Marion Barry Stalking Arrest: When is Enough Enough?

Washington, D.C. Councilman Marion Barry has been arrested for stalking a woman in Anacostia Park.

Marion Barry

The woman flagged down a police officer, pointed out Barry's car, and she said he was stalking her. Barry and the woman knew each other. She has not been named. The stalking charge is a misdemeanor. Here's the way things work for the powerful in Washington, D.C.:

The officer is a not a D.C. and was unaware who Barry was prior to making the arrest, said Park Police spokesperson Sgt. David Schlosser, according to the Washington City Paper.

Barry failed to file or pay income taxes for years. He is on probation for that offense through 2011. In the last year as Mayor of Washington, D.C., in 1990 an FBI sting caught him on tape smoking crack cocaine. Barry service six months in prison and returned to the Mayor's office for a fourth term in 1994. How do these people get re-elected? Do the voters in D.C. see this man as a leader for them and their cause, or do they see him as a enabler?