A Richmond attorney, Governor Wilder served in the State Senate (1970-1986) and as Lieutenant Governor (1986-1990) before becoming the first elected African-American Governor (1990-1994) in U.S. history. As Governor, he balanced the state budget during a recession without raising taxes or endangering the state’s AAA bond rating. He also established an emergency reserve fund and crafted a record-setting bond package for capital improvements.

Wilder’s financial skill was offset by his inept embrace of added gun-control at the request of New York mayors.  Like other laws, once in place it proven hard to remove, even when the law is clearly useless.

In 2005, Wilder became the first elected Mayor in his home city of Richmond, serving through 2009.  Again, his skills in finance were shown as he put the city back on asounder footing, but not before clashing with the School Board and several sacred cows.

Now Governor Wilder has a blog , Wilder Visions.  Welcome him to the ‘blogosphere’ if you will, and let’s hope his conservative financial advice is listened to.

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 2:00 pm.
Comments and trackbacks are closed.