Marion Barry Recommended to Sit on Metro Board

WASHINGTON - City Councilman-elect and former mayor Marion Barry could soon be one of the people steering Metro, the capital area's cash-strapped transit agency.

District of Columbia Council Chair Linda Cropp will recommend that the Ward 8 Democrat replace Councilman David Catania as an alternate on Metro's regional board that oversees the agency.

Word of Cropp's recommendations came from Council member Adrian Fenty.

Councilman Jim Graham would remain on the board. The two other D.C. members, Gladys Mack and Calvin Nophlin, are appointed by the mayor. Mayor Anthony A. Williams expects to make his nominations to the board next month, said his spokeswoman.

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said Barry would be welcome on the board.

Cropp's recommendations are part of her reshuffling of committee assignments among 13 council members.

The changes are expected to win council approval after members are sworn in Sunday.

Barry would start at Metro in January.

The former mayor was infamously videotaped by the FBI smoking crack in 1990 and wound up serving six months in jail. But after his release, he was elected to the council in 1992 and to a fourth term as mayor in 1994. He resurrected his political career for a second time this year, winning a council seat last month.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)