Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9401200293
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray L. Garland
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
There were times, he said, when the preceding 48 months had seemed to go by on the gallop, other times when his epochal inauguration seemed long ago. "I want to take off," he said, quickly adding that he loved being governor and firmly believed the one-term limitation represented bad policy.
In an interview earlier in the week with one of the editors of The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Wilder came close to composing his own epitaph: "Because so few of them are truly free, they couldn't understand that I am a free man - and a free man is hard to confront." While he agreed that no one in the rough trade of politics is ever completely free to do and say whatever he pleases, Wilder probably came closer than anyone we are ever likely to see in both achieving high office and remaining a free spirit.
The governor had been late at his desk the night before, clearing the deck of unfinished business, and a sheaf of papers was brought in for his signature. That done, there was still something bothering him - a request for clemency - and a prisoner's handwritten letter was one of the few items left on his desk. We discussed the case at length and it appeared there were too many unanswered questions for him to make one last use of the power to pardon in the half-hour or so it still resided with him.
No one could say he had abused that most personal and troubling authority given to Virginia's governors under the Constitution. But one now saw close up the sobriety he brought to that awful responsibility and thought it would be nice if that man behind bars could know he was foremost in the governor's mind as he idly fingered the ceremonial key to the Executive Mansion he must soon place in George Allen's hands.
I was curious about his bachelor's life in that wonderful old house behind the Capitol which had served governors since the time of James Monroe and now would echo to the sounds of a young family. How was the food and service? "First rate in every respect," he said. "They can do anything you ask of them." Facing a cholesterol problem familiar to many, he had specified menus heavy on fruits and vegetables. But he had mainly shunned a governor's privilege of playing host to large gatherings; preferring, when in residence, to enjoy quiet evenings at home.
In walking through those spacious and lovely rooms, had he much reflected on the strange path that had brought him there? Korea was the turning point, he said. He had known so many men better than he - with more to offer - who hadn't come back that he resolved then and there to make more of his life. But it wasn't until much later - long after his election to the state Senate - that he thought it might include the governorship. Hardly born to the promise of fame, wealth and power, he seemed to wear their mantle lightly, almost as if it had all been preordained.
We spoke of the difference between being a legislator and a head of state. "No comparison," he snapped. "The power in this office is awesome and nothing really prepares you for it. I couldn't have been more tested. ... But personally, I could not have known a better time, and I would have changed very little."
Wilder's advice for Allen was as sound as it was succinct: Get the best people without regard to who worked for you; make changes quickly when needed; and see your mission as being higher than the merely partisan.
But George Felix Allen didn't seem to hear that last piece of advice. Democrats complained that his inaugural address read like a campaign speech. But let him speak for himself:
"As I assume my duties, I do so with a fighting spirit. ... at the outset of our journey, only a handful of insurgents came forward to join our cause for a new direction for Virginia's government. ... By Election Day, that insurgency had become a revolutionary army which was victorious in taking back Virginia's government for Virginians. ... For this great house that Jefferson designed was meant to be the people's Capitol, not the citadel of special interests. My fondest hope - my foremost goal - as governor is to empower you, the people of Virginia, and to challenge you to take control of your destiny. ... "
If this sounded to some too much a partisan's vision of Virginia's future, let it be noted that Allen has never made any secret of where he stands. As for an excess of partisanship, we might also take note of the arrogant disregard of the people's will by Speaker Tom Moss in handing out committee assignments the day before. By blatantly shortchanging on key committees those constituencies that elected Republicans to represent them in Richmond, Moss showed his customary contempt for an essential principle of representative government.
That no Democrat of standing went on record to condemn Moss validates many of the new governor's complaints against business-as-usual in the General Assembly.
In his speech to legislators Monday night, Allen threw down the gauntlet on many controversial items of policy that we must take up later. But his populist conservatism is an interesting twist on old Republican themes. He takes up his task with enormous energy and great good will. But he should guard against exhausting his political capital and would do well to ponder both his predecessor's sage advice and to profit from his example.
\ Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
by CNB