First black governor ‘very impressed’ with Patrick

Kenneth J. Cooper

L. Douglas Wilder, who was the nation’s first black elected governor, plans to be in attendance next month when Deval Patrick becomes the second.

“It sends a strong message of continuing support and linkage,” said Wilder, now mayor of Richmond, Va., in explaining his decision to come to Boston for the Jan. 4 ceremony. In 1989, he was elected governor of Virginia and served as the state’s chief executive for four years. Virginia permits governors to serve only one term.

Wilder, 75, said he spoke to Patrick a couple of weeks before the Nov. 7 election and told him he would contribute to Patrick’s campaign and encourage his political friends to do the same. State campaign finance records show that Wilder’s campaign committee contributed $100 on Nov. 1.

“I was very impressed with the kind of campaign he ran,” he said in an interview last week. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am.”

Wilder praised Patrick for not making his race the central argument for his election.

“He didn’t say he was trying to make history. He was running on a record of accomplishment, his vision and ideas to move this great state forward. He didn’t make that special appeal; he made a broader appeal,” Wilder said.

Massachusetts and Virginia, the only states to elect an African American governor, both call themselves a commonwealth — a British term that means the good of all people. They were also among the original 13 colonies.

“I have said, jokingly, maybe it took two of the states that started this nation to do it,” Wilder said.

Unlike Patrick, Wilder was a seasoned campaigner when he defeated his Republican opponent for governor, Marshall Coleman, by less than half of one percentage point. Late polls had shown Wilder with a comfortable lead.

The black Democrat, who began his career in public service in 1969 as the first black state senator in Virginia since Reconstruction, had served as lieutenant governor the previous four years. In 2004, he came out of political retirement and was elected Richmond’s mayor.

As governor, Wilder had faced an unexpected budget shortfall of more than $2 billion. He wiped out the deficit without raising taxes, and the state government won awards for its sound financial management, he said.

Massachusetts is not in that dire situation, but Wilder predicted Patrick would face challenges finding money to pay for his campaign promises, which include hiring 1,000 police officers and expanding all-day kindergarten in the state.

He advised Patrick “not to be concerned with criticism, and deal with things that need to be done, whether they’re popular or not … Never, ever forget the people. The people are always ahead of leaders. He needs to stay with them, and never let them down.”

Wilder added that he personally had no doubt that Patrick would stay true to the people of Massachusetts.

Patrick has spoken publicly about how ever since he won the Democratic primary in September, prominent individuals in Boston who previously did not return his phone calls have started doing so. There are risks, Wilder warned, in getting caught up with all the attention.

“Everybody’s on the bandwagon now,” he said. “I have an expression that I don’t succumb to flattery because if I did, criticism would crush me.”