Master of the Big Surprise

Ifirst met Doug Wilder when I was campaigning for City Council in 1968. Wilder was a young and upwardly mobile attorney. He was very gracious to give me advice on the campaign, which I deeply appreciated.

The following year, after J. Sargent Reynolds was elected lieutenant governor, Wilder ran for Reynolds' State Senate seat against former Lt. Gov. Fred Pollard and former Mayor Morrill Crowe in a three-way race. The general opinion at the time was that Wilder couldn't win, but of course he did. He served in the Senate until 1985 when he ran for lieutenant governor. Again, smart money said there is no way Wilder could win as an African-American in a statewide race. Of course, once again he proved his critics wrong and was elected lieutenant governor.

Four years later he ran for governor against the judgment of many in the Democratic Party, only to triumph once more. While he was governor, with the economy in a downturn, some called for tax increases. But Gov. Wilder said no -- you shouldn't raise taxes in difficult times, and he proceeded to make the necessary budget cuts to balance the budget.

In 2003 the governor wrote a couple of Op/Ed pieces in the newspaper calling for the direct election of the mayor. After the second piece, I called a friend and former colleague on the City Council, Henry Valentine.

I said, "Henry, do you think he is serious?" and Henry replied, "I don't know, but let's invite him to lunch and find out." We did and found out he was dead serious, so I said, "Count me in!" We then formed our commission and made recommendations to the General Assembly, which posed the necessary legislation for the referendum. It passed overwhelmingly. The governor then ran for the office and was overwhelmingly elected. He took office with the charge to clean up waste and abuse in City Hall.

Mayor Wilder was elected by the city as a whole with 80 percent of the vote. The mayor -- as a former governor -- was used to making decisions and having them carried out. In taking over this office, he suddenly had to deal with an elected City Council with each member representing one-ninth of the city -- and the same with the elected School Board.

Each of these bodies is jealous of its respective authority -- and that is why the problems began. One of the things I pushed for in the new charter was to give the mayor his own lawyer. Instead, the Assembly said the city attorney hired by the council should represent both -- a major potential conflict of interests.

It is unfortunate that this troika of a strong mayor, independent School Board, and independent council produced much acrimony and, to a certain extent, gridlock over the budget and the schools.

The mayor tried, for example, to get the School Board to close surplus buildings, pointing out that Norfolk, with a considerably larger school population, operates with fewer school buildings. Unfortunately, the mayor was frustrated in this endeavor to a large extent. I believe it was this frustration that led to the attempted eviction from City Hall, which I think most would agree was a major mistake.

Overall, I think Mayor Wilder, as the first elected mayor since the 1940s, was able to begin the task of bringing greater efficiency to City Hall. I hope the new mayor will build on this and find ways to work closely with the council and the School Board as well as with the county governments to improve our community.

I predict that while Mayor Wilder is leaving the mayor's office, this will not be the end of an outstanding career.
Thomas J. Bliley Jr. is a former mayor of Richmond who served from 1981 to 2001 in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was chairman of the Commerce Committee .