Wilder set to hit ground ‘running’

RICHMOND — Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is reviewing the city’s budget and quietly looking for a candidate for chief administrator as he mounts a campaign for mayor.

Several residents say they will run in the Nov. 2 election, but Mr. Wilder, 73, is moving with the confidence of someone who has already been sworn in as Richmond’s first popularly elected mayor.

“I’m not waiting for a transition team,” Mr. Wilder told The Washington Times during an interview at his office at Virginia Commonwealth University this week. “I’m in the process of doing it on my own. I won’t have the luxury of the first 100 days. I’ll hit the ground running.”

The ground he plans to hit running was staked out, tilled and landscaped by none other than himself: Mr. Wilder was instrumental in changing the city’s electoral process for mayor, in making the office less ceremonial and more authoritative, and in generating support for the changes.

In the process, the Democratic maverick teamed with Virginia Republicans and fought off a legal challenge brought by a black Democratic congressman who said that allowing the mayor’s popular election could leave Richmond with a chief executive who isn’t black.

Dressed in a tan suit and cowboy boots, Mr. Wilder said he thrives on being told that the odds of accomplishing anything are insurmountable. He said over the years he was told he would never be elected to state office.

“I love proving the cynics wrong,” said Mr. Wilder, who became the country’s first black governor in 1990. “I love it more to be an example for those other grim spirits who need a push.”

Last year, Richmond voters approved by a 4-to-1 ratio a referendum calling for the mayor’s popular election — a measure that Mr. Wilder had pushed for, with help from former Rep. Thomas Bliley, a Republican.

Opponents of the referendum had said it would weaken black voters’ political power, and state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, Richmond Democrat, even said it would incite a “race war.”

Rep. Robert C. Scott, the state’s only black congressman and a Democrat, challenged the referendum as a violation of the Civil Rights Act, but the Justice Department approved the measure last month.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wilder, who serves as a distinguished professor at VCU (where, in May, the VCU board of visitors approved the naming of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs), wouldn’t reveal his possible choices for the new position of city administrator, but he said he is weighing the options.

The city administrator, who will be appointed by the new mayor, would replace City Manager Calvin D. Jamison, who currently oversees Richmond’s day-to-day operations.

Mr. Wilder warned the Richmond City Council not to vote on any proposed amendments to the city’s 2004-05 budget until a new mayor is elected.

“There should be a moratorium because things will change with the new mayor,” he said. “We can’t proceed further. We are going to have a different set of priorities.”

He also is meeting with officials, including state Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, a Republican, to address youth violence in the city that has about 200,000 residents. He thinks the attorney general and the commonwealth attorney’s office should work with police to reduce violent crime.

Mr. Wilder is no stranger to reaching across party lines.

Mr. Wilder said he was amused by the chatter generated when he addressed a group of the state’s House Republicans at a summit in Reston last month.

“If a group of responsible citizens asks me to come and speak, should I measure whether they are Democrats or Republicans or mugwumps before I go?” he asked, laughing hard enough to reveal his dimples. “I never measure it in terms of Democrats or Republicans.”

He said he told the Republicans that as Richmond’s mayor, he would ask them for money and help for the city. The Republicans gave him a standing ovation and some had promised to aid his mayoral campaign.

Mr. Wilder said he is working with senior state lawmakers to help patch what he called a “deteriorated” relationship between the city and the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Mr. Wilder has also been known to occasionally break ranks with his own party over some issues.

Earlier this year, Mr. Wilder joined Republicans who called for a referendum on any tax increases. He also said he would not have endorsed Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, when Mr. Warner was running for governor if he had known Mr. Warner was planning to raise taxes.

Mr. Wilder still believes that the $1.38 billion in tax increases should have been put to the voters. “Recent polls will tell you that 70 percent of the people in Virginia still would love an opportunity to vote on what taxes should be raised,” he said.

He doesn’t blame the legislature, however. “They did what they had to do. Many in the legislature encouraged me to raise taxes, but I didn’t do it,” he said.

Mr. Wilder said he has no intention of running for governor again and most likely will serve only one four-year term as mayor if he is elected. The mayor is eligible for re-election once.

In Richmond, the mayor has previously been selected by fellow council members. But in November, voters approved the referendum calling for the popular election of the mayor.

Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a bill that gives the elected mayor the authority to oversee the city’s budget and finances and to appoint a city administrator. The vice mayor will lead the council meetings.

The mayor will receive an annual salary of $125,000 and health benefits.

In addition to Mr. Wilder, three others have announced their intentions to run for mayor: Richmond School Board member Charles H. Nance, current Richmond Mayor Rudolph C. McCollum Jr. and architect Lawrence E. Williams Sr.

Residents have until Aug. 2 to submit the required paperwork and voter signatures to run for the post. Fund-raising reports for the candidates are due Sept. 15.

Some say age could be a factor in the mayor’s race, but Mr. Wilder scoffs at the notion.

“I’ve never considered myself old — I’ve always thought I was older,” said Mr. Wilder, who served in the state Senate for 16 years and was the state’s lieutenant governor for four years. “I don’t know anything that age prohibits me from doing. There’s a lot of things that age enables me to do better.”