A few weeks ago, I wrote a story about municipal elections from Baltimore to Charlotte. I was impressed that the mayor of Charlotte won a seventh term. But, as it turns out, there is someone else from the Carolinas who has been in office even longer.
When voters cast their ballots in Charleston, SC, the city's mayor Joe Riley, who has been in office since 1975- when I was five years old- was reelected by a fairly wide margin over challenger William Dudley Gergorie.
In his column in the "Charleston City Paper," Will Moredock said he was concerned that the mayor might not be as effective as he was upon first entering office.
This past year, the city had a terrible tragedy when nine firefighters died as a result of a blaze at a Sofa Super Store. The deaths lead to an investigation which found that Charleston's fire department needed to make major improvements in the areas of command structure, procedures and equipment.
Moredock said that while Riley's leadership helped make Charleston even more of a tourist destination in his early years as mayor, today he has become less effective because he has simply become too comfortable with his city.
The columnist stated that he was shocked when Riley actually stood by the city's fire chief Rusty Thomas after the sofa store fire and the futile findings of an independent commission:
"I am one of many who is mystified by the relationship between the mayor and the chief, but whatever their relationship, it did not stop 64 percent of the voters from casting their ballots for Mayor Joe last week," Moredock wrote.
Moredock also cited the racial divide in Charleston as a reason for Riley's victory. Riley is white, and Gregorie, his challenger, is African American.
Reporter Greg Hambrick of the same publication perhaps summed it up best when talking about Riley's victory in 'The Holy City,' which is also the hometown of talk show comedian Stephen Colbert:
"Oh, yeah. And Joe Riley won his.... well, we can't even remember how many times this has been, but he's been in office for more than three decades."
The fact that a reporter from Charleston, SC, no longer remembers (if he was being serious) when the mayor was elected is definitely an indicator that perhaps Riley should retire at the end of this term.
I think what happened in Charleston and Charlotte is an indicator of just how hard it is to topple an incumbent. If someone has built a network and established firm relationships in the community, it is indeed hard for the public to go with an unknown commodity. But, the same person is likely to do thing the same way and this may lead to fewer civic imporvements over the long haul.
Useful Links:
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com
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