudes toward statehood for the District. A year ago, 28 percent of whites and 52 percent of blacks said they favored statehood. Now, 39 percent of whites and 57 percent of blacks favor statehood.

And there is yet another clear sign of growing disenchantment with the control board: the approval rating of its chairman, economist Andrew F. Brimmer, whose term is scheduled to expire Sunday at midnight. A year ago, 30 percent of those surveyed had a favorable impression of Brimmer, 15 percent had an unfavorable impression and 55 percent had no opinion. Now, Brimmer's favorable rating has fallen to 20 percent, his unfavorable rating has increased to 25 percent, and those with no opinion remain at 55 percent.

As support fell for both Brimmer and the control board as a whole, interestingly enough, a greater percentage of blacks and whites – especially whites – said they felt the city was moving in the right direction. These shifts may mean that attitudes about the city are shaped by forces – the economy, the weather, the stock market, the National Hockey League standings – far beyond city government.

Or it may mean that greater disapproval of the control board voiced by blacks and whites is more of a political judgment about the diminished state of home rule than a pragmatic assessment of the board's day-to-day activities.

But all this is relative. The city still has a long way to go before even a majority of residents – black or white – think it is on the right track.

Among blacks surveyed, only 29 percent said they thought the city was heading in the right direction, with 62 percent believing it is still headed in the wrong direction. Among whites, 38 percent said they felt it was headed in the right direction, and 51 percent said it was headed in the wrong direction.

But the percentage of whites who believe the city was heading in the right direction has increased from 22 percent a year ago to 38 percent, and the percentage of blacks who had undergone a similar change of heart went from 18 percent to 29 percent.

And these shifts were mirrored when blacks and whites were asked whether they were optimistic or pessimistic about the future.

Among blacks, 75 percent said they were optimistic, up from 69 percent a year ago. Among whites, 72 percent said they were optimistic, up from 61 percent a year ago.

The Post survey is based on random telephone interviews with 1,002 adults and was conducted May 11-17. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Since the survey was completed, optimism about the city's future and attitudes about whether it is heading in the right direction could have been influenced by Barry's announcement last week that he would not seek reelection in this year's mayoral race.

The survey found that a majority of blacks and whites, including a quarter of Barry's own supporters, said he shouldn't run again.

While his withdrawal could have the effect of making most of them more optimistic about the future, the mayor's long-awaited announcement could easily cut both ways, possibly leaving his core supporters less hopeful and more likely to believe the city is heading in the wrong direction.

Barry has long sought to energize his base among lower-income African Americans by crusading against what he says are the control board's undemocratic excesses. But The Post survey found that a class divide exists between upper- and lower-income blacks in which lower-income blacks – the very segment targeted by the mayor – are more favorably disposed to the control board than upper-income blacks.

Asked whether the control board should have the authority to overrule local officials, for example, blacks earning less than $20,000 a year were split, while a clear majority earning more than $50,000 said no.