THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210457
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS AND LISE OLSEN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The politics and ideology of race are turning Gov. George Allen and Jesse Jackson into allies in a fight over how this black-majority city elects its mayor.
The issue seems small-town simple: Can voters elect the mayor or will council members continue to choose among themselves. The General Assembly must OK the switch.
The governor intervened after the issue stalled in the House of Delegates over how it would affect African-American voting strength.
What happens could affect struggles over representation in cities and counties across the state. And, the fundamental disagreement between prominent African-American politicians may well signal a new age in the civil rights movement.
The issue - to protect a ward system or open up elections - is dividing traditional allies and forging odd partnerships.
Tuesday's bizarre result: Two Democratic caucuses refused a request from Jackson to meet and discuss the issue, while the Republican governor accepted it. Jackson and Allen both support a change to an elected mayor.
``It is an interesting alliance,'' said Ken Stroupe, an Allen spokesman. ``There have been few occasions when we've found ourselves in agreement with Jesse Jackson.''
Jackson said he still plans to visit Richmond Thursday to try to bring the two sides together despite his rejection by the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Legislative Black Caucus. ``Sometimes in politics good people collide. I'm trying to make sure that the collision is not so devastating that it sets back our common quest.''
Jackson says he thinks everyone needs to get together and hash things out. But building a bridge might not be so easy.
Jackson and Allen argue that Richmond voters should get their wish - expressed by a 2-1 margin in a referendum last November - for a popularly elected mayor.
That side is also supported by Mayor Leonidas Young, an African-American leader, the Richmond City Council and a coalition of black ministers.
But others, including Richmond's first black mayor, State Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, argue at-large elections erode black voting strength and would disturb the racial balance.
To his side, Marsh has been able to attract many of traditional allies: NAACP leaders, other prominent Baptist ministers and other Assembly members.
The different life experiences of Marsh and Young have prompted some to suggest that the Richmond Mayor Crisis illustrates a generation gap between Virginia's African-American leaders.
Young, who was elected by wooing both black and white voters, is not worried that an at-large mayor system would hurt black representation - in fact, he's said he would run under the new system.
``The day of racial argument has come to an end,'' he said. ``We are near the end - at least in Richmond.''
Marsh, who became Richmond's first black mayor after a court battle, is more worried about diluting black voting power. He spent decades fighting injustice, arguing school desegregation cases in Hampton Roads and across the state. and seeing Richmond progress from an all-white to integrated government after years of court battles and demonstrations.
Marsh wants the General Assembly to take more time to study the ramifications. The issue has already been delayed for study by the House of Delegates. Marsh wants the same result in the Senate.
Young, though, says Marsh has exploited and personalized the issue - even writing speeches for some of his old allies, and using backdoor tricks to defeat the measure. Said Young: ``Marsh told me the General Assembly was a club and he would do all the horse-trading he needed to get what he wanted.''
Young invited Jackson to Richmond to convince folks that a popularly elected mayor was a step forward not back.
Young won a victory Tuesday when a Republican-dominated senate committee passed the governor's bill to allow the direct elections - on a 9-6 vote.
But in the General Assembly, Sen. Marsh might have the last word. Says Marsh, ``It's a question of changing a system that has been working to a system that we don't know what we're going to get.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY MAYOR'S RACE RICHMOND by CNB