any such governments and they have often tinkered with the system. In 1802 Congress originally, established a system that called for a city council elected by the residents and a mayor appointed and approved by Congress. In 1820, Congress gave more power to District residents and allowed them to elect their own mayor. By 1874, Congress reversed earlier arrangements towards local control and established a Presidential appointed three-person commission to run the city. This led to a system of corruption and confusion among both the three-person committee as well as with the various federal agencies and offices in the city. Although the Senate voted in support of local control, the House of Representative’s powerful House District Committee blocked a vote on local rule from coming to a full floor vote till 1973. Barry was a leading advocate, spokesman and lobbyer of Home Rule. Which is why Barry has served as Mayor for all but eight years from the time the office was created till he decided not to run for a fifth term in 1998. Under the Home Rule Act that took effect in 1974, Congress retained the right review legislation and authorized the city’s budget. However, Congress established a city council and mayor to be determined by the popular election of the residents of the District of Columbia. For the first time in nearly a century, there would be local government, however, Congress still had the strings to the purse. Washington, DC faced many of the problems that other major American cities faced when Barry was sworn in on January 2, 1979 and continued to face in the 1980’s and 1990’s. As many white’s left for the suburbs, drug use, crime and murder continued to rise, while education scores, and public facilities such as roads were in decline. Where as other large cities could rely on support from the state government and the tax base of the suburbs to support their programs, Washington as it i...
