Bland Candidate Giving Barry a Battle
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Turning blandness into a virtue may just make John Ray the next mayor of the nation’s capital. Although he has been a city councilman for 16 years, Mr. Ray is so unassuming that most voters still have no idea who he is. Three times before this campaign, he ran for mayor. And three times he failed. But in a city where the current Mayor has failed to reduce crime substantially, to solve financial problems and to stave off a declining tax base brought on by middle-class flight — and where Marion S. Barry Jr., the former Mayor convicted of drug possession, has a strong chance of regaining the office — Mr. Ray has appeal. Polls Show Dead Heat According to the latest public opinion polls, Mr. Ray and Mr. Barry are in a dead heat to become the Democratic mayoral candidate in next Tuesday’s primary election. And Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly, who was elected four years ago because of the assurance that she was unbeholden to the entrenched powers, is now far behind her challengers for much the same reason. Mr. Barry, whose third term was cut short when he was convicted in 1990 on a misdemeanor charge of drug possession, was re-elected to the City Council as representative of one of the city’s poorest wards not long after having served six months in prison. Preaching the political gospel of resurrection, redemption and rehabilitation, Mr. Barry has found a message that appeals to young, black, disaffected voters who feel they have no better place to turn. Mr. Ray, on the other hand, is running on everything Mr. Barry is not. Mr. Barry is charismatic; Mr. Ray is laconic. Mr. Barry is dazzling; Mr. Ray is dull. Mr. Ray does not inspire; Mr. Barry has prompted the registration of a record number of new voters. And while Mr. Ray has neither the engaging personality of Mr. Barry nor the grim determination of Mrs. Kelly, he is the reasonable alternative. “He’s the quiet alternative to the other two candidates,” said Terry Lynch, the executive director of a consortium of local churches called the Downtown Cluster of Congregations. “The public is tired of the fireworks and rhetoric and noise that’s come with the previous administration and the current one.” In this latest quest, Mr. Ray has received the endorsement of the unions representing the firefighters and corrections officers, as well as from several major business and real estate organizations. Even in 1990 Mr. Ray was perceived as the business candidate, receiving $1.1 million in campaign finances from business and real estate groups. Since then a campaign finance law has limited contributions to $100 per donor. After years of flamboyant personalities and unreasonable promises, the city may be ready for a no-nonsense, straight-forward administrator whose personal behavior would not appear to be a problem. But Mr. Ray has recently taken to using Mr. Barry’s very arguments of personal redemption against his opponent. “I’m a good Baptist and I believe in redemption,” he said in a recent interview. “But I don’t believe in rewarding the sinner.” In one of Mr. Ray’s campaign advertisements on television, stark black and white scenes of the city’s boarded up buildings and homeless people in the parks. A voice intones: ‘This is not about one man’s redemption, this is about a city. Vote for John Ray.” For all his low-key demeanor, John Lamar Ray admits he is ambitious. Being mayor was his goal even before he became a City Council member in 1979. He first gained visibility by being appointed to Mr. Barry’s council seat after Mr. Barry was elected mayor. A year later, he was elected to the at-large seat. Mr. Ray ran his first mayoral campaign in 1978 from a store front in the southeast section of the city where Mr. Barry now finds his core voters. Just before the primary, Mr. Ray bowed out and threw his support to Mr. Barry. Mr. Barry then used his influence as the new Mayor to have Mr. Ray take his council seat. Mr. Ray and Mr. Barry also share a rural Southern background, though Mr. Ray’s was far poorer than Mr. Barry’s. Mr. Ray was reared in Toms Creek, in the turpentine and tobacco country of south Georgia, not far from the Florida border. Mr. Barry is from Itta Bena, Miss. Rise From Poverty More : query.nytimes.com |