A 12 Sunday, December 26, 1993
L. Douglas Wilder
His Record and His Style, 1990-93
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- Jan. 13: Wilder
inaugurated as nation's
first elected black
governor. Days later, he
delivers a conservative
budget message telling
— legislators to "resist the
urge to enact general tax
increases" and calls for a
$224. 1 million rainy-day
fund, higher liquor prices
and smaller teacher pay
raises to avoid a deficit.
wader exults at his inauguration in 1990 with LL Gov.
Donald S. Beyer Jr. and Attorney General Mary Sue
Тегту.
Feb. 26: Wilder names high-school dropout Patricia Kluge to the
University of Virginia Board of Visitors, saying the appointment is
unrelated to her husband's $200,000 campaign contribution. Wilder
later uses a state police helicopter to take her on dates.
Aug. 17: Wilder announces plans to lay off some state workers, cancel
salary increases and cut $333.5 million in aid to public schools to help
offset a $1.4 billion budget shortfall
June 6: The Washington Post
reports that U.S. Sen. Charles
S. Robb has a tape ol a
Wilder phone conversation.
Тик
Washington Post
THE WILDER LEGACY
Wilder Style Eclipsed the Substance
WILDER, From A1 _
great sense of tragedy about it," said state
Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Reston). “I was
very excited about the potential and the
historic opportunity. He could have brought
everyone together. But he made enemies
unnecessarily, and he generated needless
controversy.”
“He could have had one of the most re¬
markable records of gubernatorial achieve¬
ment in recent history,” said political sci¬
entist Mark J. Rozell, of Mary Washington
College in Fredericksburg, Va. “But that
can’t be the final verdict.”
The 62-year-old Wilder, who is preparing
to challenge fellow Democrat Charles S.
Robb for the U.S. Senate next year, said he
is not ready to talk about a final assessment
of his administration. He declined repeated
interview requests for this article.
Despite the disappointments of his term,
there is widespread, often grudging agree¬
ment that Wilder was a capable chief exec¬
utive. He anticipated the recession earlier
than many experts, and, over the objections
of some in his own party, closed repeated
gaps in the budget with an aggressive series
of cuts. Virginia was one of only two states
nationally to deal with a budget shortfall
without raising taxes, but that required
slashing some agencies’ funds by as much
as 25 percent and forced tuition increases
of nearly 50 Percent at many public colleges
drugs were used. Wilder first denied order¬
ing the investigation, which critics said po¬
liticized the state police, but a month later
acknowledged he was behind it.
And over the years, there was a proces¬
sion of defiant gestures that stained the
governor’s public image.
Wilder took a $1 million profit from his
1990 inaugural ball. Ignoring precedent, he
refused to detail the contributions or what
he would do with them. The General As¬
sembly quickly passed a law prohibiting any¬
one else from doing the same, making Wil¬
der apparently the only governor to leave
office with a stash of cash amassed from an
election victory.
Then in 1991, an anonymous aide tried to
smear Wilder’s departing press secretary
as racist and antisemitic. Laura Dillard, a
former divinity student, had offended the
governor by arguing that he should forego a
run for president and pay more attention to
Virginia. Wilder refused to denounce the
allegation against her, widely regarded as
false.
This spring, a federal judge blocked him
from firing an appointee to the Metropolitan
Washington Airports Authority because
Democrat Daniel S. Alcorn had complained
that fighting between Wilder and Robb was
hurting the party.
Wilder’s faults in part may have been a
magnification of his virtues. His bravado
and sense of destiny allowed him to defy
“II
П
e didn t get to
where he is now by not
being willing to fight.”
— James W. Dyke J
former state education secrete
in Wilder's administrate
Others reject the notion of Wilder a:
trated liberal. By their estimate, he is
itician driven not by ideology but by *
tunity. As governor, Wilder’s main
о
uents were no longer inner-city blacl
moderates statewide who he believed
eager to embrace a new kind of Dem
Virginia’s $2 billion budget shortfall
Wilder a chance to show he was that
ocrat.
The lack of sweeping initiatives no
standing, the Cabinet that Wilder asse
achieved lasting policy successes. It
first-rate group, legislators and othe
ital veterans note.
Finance Secretary Paul W. Timmr-
skillfully handled budget crises that 1
praised by Democrats and Republican
and only days ago was reappointed
post by Gov. -elect George Allen, a 1
