In politics, Wilder didn't look for fights, but never fled from one

RICHMOND

Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder ends his historic political career today insisting he never relished confrontation.

"I'm not afraid of it, either," he said. "I don't look for trouble but when it comes down, I'm in it."

Wilder - who in 1990 became the nation's first elected black governor - will finish a controversial term as mayor of Richmond, his lifetime home. He leaves with real accomplishment. There were 94 murders in the capital city in 2004, the year before he took charge. This year, there have been 32.

Wilder was overwhelmingly elected four years ago under a new charter that abolished Richmond's city-

manager government and established a strong, full-time mayor. He promised to cleanse city government, calling it a "cesspool of corruption and inefficiency."

In the eyes of many, however, his legacy as mayor may wind up being one of bullying and pettiness. Wilder tried to toss Richmond's school administration out of City Hall in 2007, summoning moving vans on a Friday night after everyone had gone home. Richmond's longtime minor league baseball team left town, unable to get Wilder to sign off on a new stadium. The City Council sued Wilder three times, claiming he would not abide by the charter.

"Doug Wilder had an opportunity unlike any other mayor in the 250-year history of Richmond to truly transform this city," said John Moeser, a professor emeritus of urban studies and planning at Virginia Commonwealth University. "He went into the mayor's office with enormous political capital and squandered it."

Wilder received almost identical reviews when his gubernatorial term ended in 1994. He navigated a recession and substantial budget shortfalls without raising taxes. But the accomplishment and the historic nature of his election were somewhat overshadowed by his feuding with legislators and a short-lived candidacy for president that drained his popularity in Virginia.

Polls last spring showed that only 40 percent of Richmond voters were willing to re-elect Wilder as mayor. He chose not to run again, saying, "I've done everything I could do."

He's being succeeded by former state Del. Dwight Jones, a minister who pledged during his campaign to improve the mayor's relationship with the City Council and business leaders.

Wilder offers no regrets.

"The people didn't like my style, but they liked the direction the city was heading," he said during an interview last week in the mayor's office. A statuette of Jackie Robinson, the first black in Major League Baseball, sliding home, sat on his desk.

"I wouldn't expect people to emulate my style," Wilder added. "You're not going to get things done by sitting around singing, 'Kumbaya.' "

At 77, Wilder remains trim and energetic, and sports a goatee.

"I won't seek public office again, but I will not be quiet," he said. "I'm still concerned."

There are two grandchildren he wants to spend more time with. He'll be teaching and organizing lecture series at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Wilder also hopes to establish a $200 million United States National Slave Museum in Fredericksburg - an ambition born 15 years ago on a gubernatorial visit to Africa. But fundraising for the center has all but dried up in the past year.

"I'm not optimistic; I'm not pessimistic," Wilder said about the museum's future.

An autobiography is not in the cards. "I heard a guy once say he didn't need to write a book because he had already said everything he had to say," Wilder said. "That's the way I feel. What's out there is out there."

Wilder made peace with Chuck Robb, a former governor and U.S. senator who became Wilder's arch enemy in the early 1990s. Their relationship hit bottom in 1991 when Robb's staff leaked to the media a clandestinely made tape of a private conversation between Wilder and a political supporter.

"Chuck Robb and I have had some conversations that would amaze you," Wilder said. "He said, 'The problems between you and me better served others around us than it served ourselves.' "

Are they pals?

"Chuck is not the warm and fuzzy type," Wilder laughed.

Wilder's proudest accomplishment as governor was establishing an emergency reserve known as the rainy-day fund to get the state through economic hard times. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is asking the legislature to withdraw $500 million from the fund this winter to balance the budget.

Throughout his political career, Wilder has been accused of falling short of the high accountability standards he's demanded of others. As governor, he declined to release details of a $1 million surplus in funds he raised for his inauguration. Years later, the Internal Revenue Service sought back taxes on the money and Wilder acknowledged that some of it was personally used by his son, Larry.

His ill-fated eviction of the school administration from City Hall, halted by a judge, cost Richmond $1 million in moving and legal fees.

He announced the resignation of a city employee who accepted a stipend for using his personal car at work while also driving a municipal auto. Wilder did not suffer the same fate when it was learned he was receiving a $700 monthly car allowance while being chauffeured in a city-owned Grand Marquis. He said he never looked at his direct deposit pay receipt and reimbursed the city $23,000.

Wilder denies a double standard and offers lengthy explanations for all the expenses. "I don't ask anything of others that I don't ask of myself," he said.

He's thrilled by the success of Barack Obama and believes that he helped clear a path for the first African American black president. "He thinks so, too; he's told me," Wilder said.

It's all an amazing history to Wilder, the grandson of slaves who recalls "giving up on the system" when he returned from the Korean War to segregated Richmond in 1953. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that schools be integrated, and his outlook began to change.

"I have been very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time," he said.

Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com