THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9510310073
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER W.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
RANDY WRIGHT knows that many voters wonder why he is running for clerk of court.
Why, people ask, would a politically ambitious young man like Wright, who became a city councilman in 1992 after years of yearning for the job, suddenly give it up to a run a clerk's office?
The clerk's job is strictly administrative, non-political, and plays no role in setting city policies.
Running for clerk is not a matter of seeking clout, Wright says:
``If that's what I was after, I'd stay where I am and try to be mayor someday.''
It's not a matter of going back on voters who elected him in 1992, he says:
``I've never said I was going to be a career councilman. That was never my intention.''
And it's not about becoming a political boss, as some previous court clerks have been, Wright says:
``I never said anything about making (the clerk's office) the center of the Democratic Party. . . . How the heck am I going to re-invent the Byrd machine, which was statewide? That's ludicrous.''
Rather, Wright says, it is a matter of time.
Wright says he works 35 hours a week on city business, plus another 30 hours a week on his small print shop off Military Highway. It can't go on, says Wright, who is 49.
``I have always had a dream of being a full-time public servant,'' Wright says. ``This offers me an opportunity to do it on a full-time basis, without having to run a business simultaneously.''
In recent weeks, Wright's political ambition has become a large issue in the clerk's race. All three opponents cite it as one reason they entered the campaign.
In February, Wright said that if he were elected, he would be more active in local affairs, like previous clerks Billy Prieur and Hugh Stovall. Prieur was the dominant figure in city politics from the 1920 to 1960s and was the local arm of the statewide Byrd political machine.
Today, Wright says his earlier remark was misunderstood. He says he never meant to imply that he wanted to be a political boss like Prieur.
``Clerks of court in the past have been much more active than Bill Ryan (the current clerk) has chosen to be,'' Wright says. ``Hugh Stovall would be at civic league meetings, passing out pamphlets on how the clerk's office works. He was educating people about the court system. That's what I mean by being active.''
Wright has little courthouse experience - he is not a lawyer and has never worked in the clerk's office, but he does sometimes help his wife, a Realtor, research deeds.
But Wright says he does have extensive experience in personnel and money management. He has run his own printing business for years and has helped manage the city's half-billion-dollar budget as a member of the City Council's finance committee.
Dealing with people, Wright says, ``is my forte.''
Wright says it is ridiculous that some critics label him a ``good old boy.'' He led the Norfolk Tea Party in the 1970s, an anti-establishment group that sought to lower tax rates.
``God knows, if anyone looks at my career, I'm not a good old boy,'' Wright says. ``Look at my record. I'm the guy who doesn't fit the mold, does what I think is right, says what I think is right. Accusing me of being part of the good old boy system just isn't going to wash out there.''
If elected, Wright says, he would go around the city talking to people about the courts. He says he also would bring youth groups into the courts to see how criminal defendants' lives are ruined by crime.
He proposes opening the clerk's office a half-hour early, at 8:30 a.m., to help people arriving for 9 a.m. court dates.
``People do not know about the (clerk's) office,'' Wright says. ``I guarantee you, when Randy Wright's first term ends, there'll be a whole lot more people who know about the court system.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON
KEYWORDS: ELECTION COURT CLERK CANDIDATE NORFOLK by CNB