The District's most iconic local politician is asking for something besides votes. This time, he wants pictures.
Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry, whose office has recently taken to using his long-held "mayor-for-life" nickname," took to Twitter on Thursday asking his more than 6,000 followers to submit photographs of his life as he prepares an archive.
"At some point, I want [to] donate an archive [to] an institution," said Barry, the District's only four-term mayor. "But I need help in collecting images and memorabilia."
Barry asked for photographs spanning his career, including his childhood in Mississippi, his work in the civil rights movement, the earliest initiatives he launched in the District and his famous Summer Youth Employment Program.
He also acknowledged that he's expecting people to submit images from his 1990 arrest at the Vista Hotel on drug charges.
"I expect the Vista from crankpots (sic)," Barry wrote. "That's OK. My life has many more chapters and much more meaning."
Barry served a six-month prison sentence after a jury convicted him of cocaine possession.