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Who Should
Be Norfolk's Next Mayor?
Mon, Nov 20, 2000
During the last election
Norfolk citizens overwhelmingly voted “yea” on a referendum to elect
Norfolk’s mayor by popular vote. Currently, city council members choose the
mayor from among their own.
There were arguments for and against popular election of the mayor, but the
voters decided popular election was the way we wanted to do it. The following
opinions and observations are mine and based on having lived in this area since
1977.
First, I definitely want a working mayor, a full-time mayor to be the chief
executive of city government. Please, no Virginia-Beachian Myra Obendorf type of
mayor. She’s a glad-hander and a good smiler, a nice, grandmotherly type lady,
but hardly a leader. Obendorf’s best position would be serving on the Chamber
of Commerce, or serving as head of the Convention and Tourist Bureau.
What are our choices in Norfolk? Well, current members of City Council come
immediately to mind. Of those currently sitting, I would guess that Duan Hester,
Randy Wright and possibly Herbert Collins and Paul Fraim would want to run. Not
a difficult choice there, if you ask me. I am not aware of any potential mayoral
candidates who are not currently on Norfolk’s City Council.
Herbert Collins is least likely to get general support, and if you have read
previous editorial pieces I’ve written, you’d know he is certainly not the
man I would vote for. It still amazes me that Collins is on City Council, or any
elected position for that matter.
Paul Fraim has done well as Mayor and City Council Member. He has been a friend
to downtown Norfolk, and Fraim is largely credited as the visionary who worked
his Political Butt off to make downtown Norfolk come back to life. He fought
hard, too, and against many who should have known better but had their own
selfish interests in mind. But, I still don’t want him to be my mayor. Too
much power for too long tends to corrupt, and it’s time to go for Fraim. He
also neglects communicating with his constituents, except near Election Day, if
he is running for office. I’d still like him to be on City Council as a
councilman.
We now come to Randy Wright. Randy Wright is an ambitious man; Wright seems to
be for whatever is best for Wright’s political career. He has had some strange
political “bedfellows” with Collins among them. That is frightening: a
Collins-Wright coalition that would set Norfolk back a decade, at least. Wright
wants to be mayor too badly, and that would make for a badly performed job on
his part. He is likely to make some bad deals to get support for his election to
the mayor’s office. Wright is also not much of a team player, using
relationships as they do him well, and then dropping them when they don’t.
Daun Hester, on the other hand, has shown herself to be a leader who is truly
interested in making Norfolk all it could be. Compared to other council members,
her performance shines, shadowing all the other council members combined. She
crosses demographic lines and works with her political opponents almost as well
as she works with her political allies. Hester beat the Political Butt off
Collins in the last election where he, for some unfathomable reason, tried going
for her seat while he was still holding his city council seat. Hester also
communicates well with constituents and even communicates with those who are not
her direct constituents. She reaches out to business and is interested in both
Norfolk’s downtown area and Norfolk’s outlying neighborhoods, which Fraim
has been accused of neglecting. (Not a fair accusation, by the way.)
Hester is a strong proponent of public transportation and a strong proponent of
getting the unemployed employed. She is active in neighborhood organizations and
likes to dig for facts before making a decision. Her energy and positive
attitude are trademarks that could easily become Norfolk’s trademarks. Let’s
make it happen, TikiVillagers, let’s convince Hester to run and then let’s
vote for her. Her leadership will benefit all Hampton Roads, not just Norfolk.
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