The mayor of Richmond announces his retirement
DOUGLAS WILDER'S political career is all about firsts: in 1969, he became Virginia's first black state senator since Reconstruction. From 1990 to 1994, he was the nation's first elected black governor. Four years ago, he became the first directly elected mayor of racially divided Richmond in half a century.
But Mr Wilder's mayoralty is ending as so many of his previous successes have: with bitterness and frustration heaped on him from all quarters. Mr Wilder, who announced on May 16th that he would not seek another term, was elected in a landslide. He promised to clean up city hall, curb crime and forge peace between the blacks that control Richmond's politics and the whites that dominate its economy.
Instead, Mr Wilder—consistent with a history marred by public petulance and score-settling—picked fights with the city council and the school board, even trying to evict the latter from its offices. Richmond's professional baseball team left town after he mishandled talks to keep it. And the mayor even fell out with the businessmen who helped him to office over their pet project, a new downtown arts centre. These dramas reinforced an image of Richmond government that Mr Wilder had pledged to dispel: that it is dysfunctional, and that its leaders are more interested in their perks than in progress. The mayor moved about town with a police bodyguard that cost taxpayers $1.3m.
Though his approval ratings sank, Mr Wilder did do well on crime. He hired a new police chief, Rodney Monroe, formerly of Washington, DC, and on his watch murder and drug crime plummeted. But within days of Mr Monroe's decision to move to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take over the police department there, Mr Wilder announced his retirement. He had lost his strongest claim to another four-year term.
At 77, Mr Wilder has earned his rest. But few expect him to live out his days quietly at his mansion on Richmond's lovely James river. Mr Wilder was one of the first prominent politicians to endorse Barack Obama. Might a big federal job for the pioneer be in the wings? If so, expect another bumpy ride.
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