Although he left his office at City Hall six months ago, the shadow of L. Douglas Wilder’s unique political career still looms. For decades his favor was courted and his power feared on both sides of Broad Street.
Now Wilder is in the news as Richmond’s former mayor who maybe bought a bunch of Fords from a particular car dealer, to serve as police cars, without following the City’s rules about such procedures. It seems a competitive bidding rule may have been circumvented.
Wilder began his career as an elected official 40 years ago, when he became a state senator, representing part of Richmond in the General Assembly. After being elected as Lt. Governor in November of 1985, he was elected Governor in 1989.
That Wilder was the first black governor of any American state since the last Ice Age was duly noted; he became somewhat of a national celebrity because of it.
Two years into his term as governor, in 1992, Wilder overplayed his hand: His open flirtation with running for president went over like a lead balloon.
That episode began what became a series of squirrelly moves.
After Wilder’s term as governor, in 1994, he challenged his favorite Democrat to feud with in those days, then-incumbent Sen. Chuck Robb. It was a four-way race that caught the nation’s attention. Republican nominee Ollie North and Independent Marshall Coleman (a former Virginia attorney general) completed the quartet.
After promising for months he would stay in the race to the end, Wilder suddenly dropped out in October, offering only a flimsy explanation to those who questioned his motives. Robb was reelected.
In 1998 Wilder accepted an offer to become the president of his alma mater, Virginia Union University … then days before he was about to start the job he changed his mind for reasons that remain unclear.
Wilder’s high profile feuds with state Sen. Henry Marsh, Chuck Robb, Sen. Mark Warner and others have torn at the fabric of the Democratic Party in Virginia. At times his grudges have seemed to trump all other concerns.
In 2003 Wilder spearheaded what was a successful campaign to change Richmond’s city charter to replace the failed weak mayor/strong city manager concept. He said he would not be a candidate for the new strong mayor office.
Then Wilder decided only he could be that first strong mayor, so he ran for the office, anyway, and won in a landslide in 2004. Once in office, Wilder proceeded to feud with most of the City’s other elected officials.
The notorious Friday Night Fiasco that Wilder engineered at City Hall on Sept. 21, 2007 has to be the strangest move he’s ever made in politics. The mayor’s bizarre attempt to forcibly evict the school board from the building was halted by a judge.
Last summer Wilder blew off his invitation to sit on the platform with other dignitaries in Capitol Square when the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial, a sculpture by Stanley Bleifeld, was unveiled by Gov. Tim Kaine.
It was a huge event for Richmond, well-covered by the media, but Hizzoner, the missing mayor, refused to explain why he wasn’t there to represent the City of Richmond.
Then again, since Henry Marsh and Mark Warner were also invited to sit on the platform before the thousands gathered there, local wags in the know weren’t so surprised that Wilder skipped the important ceremony.
Looking back on his career, especially his stints as governor and mayor, it’s hard to find a signature accomplishment. Wilder’s legacy seems mostly to be that he got elected, and he wielded power. It’s hard to give him much credit as a genuine problem-solver, or as a builder of new important things.
Now Wilder’s name is popping up in news stories about which way he might lean in the gubernatorial race. Some say his endorsement is coveted by both of the major party candidates.
But, in spite of his noteworthy career in politics, how much does 78-year-old Doug Wilder’s endorsement still matter? After all, he’s all but isolated himself -- at best he’s a situational Democrat.
For instance, in 2006, Wilder bestowed an eleventh-hour endorsement on Sen. Jim Webb, after playing coy for months. Looking back on it, it’s hard to say that grandstanding move had much effect on the outcome of the race.
Wilder’s real clout in the Democratic Party has been shriveling for years. He couldn’t prevent Mayor Dwight Jones’ victory, last year, even though Jones has been a Marsh protégé for many years.
In spite of his ability to be absolutely charming, when he wants to be, from feuds, to fiascos, to Fords, how many Democrats, Republicans, or Independents are really waiting for the word from Doug Wilder to help them decide whether to vote for state Sen. Creigh Deeds or former Attorney General Bob McDonnell?
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