Jones dropping Wilder’s appeals of lawsuits over mayoral powers
Bruce Parker/Times-Dispatch
Movers returned Richmond school system belongings to City Hall offices the morning after a Sept. 21, 2007, move ordered by then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder was halted.
Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced today that he’s dropping appeals by former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder of two lawsuits over mayoral authority in the city’s new form of government.
The Virginia Supreme Court was to hear the cases this spring.
Wilder filed the appeals after Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer ruled in favor of the City Council in lawsuits that challenged Wilder’s attempt to establish hiring and firing authority over certain council employees and to evict the school administration from City Hall in 2007
Jones said the city has spent more than $1.1 million on the legal wrangling.
“I cannot justify the continued spending of taxpayer dollars and continuance of a dispute that should have been resolved with communication,“ he said in a statement. “It is fiscally prudent to withdraw these appeals and stop this ongoing expenditure. In the future, whenever differences do arise, we will make every effort to resolve them and to work out differences without resorting to lawsuits.”
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Reader Reactions
No, I haven’t read the opinions; I don’t have to. It doesn’t matter what they say. Until the appeals process is complete, it’s still unresolved. This isn’t candy land, this is real life. In spite of how the anti-Wilders feel, the CITY needs to know who’s in charge.
Logger, the dispute was between the mayor and city council, not the school board. Furthermore, the school board will NEVER have the upper hand in Virginia, since they have no authority to raise money. The city council/mayor will ultimately win any battle with the schools, if push comes to shove.
Very prudent thing to do. Bad money after bad money never totals up for anyone’s benefit.
sadly the school system now holds the trump card in any dispute. Why should they accommodate anyone, when the city government just folded to a lesser leader. The school system should answer to the city and it should be legally binding. Otherwise, why would they fret their accountability.
L Johnson - Have you read the Circuit Court opinions? These weren’t close calls, so if you need to “know who trumps whom”, start with reading those. Wilder’s arrogance and disregard of the law was a disgrace. It’s too bad that he chickened out on running again, because with the poll numbers the people of Richmond would have taught him a lesson about leadership.
Good job, Mayor Jones. You can’t get the City well until all of the poison from Wilder gets sucked out.
Mayor Jones deserves congratulation for using common sense. With the wealth of legal talent in Virginia’s Law School and among attorneys already on the State’s payroll, persons of good will should be able to discover the precise legal meaning of the existing City Charter and adopt clear revisions if it does not say what was originally intended. Rancorous, divisive, expensive litigation is not required.
I think that was a dumb move that’ll come back to bite him. Even though the reason for the lawsuit was silly, the matter still needs to be cleared up. The City needs to know who trumps who under certain cercumstances. Maybe the next time it’s not moving vans, maybe it’s something important. The people need to know; I need to know. When will we get a leader who thinks about tomorrow. I miss Wilder already!
I may not agree on every issue, but I’m starting to warm up to Mayor Jones.
I think he’s what we wanted the first go around.
It’s about time somebody ended the madness.
At last, a voice of reason…
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